Court Opinion

ID: 9426150
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:16:59.283306+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:22:59.349363
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice White,
concurring.
I concur in the judgment and in Parts I and II of the Court’s opinion. I do not join Part III, for I doubt that the interposition of a California wholesaler or distributor between the Benton companies and out-of-state manufacturers of janitorial supplies necessarily requires that the Benton companies be found not to be “in commerce” merely because they buy directly from out-of-state suppliers only a negligible amount of their supplies. For the purposes of § 7 of the Clayton Act, a remedial statute, the regular movement of goods from out-of-state manufacturer to local wholesaler and then to retailer or institutional consumer is at least arguably sufficient to place the latter in the stream of commerce, particularly where it appears that when the complaint was filed, cf. United States v. Penn-Olin Co., 378 U. S. 158, 168 (1964), the “local” distributor from which supplies were being purchased was a wholly owned subsidiary of the acquiring company, a national concern admittedly in commerce. In this case, however, the United States makes no such contention and appellee’s motion for summary judgment was not opposed by the Government on that theory. It is therefore inappropriate to address the issue at this time; and on this record, I concur in the judgment that the Benton companies were not in commerce.