• Austin American-Statesman , Tuesday, December 9, 2008 10:50 AM

Whole Foods Market filed a lawsuit in federal court Monday comparing the Federal Trade Commission -- which wants to block its $565 million merger with Wild Oats Markets -- to the Queen of Hearts in "Alice in Wonderland," who declares, "First the sentence, then the evidence."

Whole Foods CEO John Mackey will hold a news conference -- an extremely rare event for him, according to American-Statesman reporter Lilly Rockwell -- on the issue in Washington today. The company is also pushing Congress to urge the FTC to transfer the dispute to federal court and to consider adopting legislation that would prohibit such administrative trials in the future.

The FTC says that the Whole Foods merger reduces competition and leads to higher prices. Whole Foods says it competes in the larger grocery arena, noting that chains such as Wal-Mart have moved into the natural foods area. Whole Foods already has sold, closed, rebranded or relocated many of the Wild Oats stores

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