Legal Library: Cases and Proceedings

The FTC authorized its staff to file a motion for a preliminary injunction to block the proposed acquisition of Doctors Regional Medical Center in Poplar Bluff, Missouri. On July 30, 1998, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri granted the Commission's motion for the injunction. Tenet filed a notice of appeal in the Eighth Circuit on August 10, 1998. An administrative complaint was issued August 20, 1998 charging that the proposed merger of the only two general hospitals in Poplar Bluff would not only eliminate price, cost and quality competition but would also put consumers at risk of paying more for health care. In December 1999, the Commission dismissed the administrative complaint after the Eighth Circuit reversed the district court's decision and denied Commission’s petition for a rehearing en banc.

The Commission authorized staff to file separate motions in federal district court to block the mergers of the nation's four largest drug wholesalers into two wholesale distributors of pharmaceutical products. The Commission charged that Cardinal 's proposed acquisition of Bergen Brunswig Corporation and McKesson Corporation's proposed acquisition of AmeriSource Health Corp. would substantially reduce competition in the market for prescription drug wholesaling and lead to higher prices and a reduction in services to the companies' customers --hospitals, nursing homes and drugstores --and eventually to consumers. Two separate motions for preliminary injunctions were filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia March 6, 1998. On July 31, 1998, the District Court granted the Commission's motions enjoining both proposed mergers. The parties abandoned their respective merger plans soon after the decision.

The Commission authorized staff to file a motion for a preliminary injunction to block the proposed merger of the two largest hospitals in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Blodgen and Butterworth Hospital, on grounds that the merger would substantially reduce competition for acute-care inpatient hospital services in the area The complaint was filed January 23,1996 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan (Southern Division). On September 26,1996, the court denied the Commission's request for an injunction. The Commission dismissed its administrative complaint after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit upheld the district court's decision.

Mediq abandoned its proposed acquisition of Universal Hospital Services after the Commission filed a complaint and motion for a preliminary injunction to block the merger of the nation's two largest firms engaged in the rental to hospitals of movable medical equipment, such as respiratory, infusion and monitoring devices. The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, alleged that the merger would create a monopoly for movable medical equipment rental in many major metropolitan areas across the nation.

Staff authorized to file a motion for a preliminary injunction to block the proposed acquisition of Office Depot, 1nc. on grounds that the $4 billion acquisition would allow the combined firm to control prices for the sale of office supplies in numerous metropolitan areas in the United States. On June 30, 1997, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted the Commission's motion for the injunction. Staples abandoned its acquisition plans in July 1997.

Consent order settles charges that New Balance fixed and controlled the resale prices of its shoes in an effort to raise retail prices for its athletic footwear.  According to the complaint, New Balance entered into agreements with some of its retailers to restrict price competition, and threatened to terminate or suspend shipments to retailers who did not abide by the pricing restrictions.