United States v. Chrysler Corporation Parts Wholesalers, Northwest Region

An indictment was returned in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington purporting to charge appellees with conspiring to violate the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C.A. § 1 . Appellees moved in the trial court to dismiss on the ground that no criminal offense was alleged in that the indictment failed to state a conspiracy in restraint of trade either “in” interstate commerce or. “affecting” interstate commerce. , The trial, court granted the motion and dismissed the in.dictment. We have then for determination, as did the trial court, the question of whether there can be found within the four corners of ■ the indictment sufficient allegations .to establish that the goods in question movedi in ■ interstate commerce from the manufacturer outside the state of Washington to the consumers within the state of Washington without coming to “rest” in the sense that the flow of the commerce was stopped before the goods reached the consumer and, further, whether the impact of the alleged conspiracy on the sale and distribution of the goods was such as to impede the free and uninterrupted flow thereof in interstate commerce. In considering the sufficiency of the indictment…