Federal Trade Commission V. Dean Foods Co. - Significance

Significance

The reasoning of the Court is not limited to the FTC and by its terms would apply with equal force to any other federal agency in similar circumstances. However, the principle may be limited to situations of great urgency. In FTC v. PepsiCo, Inc., the FTC sough a preliminary injunction against a merger and the Second Circuit denied it. The court said that, under Dean Foods, an injunction can issue only if the Commission can show that "an effective remedial order, once the merger was implemented, would otherwise be virtually impossible, thus rendering the enforcement of any final decree of divestiture futile." The Second Circuit thought that the merger probably violated the antitrust laws but did not believe that effective relief would be “virtually impossible.”