United States v. National City Lines, Inc.

118 F. Supp. 465, 1953 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4183
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedDecember 17, 1953
Docket49 C 1364
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 118 F. Supp. 465 (United States v. National City Lines, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. National City Lines, Inc., 118 F. Supp. 465, 1953 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4183 (N.D. Ill. 1953).

Opinion

HOFFMAN, District Judge.

The plaintiff, United States of America, has brought suit against National City Lines, Inc., Pacific City Lines, Inc., Firestone Tire & Rubber Company, General Motors Corporation, Phillips Petroleum Company, Mack Manufacturing Corporation, Standard Oil Company of California, and Federal Engineering Corporation, a Standard subsidiary, to enjoin the violation of Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C.A. §§ 1 and *466 2. The complaint charges, in Paragraph 20, that the defendants “have engaged in an unlawful combination and conspiracy to acquire ownership, control or a substantial financial interest in a substantial part of the local transportation companies in the various cities, towns and counties in the various states of the United States and to restrain and to monopolize the aforesaid interstate commerce in motor buses, petroleum products, tires and tubes sold to local transportation companies in cities, counties and towns in which National, American, a former subsidiary of National, and Pacific have, or have acquired, or in the future acquire, ownership, control or a substantial financial interest in said local transportation companies, all in violation of Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Antitrust Act.”

The plaintiff, in its supplemental complaint, also sets up a prior adjudication of these issues in a criminal prosecution of the same defendants for violation of the Sherman Act, and upon the basis of these allegations now moves for summary judgment in its favor. The indictment in the criminal case contained two counts. The first charged that the defendants “have knowingly and continuously engaged in a wrongful and unlawful combination and conspiracy to acquire or otherwise secure control of or acquire a substantial financial interest in a substantial part of the companies which provide local transportation service in the various cities, towns and counties of the several states of the United States, and to eliminate and exclude all competition in the sale of motor buses, petroleum products, tires and tubes to the local transportation companies owned or controlled by or in which National, American or Pacific had a substantial financial interest, and to local transportation companies in which said companies acquired or, in the future, acquire ownership, control or a substantial financial interest, all in violation of Section 1 of the * * * Sherman Act.”

The second count of the indictment alleged that the defendants “have knowingly, wrongfully and unlawfully combined and conspired to monopolize part of the interstate trade and commerce of the United States, to wit, that part consisting of the sale of motor buses, petroleum products, tires and tubes used by local transportation systems in those cities, towns and counties in which defendants National, American and Pacific owned, controlled or had a substantial financial interest in, or acquired, or in the future acquire, ownership, control or a substantial financial interest in said local transportation systems, in violation of Section 2 of the * * * Sherman Act.”

The criminal prosecution under this indictment resulted in a verdict of acquittal upon the first count, and a verdict of guilty upon the second. The conviction was affirmed upon appeal. United States v. National City Lines, Inc., 7 Cir. 1951, 186 F.2d 562, certiorari denied, 1951, 341 U.S. 916, 71 S.Ct. 735, 95 L.Ed. 1351.

A comparison of the two counts of the indictment with the allegations of the civil complaint filed in this suit reveals that the same offenses are charged in both actions. The first count of the criminal indictment may be summarized, ■for present purposes, as charging the defendants “with restraint of trade in obtaining control of transportation systems plus a conspiracy to restrain competition in sales to those companies.” United States v. National City Lines, Inc., supra, 186 F.2d at page 568.

The second count charges only a conspiracy to monopolize the sales of supplies used by local transportation companies, without the element of a conspir-' acy to obtain control of them. The civil complaint in this case incorporates both conspiracies. The conspiracies alleged in the indictment, in both counts, and in this complaint are all charged as having begun “on or about January 1, 1937.”

The plaintiff, in seeking summary judgment, does not of course urge that the criminal adjudication constitutes a bar to further litigation in so far as it resulted in acquittal. The issues raised by the allegation and denials of a con *467 spiracy to restrain trade by obtaining control of local transportation companies in various cities and to eliminate competition in the sale of supplies to companies of which control was so obtained must therefore remain open upon the trial.

The plaintiff does contend, however, that the defendants are es-topped by their conviction under the second count of the indictment to re-litigate the matters necessarily decided in that conviction. It is clear that they are. Local 167, International Brotherhood of Teamsters v. United States, 1934, 291 U.S. 293, 54 S.Ct. 396, 78 L.Ed. 804; Northwestern Oil Co. v. Socony-Vacuum Oil Co., 7 Cir., 1943, 138 F.2d 967. But the criminal judgment alone does not establish that the plaintiff is entitled to the injunction sought in this proceeding. The purpose of an injunction is to prevent future violations. A determination of some cognizable danger of recurrence is a prerequisite to the relief sought. United States v. W. T. Grant Co., 1953, 345 U.S. 629, 633, 73 S.Ct. 894, 97 L.Ed. 1303; United States v. Oregon State Medical Society, 1952, 343 U.S. 326, 72 S.Ct. 690, 96 L.Ed. 978. The answers filed by the defendants, their responses to interrogatories, and affidavits filed in support of their opposition to this motion deny the continuance of the conspiracy, and tend to show that the offending contracts have expired or been can-celled. It thus appears that a genuine issue' of fact exists upon the question of the threat of future violations, and that question must stand for trial, as the plaintiff concedes.

The defendants apparently agree that re-litigation of some of the matters involved in the criminal case is foreclosed, but they insist that determination of what those matters are should be made in the course of the trial.

It is apparent that the area of ■disagreement between the parties upon this motion is narrow. In substance, the problem is whether an order limiting the issues should be entered now, or should await the trial. Under the practice prevailing before the adoption of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, 28 U.S.C.A., such matters were properly settled .before trial by means of motions addressed to the pleadings. Thus in a suit by the United States to enjoin violation 'of the Sherman Act, the defendants’ denial of matters previously decided by a criminal conviction could be stricken as sham.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Industrial Building Materials, Inc. v. Interchemical Corp.
278 F. Supp. 938 (C.D. California, 1967)
United States v. JM Huber Corporation
179 F. Supp. 570 (S.D. New York, 1959)
United States v. Logan Co.
147 F. Supp. 330 (W.D. Pennsylvania, 1957)
United States v. National City Lines, Inc.
134 F. Supp. 350 (N.D. Illinois, 1955)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
118 F. Supp. 465, 1953 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4183, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-national-city-lines-inc-ilnd-1953.