Overview

Attorney John Steren leverages his more than 30 years of health care antitrust and litigation experience to help health care clients manage the risks of joint ventures and other business arrangements and to defend them against government investigations and enforcement actions. He also provides counseling and litigation services to employers in connection with non-competition and pricing-related issues.

Among John’s clients are large health care providers (or provider groups), such as hospitals and health care systems, physicians, ambulatory surgery center corporations, and other specialty care providers (e.g., chains of urological care or anesthesia providers). His clients also include large retail chains, commercial and residential lenders, and product manufacturers and distributors.

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For health care clients, John provides advice on whether their conduct, typically undertaken in an effort to improve upon the delivery of care or in response to the changing landscape of the markets in which they compete, raises any antitrust issues. Clients also rely on John’s advice on expansion-related issues (i.e., mergers and acquisitions), competitor collaborations, networking issues, payor contracting issues, information exchanges, enforcement actions, and third-party-related defenses.

For employers, John provides counseling and litigation services relating to the protection of trade secrets, the development and enforcement of non-compete agreements, and pricing and price discrimination.

Clients value John’s ability to understand a problem from their perspective and to develop a solution that balances their business needs with associated competitive concerns and risks.

A thought leader in the antitrust field, John speaks regularly and has authored numerous articles on antitrust issues affecting the health care industry. And to keep his clients up to date on important antitrust counseling and defense issues, John coauthors Antitrust Byte client alerts on a biweekly basis.

Before joining Epstein Becker Green, John was a Principal of another law firm focusing on the health care industry, where he served as Co-Chair of its Litigation Group and Chair of that firm’s Antitrust and Competition Group.

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Focus Areas

Experience

  • Represented a large hospital chain in the mid-Atlantic region that was acquiring a competing hospital/system faced with a potential enforcement action by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). John developed the defenses to support the procompetitive benefits of the transactions so as to persuade the FTC not to challenge the transaction. He helped the client avoid costly litigation and proceed with the intended transaction.
  • Represented a large network of physician providers located in the mid-Atlantic region that wanted to achieve clinical integration among competing providers including joint negotiations of payor contracts. John developed a systematic approach to fulfilling the requirements of clinical integration and provided a platform that properly positioned his client to jointly negotiate with the payors.
  • Enforced non-compete provisions against former employees of a residential lender with offices located throughout the East Coast. John successfully obtained a temporary restraining order to prevent further theft of clients and trade secrets.
  • Defended antitrust claims against a hospital system related to the acquisition of multispecialty physician practices. John defeated the lawsuit, winning motions explaining the lack of any basis for the litigation.
  • Developed policies and standards for a retail chain for pricing products at retail. These policies and standards allowed the manufacturer to control the retail prices set by distributors and retailers.

Representative Cases

  • Secured a federal court’s dismissal of an alleged breach of a restrictive covenant. IntelliHR, LLC v. Martyn, Case No. 1:15-cv-00243-LMB-MSN (E.D. Va. March 25, 2015).
  • Obtained a $10 million judgment for a banking client against guarantors of a commercial loan. Branch Banking and Trust Co. v. Rappaport, Civ. Action No. 13-510 (D.D.C. February 28, 2014).
  • Secured a federal court’s dismissal, affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, on behalf of a banking client accused of violating the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. Ballard v. Bank of America, N.A., 734 F.3d 308 (4th Cir. 2013).
  • Attained a federal court’s dismissal on filed-rate doctrine grounds of a nationwide class action alleging damages from the purported improper reporting of end-product prices used by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to establish federal minimum prices payable to dairy farmers. Carlin, et al. v. DairyAmerica, Inc., et al., 690 F.Supp.2d 11 (E.D. Cal. 2010).
  • Secured a $5.2 million arbitration award on behalf of a banking client for fraud and breach of contract. Bank of America, N.A. v. A.C. Technology, Inc., et al., AAA Case No. 16 148 Y 00590 09 (Oct. 4, 2010).
  • Obtained summary judgment for the American Urological Association accused of conspiring with the American Medical Association to keep plaintiff's urological treatment off the market. Neotonus, Inc. v. American Medical Association, et al., 554 F. Supp. 2d 1368 (N.D. Ga. 2007).
  • Obtained summary judgment for the defendant in an antitrust action challenging the legality of a radiology exclusive contract. Imaging Center, Inc. v. Western Maryland Health System, Inc., 20052 Trade Cas. (CCH) 75056, 2005 WL 3403627 (4th Cir. 2005).
  • Attained a defense verdict on behalf of a hospital client accused of conspiring in violation of antitrust laws to prevent a competitor’s expansion efforts. Sisters of St. Francis, Inc. v. Morgan County, 397 F. Supp. 2d 1032 (S.D. Ind. 2005).
  • Obtained summary judgment on behalf of a long-term care pharmacy provider accused of improperly maintaining a pharmaceutical recycling program in violation of the False Claims Act. United States ex rel. Quinn v. Omnicare, Inc., 382 F. 3d 432 (3rd Cir. 2004).
  • Obtained injunctive relief on behalf of Morgan Stanley DW, Inc., in an action involving the misappropriation of trade secrets and confidential information. Morgan Stanley DW Inc. v. Rothe, 150 F.Supp.2d 67 (D.D.C. 2001).


Recognition

  • American Health Lawyers Association, “Volunteer Recognitions” for “Member Service” on the book Health Care Compliance Legal Issues Manual, Fifth Edition (2019)
  • JD Supra Readers’ Choice Award, Recipient, “Antitrust & Trade Regulation” (2019, 2020) and “M&A” (2020)

Credentials

Education

  • Georgetown University Law Center (J.D., 1989)
    • Editor, The Tax Lawyer
    • Law Fellow
  • University of Maryland (B.A., summa cum laude, 1986)
    • Provost Scholar
    • Omicron Delta Kappa Leadership Honor Society
    • Golden Key International Honour Society

Bar Admissions

Court Admissions

Professional & Community Involvement

  • American Bar Association
    • Section on Antitrust Law
    • Section on Litigation
  • American Health Lawyers Association
  • District of Columbia Bar Association
  • Maryland State Bar Association
  • Virginia Bar Association

Media

Events

Insights

Insights

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