United States v. One Bay State Roadster

2 F.2d 616, 1924 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1165
CourtDistrict Court, D. Connecticut
DecidedOctober 23, 1924
DocketNo. 2723
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 2 F.2d 616 (United States v. One Bay State Roadster) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Connecticut primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. One Bay State Roadster, 2 F.2d 616, 1924 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1165 (D. Conn. 1924).

Opinion

THOMAS, District Judge.

On March 4, 1924, the government filed a libel against one Bay State roadster, in which it alleged, inter alia, that the motor vehicle described was “used for the purpose of carrying goods and commodities in respeet whereof a tax is imposed, under the internal revenue laws of the United States of America, said tax not having been paid on account of said goods and commodities,” and that said motor vehicle, as a conveyance, was “used * * * to convey * * * intoxicating spirits in respeet whereof a tax is imposed under the internal revenue laws of the United States, said tax not having been paid upon said goods, and said goods and commodities being then and there deposited in said Bay State roadster as a conveyance, with the intent to defraud the United States of said tax.”

The libelant alleges that, because of the above allegations, the automobile “is subject to a libel to seizure and forfeiture as provided in section 3450, Revised Statutes,” and prays that this court may “judge and decree that said automobile be seized and forfeited.”

On April 12, 1924, Conner and Haase, who, it is alleged, were driving the car at the time it was arrested, and one Kerner, the original vendee of the ear, filed answers, denying all of the allegations of the libel. On March 8, 1924, the receiver of the R. H. Long Company, duly appointed by the District Court of Massachusetts, filed his petition, praying for the delivery of the car to him as receiver, as the one entitled to its possession.

By a petition executed on March 14, 1924, the R. H. Long Company, the original vendor, after setting up the facts of the conditional sale and the amount of its interest in the car, prayed for its return, or that it be sold by order of court, and the proceeds, to the extent of its lien, be paid to the petitioner. This petition, which was apparently drawn to comply with the rules laid down in Sylvester v. United States (D. C.) 273 F. 253, was not filed until May 27, 1924,

On May 3, 1924, the R. H. Long Company, by its attorney, filed exceptions to the libel and a motion to dismiss. As the receiver had previously been appointed, it is assumed that the exceptions and motion to dismiss were filed in behalf of the receiver.

Various allegations are made in the exceptions and motion as the basis for the dismissal, but they may be briefly epitomized as follows:

(1) Section 26 of the National Prohibition Act covers every illegal transportation of liquor, and provides for seizure and forfeiture of vehicles used in illegally transporting liquor, and the remedy and procedure herein provided is exclusive.

(2) The automobile in question is not subject to condemnation under section 3450 of the Revised Statutes, because said section was repealed by the National Prohibition Act, in so far as it authorized the seizure and forfeiture of vehicles used in illegally transporting liquor, and because section 26 of that act supersedes section 3450 of the Revised Statutes.

Other allegations appear, but it is unnecessary to discuss them, as they are not material to the question of law here presented. So the matter is now before the court on the exceptions and the motion to dismiss the libel.

Since the motion to dismiss the libel admits, as did demurrers under the former system of pleading, the allegations of fact well pleaded, it must necessarily follow that, if the libel is drawn in conformity with the provisions of section 3450, Revised Statutes (Comp. St. § 6352), and if that section is now in full force and effect, the exceptions must be overruled, and the motion to dismiss denied.

The pertinent parts of section 3450, Revised Statutes, provide as follows:

“Whenever any goods or commodities for or in respeet whereof any tax is or shall he [618]*618imposed * * * are deposited or concealed in any place, with intent to defraud the United States of such-tax, or any part thereof, all such goods and commodities * * * respectively, shall be forfeited; and in every such case * * * every vessel, boat, cart, carriage, or other conveyance whatsoever, and all horses or other animals, and all things used in the removal or for the deposit or concealment thereof, respectively, shall be forfeited. * • * * ”

The government contends, for reasons which will hereafter appear, that, though section 3450 was, in effect, held to be repealed by the National Prohibition Act, in United States v. Yuginovich, 256 U. S. 450, 41 S. Ct. 551, 65 L. Ed. 1043, decided June 1, 1921, the old revenue law has since, by appropriate legislation and decisions interpreting that legislation, been revived, and that when a libel is filed under the provisions of that statute any motor car used for the purposes set forth in that statute is subject to seizure and absolute forfeiture, even if the owner or conditional vendor or mortgagee are entirely innocent of the wrongful and illegal use made of the automobile.

This contention is based upon three grounds:

(A) The provisions of section 3450 of the Revised Statutes;

(B) The Willis Campbell Act, entitled “An act supplemental to the Prohibition Act,” passed by the Congress and approved November 23, 1921; and

(C) The decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States, in Goldsmith-Grant Co. v. United States, 254 U. S. 505, 41 S. Ct. 189, 65 L. Ed. 376, sustaining the constitutionality of section 3450, and the decision of the Supreme Court in United States v. Stafoff, 260 U. S. 477, 43 S. Ct. 197, 67 L. Ed. 358, holding that the revenue laws were revived by the Supplemental Prohibition Act of November 23, 1921, as to conduct subsequent to its enactment, and that Congress may tax what it also forbids.”

On the other hand the petitioner contends that while, prior to the enactment of the National Prohibition Act, an automobile used in the unlawful transportation of intoxicating liquor, on which the tax had not been paid, would have been subject to seizure and forfeiture under section 3450 of the Revised Statutes, that, since the passage of the National Prohibition Act, section 26 of title 2 of that act (Comp. St. Ann. Supp. 1923, § 10138½mm) provides for the seizure and forfeiture of vehicles used in the illegal transportation of liquor and that the remedy and procedure set forth in section 26 are exclusive.

In support of this contention the petitioner cites and relies upon a long line of decisions in the federal courts, and it must be noted that most of them were decided anterior to the passage of the Supplemental Act and the Stafoff decision. Some cases cited and relied upon by the petitioner were decided since the date of the passage of the act on November 23, 1921 (42 Stat. 222), but make no reference to that act; so I conclude that the Supplemental Act was not called to the attention of the courts when the question was presented. But at the expense of repeating, and in order that this question may be definitely settled, in this district at least, I deem it necessary to make reference to some of the cases relied upon by the petitioner, but, before doing so, a brief statement of the facts disclosed is necessary :

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Bluebook (online)
2 F.2d 616, 1924 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1165, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-one-bay-state-roadster-ctd-1924.