Legal Library: Cases and Proceedings

The Commission intervened in the proposed $1.3 billion acquisition of Pathmark Stores by Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea (A&P), alleging the transaction would have reduced competition among grocery stores in the highly concentrated markets of Staten Island and Shirley, Long Island, New York. A&P operates stores under the A&P, A&P Super Foodmart, Food Basics, Food Emporium, Super Fresh, and Waldbaum’s banners. The Commission’s consent order required A&P to divest five supermarkets in Staten Island, and one supermarket in Shirley.

The Commission charged that the acquisition of K2, Inc, a sporting goods manufacturer, by Jarden Corporation would likely harm competition. The proposed $1.2 billion transaction would have joined two of the nation’s leading producers of monofilament fishing line, the most common type of line used in the United States. The consent order settling the charges requires Jarden to sell all assets related to the manufacture and sale of four varieties of monofilament fishing line to sporting goods company W.C. Bradley/Zebco.

A consent order settles allegations that Entergy-Koch LP's (a limited partnership owned equally by Entergy Corporation and Koch) acquisition of 50 percent of the Gulf South Pipeline Company, LP from Koch would lessen competition for the sale of electricity to consumers in Louisiana and western Mississippi and the distribution of natural gas to consumers in New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Entergy is the regulated electric and natural gas utility in parts of Louisiana and Mississippi. The order requires Entergy to establish a transparent process to buy natural gas and natural gas transportation that will assist state regulators in determining whether Entergy purchased gas supplies at inflated prices from its Entergy-Koch partnership.

Private attorneys in Clark County, Washington who provide criminal legal services for indigent defendants under a county contract settled charges that they illegally entered into an agreement known as the “Indigent Defense Bar Consortium Contract” to collectively demand higher fees for certain types of cases and refuse to accept specific additional cases unless the Clark County complied with their demands. The county was forced to substantially increase the reimbursement rate for each of the case categories specified in the Consortium Contract. According to the Commission, the conduct of the attorneys was identical to the boycott staged by criminal defense attorneys in Washington, DC which was ruled to be price fixing by the U.S. Supreme Court in the matter of Superior Court Trial Lawyers Association. Robert Lewis, James Sowder, Gerald Wear, and Joel R. Yoseph, the four attorneys who led the activities and served as the representatives of the 43 attorneys who signed the Consortium Contract, were named in the complaint and in the consent order.

The New Hampshire Motor Transport Association settled charges that it filed tariffs on behalf of its 400 members containing rules  that called for automatic increases in intrastate rates during the summer months, conduct that was not protected by the state action doctrine because it was not actively supervised by the state. In addition, the organization agreed to void its collectively filed tariffs current in effect in New Hampshire, ensuring that future tarriff provisions would be filed individually.

A consent order prohibits a St. Louis, Missouri physicians’ organization from negotiating with third party payers on behalf of its member physicians and from refusing to deal with health insurance companies.