Is Kaplan Monopolizing the LSAT Test Prep Market?

According to plaintiffs in a federal antitrust class action, "yes." The Courthouse News Service reports that a class has filed suit against Kaplan, alleging that "[it] met with (nonparty) BAR/BRI in August 1997 and agreed not to buy out BAR/BRI or offer bar review courses if BAR/BRI withdrew its Law School Aptitude Test (LSAT) and other exam prep courses, [conduct which subsequently solidified Kaplan's monopoly in the LSAT test prep market]."

The suit builds upon facts that relate to the subject of a 2005 case which involved both Kaplan and BAR/BRI. In that case, a separate class of plaintiffs alleged essentially the same facts--namely, that the "two companies conspired to give West [Publishing Corp.] a monopoly over its BAR/BRI courses and Kaplan less competition for the classes it sold for the Law School Aptitude Test, or LSAT." However, in that case, the district court ultimately approved a $49 million dollar settlement between the parties.

Using the allegations made in the prior case as indicia of a conspiracy to rid the LSAT test prep market of potential competitors, the plaintiffs in this recent action claim that "Kaplan [has subsequently] remained the 'only company offering full-service LSAT preparation courses at the national level" - more than three times the size of the second-most popular course, The Princeton Review's.'" This, they contend, establishes an antitrust violation separate from that alleged in the prior class action.

Accordingly, the ability of the class to recover assumes that the prior settlement agreement did not "cover the effect of the market allocation agreement upon the LSAT preparation market."

We will keep you updated on any developments in this story.