Travelers Health Association et al. v. Virginia ex rel. State Corporation Commission (339 U.S. 643)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 5, 1950 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 339 U.S. 643 · 70 S. Ct. 927
- Docket
- No. 76
- Argued
- November 15, 1949; reargued April 17, 1950
- Decided
- June 5, 1950
- Term
- October Term 1949
- Vote
- 5–4
- Majority author
- Justice Black
- Issue area
- Due Process
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
How the Justices voted
- Majority
- Chief Justice Vinson, Justice Black (wrote), Justice Douglas (wrote a concurrence), Justice Burton, Justice Clark
- Dissenting
- Justice Reed, Justice Frankfurter, Justice R. H. Jackson, Justice Minton (wrote)
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Black delivered the opinion of the Court. In an effort to protect its citizens from “unfairness, imposition or fraud” in sales of certificates of insurance and other forms of securities, the Virginia “Blue Sky Law” requires those selling or offering such securities to obtain a permit from the State Corporation Commission. Applicants for permits must meet comprehensive conditions: they must, for example, provide detailed information concerning their solvency, and must agree that suits can be filed against them in Virginia by service of process on the Secretary of the Commonwealth. While violation of the Act is a misdemeanor punishable by criminal sanctions, § 6 provides another method for enforcement. After notice and a hearing “on the merits,” the State Corporation Commission is authorized to issue a cease and desist order restraining violations of the Act. The section also provides for service by registered mail where other types of service are unavailable “because the offering is by advertisement and/or solicitation through periodicals, mail, telephone, telegraph, radio, or other means of communication from beyond the limits of the State The highest court of Virginia rejected contentions that this section violates constitutional requirements of due process, and the case is properly here on appeal under 28 U. S. C. § 1257 (2). In this case cease and desist…
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