United States v. General Motors Corporation

This case began one and one-half years ago when the Grand Jury returned a two-count indictment charging defendants with violations of the antitrust laws. The second count was dismissed by order of this court, dated January 17,1962. On November 20th of last year, this trial began. Now, almost four months later, there are before us over 600 exhibits and over 6,000 pages of recorded testimony. The Government has rested its case and the defense has moved for judgment of acquittal.

The defendants in this criminal proceeding are General Motors Corporation, three associations of Chevrolet dealers (Losor, Foothill and Dealers’ Service, Inc.) and four individuals (Staley, Mays, Cash and O’Connor) who are officials of General Motors Corporation. They are charged in Count One, the only remaining Count of the indictment, with violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act. Specifically, defendants are charged with having conspired to suppress sales of Chevrolet automobiles by Chevrolet dealers through discount houses and referral services by inducing the dealers to terminate selling agreements with the discount houses and referral services. Also in Count One, defendants are charged with having…