Amicus Victory for COSAL in Phhhoto v. Meta
On June 28, 2024, the Dicello Levitt, LLP team of Greg Asciolla, Amy Keller, Robin Van Der Meulen, and Nada Djordjevic filed an amicus brief, on behalf of COSAL, in the Second Circuit, in Phhhoto v. Meta. The brief supported Phhhoto in its appeal of the order granting Meta’s motion to dismiss. On December 10, 2024, the Second Circuit panel reversed the district court’ dismissal of Phhhoto’s complaint against Meta.
The brief addressed the role fraudulent concealment often plays in antitrust cases, when wrongdoers generally hide and publicly deny their anticompetitive conduct, and the dangers of ruling on this fundamentally fact-intensive issue on a motion to dismiss, stating that “district court’s new standard would make it significantly more difficult for private antitrust plaintiffs to prosecute viable claims, particularly when the subject matter is highly technical and key information is in the hands of a single entity.” The brief also addressed the friction that a ruling like this creates between Rule 11 and the statute of limitations, forcing plaintiffs to choose between facing a dismissal based on the statute of limitations and filing before they have all of the facts supporting their claims. The brief persuasively explained how a ruling like the district court’s would chill private enforcement and why it runs contrary to the public policy.
