Federal Trade Commission v. Sun Oil Co.’s Empirical Analysis
1963
Citation profile
148 federal appellate · 24 district · 29 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 325 later decisions (20 by the Supreme Court) — most recently May 2020 · most notably Exxon Corporation v. Governor of Maryland Shell Oil Company (1978), Atlantic Richfield Company v. Usa Petroleum Company (1990)
148 federal appellate · 24 district · 29 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Appellate journey
reviewedSun Oil Co. v. Federal Trade Commission (from Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Applies 15 U.S.C. § 13 (§ 2 of the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914) · 15 U.S.C. § 45 (§ 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914)
Relies on Schwegmann Bros. v. Calvert Distillers Corp. · Standard Oil Co. of California v. United States · International Ass'n of Machinists v. Duckworth · Standard Oil Co. v. Federal Trade Commission · Federal Trade Commission v. Anheuser-Busch, Inc.
Most-quoted passages
The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 325 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Congress intended to assure, to the extent reasonably practicable, that businessmen at the same functional level would start on equal competitive footing so far as price is concerned.”
5 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“That nothing herein contained shall prevent a seller rebutting the prima-facie case thus made by showing that his lower price or the furnishing of services or facilities to any purchaser or purchasers was made in good faith to meet an equally low price of a competitor, or the services or facilities furnished by a competitor.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“In appraising the effects of any price cut or the corresponding response to it, both the Federal Trade Commission and the courts must make realistic appraisals of relevant competitive facts. Invocation of mechanical word formulas cannot be made to substitute for adequate probative analysis.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.