State of California v. American Stores Co. Alpha Beta Acquisition Corp. Lucky Stores, Inc.

American Stores Company (American Stores), one of the nation’s largest grocery retailers, appeals from orders denying its motion to dismiss and granting a motion for preliminary injunction in favor of the State of California. American Stores acquired 100% of the stock of Lucky Stores, Inc. (Lucky), one of American Stores’s major competitors in California. Approximately three months later, the California Attorney General initiated this antitrust action, both on his own behalf and in his capacity as parens patriae of the consumers of the state, challenging American Stores’s acquisition of Lucky as a violation of section 7 of the Clayton Act, 15 U.S.C. § 18 , section 1 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1 , and California’s Cartwright and Unfair Competition Acts, Cal.Bus. & Prof. Code §§ 16700-16761 and 17200-17208 (West 1987 & Supp.1989). The district court granted California’s request for preliminary relief and ordered American Stores to operate Lucky separately and refrain from integrating the two companies’ assets. California v. American Stores Co., 697 F.Supp. 1125, 1135-36 (C.D.Cal.1988) (American Stores). We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1292 (a)(1). We affirm in part…