Court Opinion

ID: 9422446
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:02:40.579471+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:22:36.800453
License: Public Domain

*355Mr. Justice Clark,
concurring.
I agree that so long as the Expediting Act, 15 U. S. C. § 29, is on the books we have no alternative but to accept jurisdiction in this case. The Act declares that appeals in civil antitrust cases in which the United States is complainant lie only to this Court. It thus deprives the parties of an intermediate appeal and this Court of the benefit of consideration by a Court of Appeals. Under our system a party should be entitled to at least one appellate review, and since the sole opportunity in cases under the Expediting Act is in this Court we usually note jurisdiction. A fair consideration of the issues requires us to carry out the function of a Court of Appeals by examining the whole record and resolving all questions, whether or not they are substantial. This is a great burden on the Court and seldom results in much expedition, as in this case where 2% years have passed since the District Court’s decision.
On the merits the case presents the question of whether, under § 7 of the Clayton Act, the acquisition by Brown of the Kinney retail stores may substantially lessen competition in shoes on a national basis or in any section of the country.* To me § 7 is definite and clear. It prohibits acquisitions, either of stock or assets, where competition in any line of commerce in any section of the country may be substantially lessened. The test as stated in the Senate Report on the bill is whether there is “a reasonable probability” that competition may be lessened.
An analysis of the record indicates (1) that Brown, which makes all types of shoes, is the fourth largest manufacturer in the country; (2) that Kinney likewise manufactures some shoes but deals primarily in retailing, having almost 400 stores that handle a substantial volume *356of sales; (3) that its acquisition would give Brown a total of some 1,600 retail outlets, making it the second largest retailer in the Nation; (4) that Kinney’s stores are on both a national and local basis strategically placed from a retail market standpoint in suburban areas or towns of over 10,000 population; (5) that Kinney's suppliers are small shoe manufacturers; (6) that Brown’s earlier acquisitions, seven in number in five years, indicate a pattern to increase the sale of Brown shoes through the acquisition of independent outlets, resulting in the loss of sales by small competing manufacturers; (7) that statistics on these outlets indicate that Brown, after acquisition, has materially increased its shipments of Brown shoes to them, some as much as 50%; and (8) that the acquisition would have a direct effect on the small manufacturers who previously enjoyed the Kinney requirements market.
It would appear that the relevant line of commerce would be shoes of all types. This is emphasized by the nature of Brown’s manufacturing activity and its plan to integrate the Kinney stores into its operations. The competition affected thereby would be in the line handled by these stores which is the full line of shoes manufactured by Brown. This conclusion is more in keeping with the record as I read it and at the same time avoids the charge of splintering the product line. Likewise, the location of the Kinney stores points more to a national market in shoes than a number of regional markets staked by artificial municipal boundaries. Brown’s business is on a national scale and its policy of integration of manufacturing and retailing is on that basis. I would conclude, therefore, that it would be more reasonable to define the line of commerce as shoes — those sold in the ordinary retail store — and the market as the entire country.
*357On this record but one conclusion can follow, i. e., that the acquisition by Brown of the 400 Kinney stores for the purposes of integrating their operation into its manufacturing activity created a “reasonable probability” that competition in the manufacture and sale of shoes on a national basis might be substantially lessened. I would therefore affirm.

Since the judgment below can be supported on this theory, there is no need to inquire into any tendency to create a monopoly.