Corporate & Securities Law

DC Circuit: FTC may continue Part III against Whole Foods

By Manfred Gabriel

In a very brief opinion, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Whole Food’s petition for a writ of mandamus to stop the FTC from pursuing administrative proceedings against Whole Foods. The claim was that the FTC had violated Whole Food’s constitutional rights by pursuing expedited Part III proceedings against Whole Foods on the grounds that the Whole Foods-Wild Oats merger in late 2007 violated Section 7 Clayton Act. The opinion is here.

Whole Foods now finds itself before Adminstrative Judge Chappell in the Part III proceedings and in federal litigation before Judge Jackson in the preliminary injunction litigation (on remand and limited to a weighing of the equities).

Full post as published by Antitrust Review on January 26, 2009 (boomark / email).