United States v. American Radiator & Standard Sanitary Corp.

272 F. Supp. 691
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedAugust 9, 1967
DocketCrim. 66-295, 66-296
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 272 F. Supp. 691 (United States v. American Radiator & Standard Sanitary Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. American Radiator & Standard Sanitary Corp., 272 F. Supp. 691 (W.D. Pa. 1967).

Opinion

*693 OPINION

ROSENBERG, District Judge.

This follows the decree for a preliminary injunction entered on July 28, 1967. This matter is here on four motions. The first motion was filed by the defendants in the two above entitled criminal actions to restrain and enjoin certain plaintiffs and party intervenors in civil actions, filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, from compelling the criminal defendants to file answers to the civil complaints and respond to discovery, particularly to interrogatories as filed in the civil actions.

The second motion was filed by counsel for some of the plaintiffs and party intervenors in the Philadelphia actions to dismiss the first motion as here filed by the defendants. The third motion, also a motion for injunction, was filed after the argument was had on the first two motions, by counsel for all the individual defendants in one of the criminal cases, to enjoin the corporate and co-defendants in the criminal cases and their agents from filing answers to complaints in Philadelphia and from otherwise divulging any matters in such civil proceedings, which matters may be relevant in the two pending criminal cases. A petition for leave to intervene was then filed by the plaintiff Philadelphia Housing Authority and a motion to dismiss the individual defendants’ motion for injunction was also filed. The defendants objected to this petition at this point because the plaintiffs had already been served on the first motion for injunction.

I shall here identify the first motion as the (criminal) defendants’ motion, as it comes from all the defendants in the two pending criminal actions in the Western District Court; the second motion as the (civil) plaintiffs’ motion, as it comes from the party plaintiffs and intervenors in the Eastern District Court of Pennsylvania; the third motion as the individual (criminal) defendants’ motion; and the fourth pleading as the plaintiffs’ petition and motion.

The facts in this case are simple. After an extensive grand jury investigation into activities of plumbing manufacturers throughout the United States, a grand jury at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on October 6, 1966, presented two indictments, charging antitrust violations, against the defendants named in the two criminal actions. These are numbered 66-295 and 66-296. On the same date the United States also filed a civil action at No. 66-1184 in the District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, charging antitrust violations and seeking injunctive relief.

The first indictment at Criminal No. 66-295 charges eight corporate defendants, a trade association and eight individual defendants, with engaging in a conspiracy, in violation of Section 1 of the Act of Congress of July 2, 1890, commonly known as the Sherman Act. The indictment charges, in substance, that the defendants conspired to fix the prices of enameled cast iron and vitreous china plumbing fixtures beginning sometime in September 1962 and continuing at least until sometime in 1966.

The second indictment at Criminal No. 66-296 charges ten corporate defendants- and their trade association with engaging in a conpiracy in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act, in that such defendants conspired to fix the prices of staple vitreous and china plumbing fixtures beginning in November 1960 and continuing to June 1962.

On November 15, 1966, at the arraignment, all the defendants pleaded not guilty. Appearances of counsel had previously been entered for all the defendants. On November 3, 1966, an order was entered on agreement of all counsel to hold Civil Action No. 66-1184 in abeyance and to continue the same until further order of court.

A number of conferences were held by counsel and orders were made relating to the procedure to be followed. The defendants then filed joint motions to dismiss the indictments and to suppress evidence, and motions for pretrial. Four separate motions to dismiss were also *694 filed by three individual defendants and one corporate defendant. The defendants sought en camera proceedings in the hearings on evidence on their motions to suppress the evidence. On May 10, 1967, an order was entered providing for en camera argument to determine the necessity for en camera hearing of testimony on the motions to suppress. At the argument counsel for the Government and the defendants were directed to file affidavits, which each side eventually did. Determination of this matter is in the process of completion and will be filed shortly.

In the meantime, on December 21, 1966, in the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, certain plaintiffs filed two civil actions at Nos. 41773 and 41774, based upon the indictments as found at Criminal Nos. 66-295 and 66-296 in this District, claiming treble damages against all corporate defendants.

In the first numbered case the action was brought by the Philadelphia Housing Authority as a class action in behalf of “all state and municipal governments, governmental agencies, authorities and subdivisions which build or renovate homes and apartment dwellings * * In this proceeding the States of Alaska and Michigan and various municipal and political governments and subdivisions or their authorities proceeded to become party intervenors.

The second numbered action was filed by Lindy Bros, Inc. of Philadelphia as a class action on behalf of “approximately 16,000 builders of home and apartment dwellings throughout the United States * * *

The record before me indicates that forty-nine parties have sought to become intervenors. Both civil actions in the Eastern District Court were assigned as protracted cases to Judge John W. Lord, Jr. A series of motions and a number of hearings were had before Judge Lord as they related to continuances or postponements by the defendants for the filing of answers to the complaints in these civil actions and to postponing or continuing of the time for the filing of answers to the plaintiffs’ interrogatories or other discovery processes.

A number of postponements were granted and Judge Lord, at my request, allowed still further time after the motion for injunction was filed here so that I could hear the parties and inquire into the voluminous pleadings and affidavits and briefs that had been presented to me during the time when I was away from my duties.

Prior to these postponements, Judge Lord had, after filing a comprehensive Memorandum and Order, stated that the plaintiffs in the civil actions had certain rights which should not be prejudiced by any delaying actions of the defendants, and that the requirement for the defendants to answer the complaints and interrogatories did in nowise prejudice the defendants because protective rights would be available to them during the actual discovery processes. On June 7, 1967, he denied the defendants’ motions for a stay of all proceedings. Since Judge Lord’s continuance protected the defendants until July 31, 1967, an argument on the first two motions was ordered by me to be held July 24th.

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Bluebook (online)
272 F. Supp. 691, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-american-radiator-standard-sanitary-corp-pawd-1967.