Bulova Watch Co. v. Ontario Store of Columbus, Ohio, Inc.

176 N.E.2d 527, 86 Ohio Law. Abs. 585, 18 Ohio Op. 2d 221, 1961 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 336
CourtCourt of Common Pleas of Ohio, Franklin County, Civil Division
DecidedApril 14, 1961
DocketNo. 209591
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 176 N.E.2d 527 (Bulova Watch Co. v. Ontario Store of Columbus, Ohio, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Common Pleas of Ohio, Franklin County, Civil Division primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bulova Watch Co. v. Ontario Store of Columbus, Ohio, Inc., 176 N.E.2d 527, 86 Ohio Law. Abs. 585, 18 Ohio Op. 2d 221, 1961 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 336 (Ohio Super. Ct. 1961).

Opinion

Leach, J.

This case is before the Court on the demurrer of the defendant to the petition, which demurrer raises the [587]*587question of the constitutionality of at least a substantial portion of the. 1959 Fair Trade Law, Sections 1333.27 to 1333.34, inclusive, Revised Code. The enactment of these statutes followed the decision of the Ohio Supreme Court in Onion Carbide and Carbon Corp. v. Bargain Fair, Inc., 167 Ohio St., 182, which held that the Ohio Fair Trade Act of 1936, Sections 1333.06 to 1333.10, Revised Code, was unconstitutional to the extent that it prohibited those who were not parties to a price-fixing contract from selling a commodity for less than the price stipulated in such contract.

The principal question presented at this time is whether the 1959 Act is subject to the same constitutional objections as the 1936 Act. The 1936 Act prohibited persons who had not actually agreed to do so from selling at a price less than that stipulated in a contract if such was done “knowingly and wil-fully.” The 1959 Act, in essence, seeks to accomplish the same end result by providing that the acceptance of such a commodity by a distributor (regardless of the source from which acquired), shall constitute an agreement not to resell at less than the minimum price stipulated therefor by the “proprietor” of the trade mark or trade name.

In order to more fully understand the nature of the questions here presented, a brief legislative and judicial history is necessary. By the Sherman Act of 1890 contracts, combinations and conspiracies in restraint of trade in interstate commerce were made illegal. The Valentine Act, now Section 1331.01 et seq., Revised Code, did the same for intrastate commerce in Ohio and specifically forbade price fixing. In 1911, the United States Supreme Court in Dr. Miles Medical Co. v. John D. Parks & Sons Co., 220 U. S., 373, held that a contract between a manufacturer and a retailer in.interstate commerce as to prices at which the retailer would sell products sold to it by the manufacturer was in violation of the Sherman Act.

The Ohio Fair Trade Act of 1936 was enacted in July of that year. It was substantially identical to acts of other states passed during the years beginning in 1931, including one passed by Illinois. In Old Dearborn Distributing Co. v. Seagram-Distillers Corp., 299 U. S., 183 (1936), the United States Supreme Court held that the non-signer .provisions of the Illinois Act did. [588]*588not contravene any rights secured by the Federal Constitution. Since such act applied only to intra-state commerce, the Old Dearborn case did not invoke the Sherman Act.

In 1937 Congress enacted the Miller-Tydings Act, 15 U. S. C. Sec. 1, which amended the Sherman Act to provide that such Act would not make illegal “contracts or agreements” prescribing minimum prices for the resale of a commodity bearing a trade mark, brand or name of the producer or distributor which was in free and open competition with commodities of the same general class, when “contracts or agreements” of that description are lawful in intrastate transactions under any statute, law, or public policy in any state in which such resale is to be made.

In Schwegmann Bros. v. Calvert Distillers Corp., 341 U. S., 384 (1951), the United States Supreme Court held that the provisions of the Miller-Tydings Act exempted from the operation of the Sherman Act only “contracts or agreements” prescribing minimum prices for resale, and thus did not exempt as to interstate commerce the prohibitions of the Sherman Act as applied to persons who did not actually so contract.

In 1952 Congress enacted the McGuire Act, 15 U. S. C., 45 to provide that nothing contained in any of the federal Anti-trust Acts shall render unlawful the exercise or the enforcement of any right created by any state statute, law or public policy “which in substance provides that wilfully and knowingly advertising, offering for sale, or selling any commodity at less than the price or prices prescribed in such contracts or agreements, whether the person so advertising, offering for sale, or selling is or is not a party to such contract or agreement * * *” is prohibited by such state law.

In Schwegmann Bros. Giant Super Market v. Eli Lilly & Co., 205 F. (2d), 788, it was held that the non-signer provision of the Louisiana Act was by the McGuire Act made applicable to interstate commerce as an exception to the Federal Antitrust Laws and as such did not contravene any provisions of the Federal Constitution. Certiorari was denied by the United States Supreme Court, 346 U. S., 856.

Thus from the Federal standpoint, we have a situation where it seems to be clearly established (1) that a non-signer provi[589]*589sion of a state law as applied to intra-state commerce does not violate the Federal Constitution, Old Dearborn, supra, (2) a non-signer provision of a state law is made applicable to interstate commerce as an exception to the Sherman Act and all other Federal Anti-trust laws by the AicGuire Act, and (3) the applicability of such a non-signer provision to inter-state commerce does not violate any provision of the Federal Constitution, Schwegmann v. Eli Lilly & Co., supra.

From the State point of view, however, neither the language of the Aiiller-Tydings Act or the AicGuire Act nor the decisions referred to above, limit in any way the power of a state court to pass on the constitutionality of a state act under the constitution of such state, regardless of whether the question before the Court involves intra-state or inter-state commerce.

The courts of some states have upheld the constitutionality of such acts, including the non-signer provisions. The courts of other states have held such acts to be unconstitutional, at least in-so-far as the non-signer provision was concerned. The cases so holding, pro and con, and language contained therein as it might be persuasive as to the issues now before this Court, have been cited and quoted in the extensive briefs filed herein. As to this it should be sufficient to point out that the issue here involved is not whether we agree or disagree with the conclusion of the Ohio Supreme Court in the Union Carbide case. Such holding is now established law in this state and as such, binding on this Court. Instead, as stated before, the principal issue is whether the 1959 Act is subject to the same constitutional objections as the 1936 Act.

Two Common Pleas Courts have held that, at least to a degree, the 1959 Act is subject to such constitutional objections. In Helena Rubenstein v. Cincinnati Vitamin & Cosmetic Distributors Co., 84 Ohio Law Abs., 143, 12 O. O. (2d), 199, Gus-weiler, J., of the Common Pleas Court of Hamilton County, held the 1959 Act to be unconstitutional on the basis of all three of the grounds of unconstitutionality of the 1936 Act as held by the Ohio Supreme Court in the Union Carbide case, i.. e. (1) it represented an unauthorized exercise of the police power in a matter unrelated to the public safety, morals and general welfare, (2). that it was an improper delegation of legislative [590]*590power to private persons and (3) that it unconstitutionally denied the owner of property the right to sell it on terms of his own choosing.

In the companion cases of Hudson Distributors, Inc. v. Eli Lilly and Company, No.

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Bluebook (online)
176 N.E.2d 527, 86 Ohio Law. Abs. 585, 18 Ohio Op. 2d 221, 1961 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 336, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bulova-watch-co-v-ontario-store-of-columbus-ohio-inc-ohctcomplfrankl-1961.