The US District Court for the District of Columbia blocks two proposed mergers in the insurance sector brought and litigated under the Obama administration (Aetna / Humana and Anthem / Cigna)

In a continuation of recent Department of Justice (DOJ) successes challenging mergers, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia recently enjoined two more proposed mergers brought and litigated under the Obama administration. Aetna’s $37 billion proposed acquisition of Humana was blocked on January 23, 2017, followed by a similar outcome for Anthem’s $54 billion acquisition of Cigna on February 8, 2017. As the culmination of transactions announced and investigated under the previous president, these decisions do not provide any insight into the Trump administration’s approach to merger activity. Nonetheless, they show the continued vitality of the merger guidelines methodology in front of the federal courts. While both cases involved major national insurance companies, the