United States v. Aluminum Co. of America

United States v. Aluminum Co. of America

Opinion

 [*421]  This appeal comes to us by virtue of a certificate of the Supreme Court, under the amendment of 1944 to § 29 of 15 U.S.C.A.  The action was brought [**2]  under § 4 of that title, praying the district court to adjudge that the defendant, Aluminum Company of America, was monopolizing interstate and foreign commerce, particularly in the manufacture and sale of 'virgin' aluminum ingot, and that it be dissolved; and further to adjudge that that company and the defendant, Aluminum Limited, had entered into a conspiracy in restraint of such commerce. It also asked incidental relief. The plaintiff filed its complaint on April 23, 1937, naming sixty-three defendants: ten of these were not served and did not appear; one died, and one corporate defendant was dissolved before the action was brought: the complaint was dismissed against another. At the date of judgment there were fifty-one defendants who had been served and against whom the action was pending. We may divide these, as the district judge did, into four classes: Aluminum Company of America, with its wholly owned subsidiaries, directors, officers and shareholders. (For convenience we shall speak of these defendants collectively as 'Alcoa,' that being the name by which the company has become almost universally known.) Next, Aluminum Limited, with its directors, officers and shareholders.  [**3]  (For the same reason we shall speak of this group as 'Limited.') Third: the defendant, Aluminum Manufactures, Inc., which may be treated as a subsidiary of 'Alcoa.' Fourth: the defendant, Aluminum Goods Manufacturing Company, which is independent of 'Alcoa,' as will appear. The action came to trial on June 1, 1938, and proceeded without much interruption until August 14, 1940, when the case was closed after more than 40,000 pages of testimony had been taken.  The judge took time to consider the evidence, and delivered an oral opinion which occupied him from September 30, to October 9, 1941. Again he took time to prepare findings of fact and conclusions of law which he filed on July 14, 1942; and he entered final judgment dismissing the complaint on July 23rd, of that year. The petition for an appeal, and assignments of error, were filed on September 14, 1942, and the petition was allowed on the next day. On June 12, 1944, the Supreme Court, declaring that a quorum of six justices qualified to hear the case was wanting, referred the appeal to this court under § 29 of Title 15, already mentioned. The district judge's opinion, reported in D.C., 44 F.Supp. 97, discussed the evidence [**4]  with the utmost particularity; it took up every phase and every issue with the arguments of both parties, and provided a reasoned basis for the subsequent findings of fact and conclusions of law. For the purposes of this appeal we need not repeat the greater part of the facts; so far as it is necessary, we do so, leaving acquaintance with the remainder to the opinion itself. Although the plaintiff challenged nearly all of the 407 findings of fact, with negligible exceptions these challenges were directed, not to misstatements of the evidence, but to the judge's inferences- alleged to be 'clearly erroneous.' For convenience  [*422]  we have divided our discussion into four parts: (1) whether 'Alcoa' monopolized the market in 'virgin' aluminum ingot; (2) whether 'Alcoa' was guilty of various unlawful practices, ancillary to the establishment of its monopoly; (3) whether 'Limited' and 'Alcoa' were in an unlawful conspiracy; and whether, if not, 'Limited' was guilty of a conspiracy with foreign producers; (4) what remedies are appropriate in the case of each defendant who may be found to have violated the Act.

'ALCOA'S MONOPOLY OF 'Virgin' Ingot.

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