United States v. Urbuteit (335 U.S. 355)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided November 22, 1948 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 335 U.S. 355 · 69 S. Ct. 112
- Docket
- No. 13
- Argued
- October 13, 1948
- Decided
- November 22, 1948
- Term
- October Term 1948
- Vote
- 5–4
- Majority author
- Justice Douglas
- Issue area
- Economic Activity
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
How the Justices voted
- Majority
- Chief Justice Vinson, Justice Burton, Justice Douglas (wrote), Justice Reed, Justice Rutledge
- Dissenting
- Justice R. H. Jackson (wrote), Justice Frankfurter (wrote), Justice Black (wrote), Justice Murphy (wrote)
Opinion excerpt
Opinion of the Court by Mr. Justice Douglas, announced by Mr. Justice Reed. The United States filed a libel under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (52 Stat. 1044, 21 U. S. C. § 334), seeking seizure of 16 machines labeled “Sinuothermic.” The libel alleged that the device was misbranded within the meaning of the Act (52 Stat. 1050, 21 U. S. C. § 352 (a)) in that representations in a leaflet entitled “The Road to Health” relative to the curative and therapeutic powers of the device in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment and prevention of disease were false and misleading. It charged that the leaflet had accompanied the device in interstate commerce. Respondent, Fred Urbuteit, appeared as claimant of several of the devices. He admitted that the devices and leaflets had been shipped in interstate commerce,- but denied that they were shipped together or that they were related to each other. He also denied that the statements made in the leaflet were false or misleading. The case was tried without a jury and the articles were ordered condemned. The judgment was reversed by the Court of Appeals. 164 F. 2d 245. The case is here on certiorari to resolve the conflict between it and Kordel v. United States, ante, p. 345. Respondent Urbuteit terms himself a naturopathic physician and conducts the Sinuothermic Institute in Tampa, Florida. The machines against which the…
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