U.S. v. Morgan Drive Away, Inc., et al., Civ. Action No. 74-1781 (TAF) (D. D.C. 1976); United States Notice of Defendant's Motion To Terminate Final Judgment

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Antitrust Division

U.S. v. Morgan Drive Away, Inc., et al., Civ. Action No. 74-1781

(TAF) (D. D.C. 1976); United States Notice of Defendant's Motion To

Terminate Final Judgment

Notice is hereby given that Morgan Drive Away, Inc. (``Morgan''),

the only remaining defendant in the captioned matter, has moved to

terminate the Final Judgment entered by the United States District

Court for the District of Columbia on June 30, 1976. In a stipulation

also filed with the Court, the Department of Justice (``Department'')

has tentatively consented to termination of the Judgment, but has

reserved the right to withdraw its consent pending receipt of public

comments.

On December 5, 1974, the United States filed its complaint in this

case. The complaint charged the defendants with conspiracy in restraint

of trade, conspiracy to monopolize and monopolization of the for-hire

transportation of mobile homes in the United States in violation of

Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act. Among the violations alleged in

the complaint were that the defendants deprived applicants to state and

federal regulatory agencies for mobile home transportation authority of

meaningful access to and fair hearings before those agencies. This was

done by various means including (1) protesting virtually all

applications regardless of the merits, (2) including others to protest

such applications, (3) jointly financing the protests and providing

personnel to aid in the protests, (4) using tactics to deter, delay and

increase the costs of the applications, and (5) providing, procuring,

and relying on testimony in agency application proceedings that they

knew to be false and misleading. The suit also charged that the

companies conspired to coerce competitors to charge the same rates as

they charged and to fix rates without authorization of federal or state

law.

The Final Judgment, filed January 21, 1976 and entered by the Court

on June 30, 1976 after a Tunney Act review, prohibited the defendants

from using litigation before administrative agencies to exclude

competition in the interstate transportation of mobile homes. The

Judgment also enjoined the defendants from joint activities in

connection with regulatory applications, from fixing interstate,

intrastate, or military rates without proper legal authorization, from

mutual stabilization of driver compensation, and from agreements to

refrain from hiring one another's personnel.

In the period between 1976 and 1999 substantial changes have been

made in the regulation of motor carriers, including transporters of

mobile homes, effectively eliminating the opportunity for firms to

manipulate the regulatory process to exclude competitors, to limit

their growth, or to fix rates.

The Department and Morgan have filed memoranda with the Court

setting forth the reasons they believe termination of the Final

Judgment would serve the public interest. Copies of Morgan's motion to

terminate, the stipulation containing the Department's consent, the

supporting memoranda, and all additional papers field with the Court in

connection with this motion will be available for inspection at the

Antitrust Documents Group of the Antitrust Division, U.S. Department of

Justice, Room 215, North, Liberty Place Building, 325 Seventh Street,

NW., Washington, DC 20004, and at the Office of the Clerk of the United

States District Court for the District of Columbia. Copies of these

materials may be obtained from the Antitrust Division upon request and

payment of the duplicating fee set out in Department of Justice

regulations.

Interested persons may submit comments regarding the proposed

termination to the Department. Such comments must be received by the

Antitrust Division within sixty (60) days and will be filed with the

Court by the Department. Comments should be addressed to Roger W.

Fones, Chief, Transportation, Energy and Agriculture Section, Antitrust

Division, U.S. Department of Justice, 325 Seventh St. NW., Suite 500,

Washington, DC 20530, telephone: 202-307-6456.

Rebecca P. Dick,

Director of Civil Non-Merger Enforcement.

[FR Doc. 99-30831 Filed 11-26-99; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4410-11-M