Standard Oil Company Of California v. Federal Trade Commission

596 F.2d 1381 1979-1 Trade Cases 62,710 STANDARD OIL COMPANY OF CALIFORNIA, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION, Lewis A. Engman, Chairman; Paul Rand Dixon, Member, Mayo J. Thompson, Member, Mary Elizabeth Hanford, Member, Stephen A. Nye, Member, Defendants-Appellees. No. 75-3678. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. May 18, 1979. George A. Sears, San Francisco, Cal., for plaintiff-appellant. Michael Kimmel, Washington, D. C., for defendants-appellees. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Before ELY, CARTER and TANG, Circuit Judges. TANG, Circuit Judge. 1 Standard Oil Company of California (SOCAL) appeals from a judgment dismissing an action in which SOCAL sought review of certain aspects of the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) decision to issue an administrative complaint under § 5(b) of the Federal Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. § 45 (b) (1970) (amended Supp. V 1975). The issue raised is to what extent the provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. §§ 701-706 (1976), allow the district court to review the FTC's stated determination that it has "reason to believe" that SOCAL…