Legal Library: Cases and Proceedings

United States Court of Appeals Opinion Denying Novartis's Petition for Review of Final Order of the Commission (D.C. Cir. August 18, 2000)

Conso International Corporation, owner of the Simplicity brand of home sewing patterns, abandoned its proposed acquisition of McCall Pattern Company after the Commission filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. The complaint charged that the acquisition would reduce the number of United States sewing pattern designers and producers from three to two, creating a firm with more than 75% of the domestic unit sales of domestic home sewing patterns.

Service Corporation International divested the LaGrone Funeral Home, acquired in 1994, to settle charges that the acquisition gave Service Corporation a monopoly in the provision of funeral services in Roswell, New Mexico. The order also requires Service Corporation, for ten years, to obtain prior Commission approval before acquiring any funeral home serving Chaves County, New Mexico.

A consent order requires Ceridian to grant licenses to new and existing firms that provide commercial credit cards (known as "trucking fleet-cards") used by over-the-road trucking companies to make purchases at retail locations. The order settles charges that Ceridian's consummated acquisitions of NTS Corporation and Trendar Corporation gave Ceridian the power to control the markets for the provision of trucking fleet cards and the systems used to read them at truck stops throughout the country.

A consent order settled charges that Fidelity’s acquisition of Chicago Title Corporation would reduce competition for title information services in San Luis Obispo, Tehama, Napa, Merced, Yolo, and San Benito, California. The order requires the divestiture of title plants in each of the six areas.

Rhodia divested certain assets to resolve antitrust concerns stemming from its acquisition of Allbright & Wilson PLC. The consent order permits the acquisition but requires the divestiture of Albright’s interest in its United States phosphoric acid joint venture to its joint venture partner, Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan.

A final order ensures competition in the markets for natural gas transportation out of the Gulf of Mexico and into the southeastern United States. The consent order permitted El Paso's $6 billion merger with Sonar Inc. and requires the divestiture of Sea Robin Pipeline Company; Sonat's one-third ownership interest in Destin Pipeline Company, L.L.C.; and the East Tennessee Natural Gas Company.