This is not the first time that the question of treble damages reform has been raised. The Reagan Administration tried and failed to pass damages reform legislation in the mid-1980's. The concern then was that private treble damages awards threatened companies with potentially uncapped liability. That problem has now been exacerbated by the new government aggressiveness in seeking high criminal fines. See United States v.
Individuals are liable for fines in the millions.
Subtle adjustments to the scope of the leniency program are encouraging even more confessions, as parties attempt to limit, or even eliminate, their criminal liability. There is a significant ripple effect of the Antitrust Division's activity because of the increasingly high degree of cooperation among other nations or governmental antitrust enforcers. Both the European Commission's DG IV and the Canadian Competition Bureau, for example, are uncovering and prosecuting cartels and imposing fines at the same record pace of the Antitrust Division. Even those parties who make use of the corporate leniency program to limit or eliminate the criminal fines they face are the subject of such suits. One could plausibly argue that follow-on actions border on overkill.