Opinion ID: 4527827
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Injury and Damages

Text: To compound matters, the District Court appears to have treated the parties’ arguments as a dispute about damages, rather than antitrust injury, reasoning that “[t]he use of averages to develop the aggregate amount of damages does not suggest [the Direct Purchasers] will be unable to ensure recovery is only for injured parties.” Lamictal, 2018 WL 6567709, at  (alteration in original) (emphases added) (citation omitted). That was amiss, as averages here were used to show injury—i.e., the Direct Purchasers were overcharged for lamotrigine because of the reverse-settlement—in addition to damages. We have consistently distinguished injury from damages. See, e.g., Newton v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc., 259 F.3d 154, 188 (3d Cir. 2001), as amended 18 (Oct. 16, 2001) (“Proof of injury (whether or not an injury occurred at all) must be distinguished from calculation of damages (which determines the actual value of the injury).”). This is significant, as we apply a more lenient predominance standard for damages than for injury. While every plaintiff must be able to show antitrust injury through evidence that is common to the class, see Hydrogen Peroxide, 552 F.3d at 311, damages need not be “susceptible of measurement across the entire class for purposes of Rule 23(b)(3),” Modafinil, 837 F.3d at 260 (citation omitted). Accord Tyson Foods, 136 S. Ct. at 1045 (“When one or more of the central issues in the action . . . can be said to predominate, the action may be considered proper under Rule 23(b)(3) even though other important matters will have to be tried separately, such as damages . . . .”) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). This merging of differing standards led the District Court to apply our more permissive damages standard to the class certification question, reasoning “that some generic purchasers were injured more or less strongly than others is not only permitted, but is a reason for why averages are appropriate in the damages calculation.” Lamictal, 2018 WL 6567709, at  (footnote omitted). This misreading also calls for a remand.