Standard Oil Co. v. Federal Trade Commission

• Decision Date: 11 March 1949
• Docket Number: No. 9215.,9215.
• Citation: 173 F.2d 210
• Parties: STANDARD OIL CO. v. FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

173 F.2d 210 (1949)

STANDARD OIL CO. v. FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION.

No. 9215.

United States Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit.

March 11, 1949.

Weymouth Kirkland, Howard Ellis and W. H. Van Oosterhout, all of Chicago, Ill., Arthur J. Abbott, of Detroit, Mich., Kirkland, Fleming, Green, Martin & Ellis, of Chicago, Ill., and MacMahon, Abbott & Roberts, of Detroit, Mich. (Thomas E. Sunderland, Albert L. Green, and Gordon E. Tappan, all of Chicago, Ill., of counsel), for petitioner.

Cyrus Austin, of New York City, for amicus curiae.

Walter B. Wooden and James W. Cassedy, Assts. to Gen. Counsel, Federal Trade Commission, both of Washington, D. C., W. T. Kelley, Gen. Counsel, of Washington, D. C., for respondent.

Before KERNER, MINTON, and DUFFY, Circuit Judges.

MINTON, Circuit Judge.

The petitioner seeks to review a cease and desist order issued by the respondent ordering it to cease and desist from discriminating in the price of gasoline of the same grade and quality among its customers in violation of Section 2(a) of the Clayton Act, as amended by the Robinson-Patman Price Discrimination Act, 15 U.S. C.A. ? 13. The Commission asks the enforcement of its order.

The petitioner contends that the order should not be enforced because, first, the Commission failed to find, and could not have found under the undisputed evidence in this case, that either or any of the purchases involved in such discrimination was in commerce; secondly, that the Commission treated as immaterial the petitioner's conclusive showing that the discrimination made in price was in good faith to meet an equally low price of a competitor, which showing the petitioner asserts is a complete defense. Third, the petitioner contends that:

"Paragraph 6 of the Modified Order directs Standard at its peril to prevent jobbers to whom it sells gasoline and who are in competition with Standard in the resale thereof from reselling to their retail dealers at prices less than Standard's price to its own retail dealers; requires Standard to police, maintain and regulate such competitor's prices on gasoline, title to which passed to the jobbers on delivery by Standard; and subjects Standard retroactively to punishment for contempt should a jobber-competitor fail to maintain such resale prices."

Substantial evidence in this record shows the following facts as found by the Commission. The petitioner's principal office and place of business is located in Chicago, Illinois. It is engaged in the business of refining and distributing gasoline and other petroleum products throughout fourteen states, principally in the Middle West. The petitioner has a refinery at Whiting, Indiana, to which it supplies crude oil from fields located in other states. One of the divisions in which it distributes its products is known as the Detroit Field, which embraces some thirteen counties in southern Michigan, including the city of Detroit. The Detroit Area, as distinguished from the Detroit Field, is confined to the city of Detroit and its suburbs. The petitioner has no refinery in Michigan, and almost all the gasoline it sells and distributes in the Detroit Field is transported by tankers from its refinery at Whiting through the Great Lakes to the petitioner's marine terminal at River Rouge, outside the city of Detroit. This terminal has a storage tank capacity of sixty-three million gallons. During the summer months, deliveries are made from Whiting weekly and sometimes twice weekly. In the fall, sufficient gasoline is delivered and stored to take care of the estimated requirements during the winter months when navigation on the Great Lakes is closed. The amount of gasoline used in Detroit is fairly constant and can be accurately estimated. During the years from 1936 through 1940, the years here in question, the petitioner supplied 16 to 17% of all the gasoline in the Detroit Area. In addition to the River Rouge tanks, the petitioner operated six bulk plants in the Detroit Area. Practically all of the gasoline sold in the Detroit Area passed through the River Rouge terminal, except that in some instances gas was delivered directly from Whiting by truck and also by the same means to commercial users. Deliveries were made from the River Rouge terminal by tank cars and tank trucks up to February 1, 1940, and thereafter by trucks alone. The delivery trucks were owned and operated or leased and operated by the petitioner through its employees.

The petitioner supplied gasoline to approximately 358 retail service stations, approximately two hundred of which the petitioner owned and leased, and eight of which it leased and subleased. The remaining 150 were independent operators who owned or leased their stations from someone else. The latter had agreements to purchase their entire requirements of Standard Oil gasoline only from the petitioner. While the former had no such agreements, they did not buy gasoline from anyone except the petitioner. The delivery to the retail customers was known as "tank wagon delivery" and was made at a price fixed in Chicago by the petitioner from time to time, known in the trade as the "posted tank-wagon price."

In addition, the petitioner supplied gasoline to four dealers in the Detroit Area, Citrin-Kolb Oil Company, Stikeman Oil Company, Inc., Wayne Oil Company, and Ned's Auto Supply Company, hereinafter sometimes referred to as Citrin, Stikeman, Wayne, and Ned's. These customers were also known as wholesale customers. They had their own storage tanks and trucks for delivery and met the credit qualifications of the petitioner.

During the time in question Citrin, Stikeman, and Wayne sold a substantial portion of their gasoline purchased from the petitioner direct to the public through retail service stations owned and operated by them. Ned's was engaged entirely in the retail sale of gasoline to the public through its own stations. To these last four customers, known, as we have pointed out, as the wholesale customers, the petitioner has discriminated in price by selling its gasoline to them for resale at wholesale and through their own retail stations at a price substantially lower than the prices charged retail purchasers in the Detroit Area for gasoline of the same grade and quality. The petitioner's Red Crown gasoline, its largest selling brand and comprising about ninety per cent of its sales in the Detroit Area, was sold to those four wholesalers at 1?? a gallon lower than the prices charged by the petitioner for the same gasoline to other retail dealers in the Detroit Area.

Citrin, in addition to supplying its own stations which sold at retail, from January 1, 1938, to December 31, 1940, sold one million gallons of gasoline annually to Langer and Cohn, who run a chain of service stations, at 1? a gallon less than the tank wagon price, and in addition sold another retail service operator at ?? a gallon less than the tank wagon price. For a time Citrin also issued special service cards which entitled the holder to a 2? a gallon discount on the purchase of gasoline from one of the retail service stations operated by Citrin.

There is no evidence that Wayne ever sold gasoline to retailers at a price lower than the posted tank-wagon price charged by the petitioner to its dealers or that Wayne ever allowed any discounts. The same is true of Stikeman.

Ned's, however, sold at retail exclusively, and it has been its practice since March 7, 1938, to sell to its customers below the prevailing retail service station price or to give premiums and discounts which result in a price below its posted price.

A lower price at one service station than at another is an important factor in the purchasing public's mind, especially in the price of the petitioner's advertised brands. Any difference in price between two stations selling the same brand of gasoline is very important in influencing the business. The margin of profit between the tank wagon price to a service station and the retail price is small, averaging since November 1, 1939, about 3.3? a gallon in the Detroit Area.

In 1937 Ned's was selling the petitioner's Red Crown gasoline to the public at approximately 2? a gallon below the prevailing retail service station price, which continued with variations until the latter part of 1939. In 1939 and 1940, when Ned's posted price was the prevailing retail price, it gave premiums and discounts under cover. It has from time to time given commercial discounts of 1 to 2? a gallon off the posted tank-wagon price. In 1939, Ned's also issued trading stamps with a value of 2? a gallon, which were redeemable in merchandise or gasoline at Ned's stores. Price cutting at Ned's stores has been almost continuous, and this company has been responsible for starting most of the retail price cutting in major brand gasolines in Detroit over a period of several years. This practice of Ned's has caused substantial damage to other retail service station operators selling the petitioner's Red Crown gasoline and also to retail service station operators selling other brands of gasoline.

The price discriminations granted to Ned's, Citrin, Wayne, and Stikeman on gasoline sold by them at retail have given a substantial competitive advantage to these favored dealers in their retail operations over other retailers of gasoline, including retail customers of the petitioner. This competitive advantage is capable of being used and has been used by Ned's and to some extent by Citrin to divert large amounts of business from other gasoline retailers, including customers of the petitioner, with resultant injury to them and to their ability to continue in business and successfully compete with Ned's and Citrin in the retailing of gasoline. The effect of these discriminations in price allowed by the petitioner to Ned's, Citrin, Wayne, and Stikeman has been and may be substantially to lessen competition and to injure, destroy, and prevent competition with each of these four dealers and with...