In a September 8, 2011 webcast that I moderated ("Anti-Corruption Enforcement and Compliance Update"), one of the attendees asked whether the panel had ever seen a civil action brought by a company asking for compensation after having discovered that a competitor secured a contract by paying bribes. Joe Warin of Gibson Dunn responded that there was a civil case currently pending in the Eastern District of Virginia that followed an FCPA settlement. In the civil case, a competitor of the company that settled the FCPA case brought a lawsuit alleging that the settling company's misconduct prohibited the competitor from getting the business and seeking damages.

Last week, the case that Warin was referring to--NewMarket Corp. v. Innospec--settled, the WSJ reports. According to the WSJ's Corruption Currents blog, Innospec agreed to pay NewMarket $45 million "to settle claims that it nudged a rival out of markets in Iraq and Indonesia by paying bribes and kickbacks to foreign officials." The complaint reportedly piggy-backed on facts from prosecutors' FCPA case against Innospec. The FCPA does not provide a private right of action, but NewMarket reportedly brought its claims under the Sherman Act, as well as the Virginia Antitrust Act and the Virginia Business Conspiracy Act.

Topics