United States v. Louisiana-Pacific Corporation

Louisiana-Pacific Corporation (“LP” or “Company”) appeals the decision of the district court imposing four million dollars in civil penalties for LP’s delay in divesting certain assets pursuant to a consent order. LP also appeals the district court’s decision sustaining the Federal Trade Commission’s (“FTC” or “Commission”) refusal to amend the consent order directing divestiture. We affirm.

BACKGROUND

In February 1978, LP acquired Fibre-board Corporation. Among Fibreboard’s assets was a plant in Rocklin, California, that manufactured medium density fiberboard. After the FTC expressed concerns about the merger’s potentially anticompeti-tive effect, LP and FTC agreed on a consent order requiring divestiture of the Rocklin plant within two years of the date the order became final. The order contained no provision concerning the price to which LP was entitled in selling the plant. On March 28, 1979, the consent order became final. LP therefore had until March 28, 1981, to divest the Rocklin plant.

In February 1980, about halfway through the two-year divestiture period, LP filed with the FTC a petition to reopen the consent order pursuant to section 5(b) of the Federal Trade…