Gramer

A criminal action brought by the United States against Walter W. Gramer in a federal district court in Minnesota in 1949 charged Gramer, claimant herein, with the introduction into interstate" commerce of misbranded drugs in violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. After a plea of not guilty was entered a trial on the merits was had and the district judge, sitting without a jury, adjudged claimant not guilty.

In January, 1950, two libels were filed by the government in the U. S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, against separate subsequent shipments of the same preparation of drugs as was involved in the Minnesota federal district court, for seizure and condemnation pursuant to provisions of the same act. The cases were consolidated since the articles proceeded against and the charges were the same in both cases. It was undisputed that the contents of the bottles, the accompanying literature, the labeling, and all of the material issues except criminality, raised were the same as those involved in the prior 1949 criminal action.

Claimant’s motion for summary judgment was granted for the reason that the issues raised by the government in the…