United States v. A. B. Dick Co.

7 F.R.D. 437, 1947 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1697
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Ohio
DecidedFebruary 12, 1947
DocketCr. No. 18981
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 7 F.R.D. 437 (United States v. A. B. Dick Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. A. B. Dick Co., 7 F.R.D. 437, 1947 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1697 (N.D. Ohio 1947).

Opinion

FREED, District Judge.

The various motions herein made by the •several defendants were argued at great length and comprehensive briefs were filed in support of and in opposition to the motions.

I. The defendants, Aldine Paper 'Co. and Harry S. Gould, for convenience hereafter referred to as the “Aldine defendants,” move to dismiss the first and •second counts of the indictment, contending that, as against them, they do not state facts which constitute an offense under the laws of the United States.

The gist of the Aldine contention is that -there are not sufficient operative facts re•cited which bind them to the alleged conspiracies. In fact, they assert that the allegations are bare legal conclusions.

Analysis of the indictment discloses that .all of the defendants are accused of knowingly and continuously engaging in a com'bination in restraint of interstate and foreign commerce and in a combination and ■conspiracy to monopolize interstate and foreign commerce in duplicating machines, stencils and duplicating supplies. The substantial features of the continuing agreement and concert of action of all of the defendants are recited. Specific charges of an alleged series of agreements are leveled and enumerated against the Aldine defendants relative to the alleged conspiracies beginning in 1942. It is stated that the agreements were carried out. A more detailed recital of the allegations is unnecessary to warrant the finding that the accusations against the Aldine defendants adequately state the offenses and are not mere conclusions of law.

The motion of the Aldine defendants upon the foregoing ground, therefore, is overruled.

II. The Aldine defendants, and the defendants, C. H. Dexter & Sons, Inc., Dexter D. Coffin and Herbert H. Griswold, for convenience hereafter referred to as the “Dexter defendants,” move to strike Counts 1 and 2 of the indictment. The other defendants, A. B. Dick Co.; the Mimeograph Co., Ltd.; Albert B. Dick Jr. and Edison Dick, hereafter referred to as the “Dick defendants”; and the John A. Manning Paper Co., Inc. and James F. Adams, hereafter referred to as the “Manning defendants,” move to compel the Government to elect between Counts 1 and 2 of the indictment, or, in the alternative, if the Government refuses to elect, to dismiss both counts.

These motions are predicated on the assertion that the first two counts charge but one offense and violate the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution which safeguards against double jeopardy.

Numerous decided cases are cited and discussed in the briefs in support of these motions. The Government’s brief in reply points to the same authorities in opposition. Save for one exception, there appears to be no disagreement as to the principles of law announced. The divergent views arise from the application of the single controverted proposition to this particular indictment.

Obviously there is no dispute that aside from the fact that Count 1 charges the defendants with conspiring to restrain interstate and foreign. commerce, U.S.C.A., [440]*440Title 15, § 1, and Count 2 accuses them of conspiring to monopolize, U.S.C.A., Title 15, § 2, the recital of the things done by the various defendants for the purpose of forming and effectuating the combination by agreement and concerted action is identical in. both counts.

There would be no purpose served by a trial court’s discussion of law which is well recognized and undeniably established. There is a great prolixity of adjudicated cases by reviewing courts hearing upon the issue raised. A brief restatement will suffice.

The Fifth Amendment to the Constitution, in part, provides: “ * * * nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb * *

A single act, or the single steps of a completed transaction may violate two or more criminal statutes. Burton v. United States, 202 U.S. 344, 26 S.C.t. 688, 50 L.Ed. 1057,6 Ann.Cas. 362; Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 52 S.Ct. 180, 76 L.Ed. 306; Albrecht v. United States, 273 U.S. 1, 47 S.Ct. 250, 71 L.Ed. 505; Ebeling v. Morgan, 237 U.S. 625, 35 S.Ct. 710, 59 L.Ed. 1151, and, more recently, American Tobacco Co. v. United States, 328 U.S. 781, 66 S.Ct. 1125, 90 L.Ed. 1575.

To constitute two offenses identical, it must appear that they are the same in law and fact, regardless how nearly they may be connected in fact. Burton v. United States, supra.

Two offenses are not identical if one is legally distinct from the other. Montrose Lumber Co. v. United States, 10 Cir., 124 F.2d 573.

Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act state separate and distinct offenses. American Tobacco Co. v. United States, supra; United States v. Socony-Vacuum Oil Co., 310 U.S. 150, 60 S.Ct. 811, 84 L.Ed. 1129; United States v. Buchalter, 2 Cir., 88 F.2d 625; Montrose Lumber Co. v. United States, supra, and United States v. Shapiro, 2 Cir., 103 F.2d 775.

“The applicable rule is that, where the same act or transaction constitutes a violation of two distinct statutory provisions, the test to be applied to determine whether there are two offenses or only one is whether each provision requires proof of an additional fact which the other does not.” Blockburger v. United States, supra [284 U.S. 299, 52 S.Ct. 182]; American Tobacco Co. v. United States, supra.

The point of difference occurs in that the defendants urge that even though two counts in an indictment charge violations of two distinct statutory provisions, yet, if the factual statements which describe the manner or means of which both offenses allegedly were committed are the same, the defendants are subjected to double jeopardy. The Government vigorously challenges this interpretation.

In the opinion of this court, it is inherent in the law above stated that there is double jeopardy only where both the of-fences charged and the factual statements which describe the method or the means of committing them are identical. But if the offenses are different; that is, if the crimes alleged to have been committed are distinct in law, then no violation of the Fifth Amendment occurs.

That is precisely what is meant by the language of Mr. Justice Burton, in American Tobacco Co. v. United States, supra [328 U.S. 781, 66 S.Ct. 1128]:

“ * * * we have here separate statutory offenses, one a conspiracy in restraint of trade that may stop short of monopoly, and the other a conspiracy to monopolize that may not be content with restraint short of monopoly. One is made criminal by § 1 and the other by § 2 of the Sherman Act.

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Bluebook (online)
7 F.R.D. 437, 1947 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1697, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-a-b-dick-co-ohnd-1947.