Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-07-23
CASE IN WHICH Lands FoUNNy
AGAINST OIL COMPANY FOR
s2s,24oooo REVERSED AND RE-
MANDED FOR NEW TRIAL.
DECISION OF THREE
JUDGED UNANIMOUS
OPINION WAS RETURNED TODAY
BY THE UNITED STATES COURT
OF APPEALS, WHERE 1T HAD
BEEN CARRIED RY COMPANY. 5

Chicago July 22.--The United States
court of appeals today reversed the de-
cision of Judge Lands of the United
States district court in the case
against the Standard Oil Co., of In
diana in which Landis inflicted fine
Of $29,240,000 upon the company. The
case was remanded to the lower court
for a new trial. The decision of the
three appellate judges was unanimous.
The Gist Of the Decision.
The court of appeals differs with
the trial court on three vital points,
holding that Judge Lands excluded
evidence for the Standard Oil com
pany which should have been admit
ted to show proper intent in the rate
the company paid on oil; that he erred
| In considering each carload separ-
ate offense; that in imposing the
maximum fine for the first offense he
| abused the discretion vested in his
court.
1t is strange doctrine says the
| opinion, where a million dollar cor
poration as defendant, the Standard
Oil company Of Indiagfs ipasstDe tiue8
Twenty times the amount OF its
l,capital stock in order to punish de.
fendant not even under Indictment.
4 BY this latter is meant the parent
company, the Standard Oil company
of New Jersey.
indictments TWO Years Ago.
The indictments upon which the
big fine was assessed were returned
by the federal grand jury on August
/ 27, 1906.
Originally there were ten of these
| indictments, all of which related to
/ the shipment of oil from Whiting. Ind.
to various points in Illinois and Mis-
souri,. Probably the most important
of these shipments as far as court
evidence was concerned involved
the Chicago and Alton road.
4 The first two indictments contained
! 1908 and 134 counts respectively and
referred to shipments made over the
Alton from Whiting to East st. Louis,
On each and every one of these ship
A ments 1t was proved the oil company
had been paid rebates.
District Attorney Sims rushed the
case to trial and on March a, 1907, the
& selection of Jurors was begun. Twen-
\ #ty-four hours later evidence was be-,
ing heard. The trial lasted but six
weeks. During this time there were
no Saturday. adjournments and one
evening session was held.
Case Long Drawn Out
The trial of the Standard Oil case.
while establishing precedents each
day in the prosecution of law-violat-
!. ing corporations, was the most impor-
in, - -, =
documentary evidence ever tried in
the federal courts of Illinois. The
transcript OF the case covered more
than 1000 pages of typewriter man-
uscript, or more than 100000 words.
Twenty-Five extra clerks were em-
J ployed continuously for several
months preceding and during the trial
in the office of the district attorney
The trial of the case was equivar
lent to the hearing of 1903 lawsuits
I in one. 1t was necessary for the pros
ecution to call scores of witnesses to
prove infinitesimal details of the ship.
ments Of oil, each point of which was
fought oy the corporation lawyers.
! The government was forced to put
on the stand witnesses who had seen
!. each car of oil, either in the railroad
vards, at tne point OF desllnatlon OF
at the place where 1t was unloaded.
The principal points relied upon by
the defense were that the government
failed to prove the publication Of tar
ifs showing the lawful rate required
by the interstate commerce act. Judge
Landis' decisions were broad and lib.
eral and caused repeated objections
from Attorney Miller and his assist.
ants, who were sharply hit in the de-
cision Of the Judge