One, Incorporated, a Corporation v. Otto K. Olesen, Individually and as Postmaster of the City of Los Angeles

The plaintiff, One Incorporated, a California corporation, is the publisher of the magazine entitled “One”, which carries with it the designation, “The Homosexual Magazine”, and is published monthly in the City of Los Angeles, California. The defendant, Otto K. Olesen, is the Postmaster of the City of Los Angeles, California.

Plaintiff delivered to the United States Post Office at Los Angeles, California, for transmission to various parts of the United States, several hundred copies of the October 1954 issue of “One”, and was subsequently notified by the defendant that all copies so deposited for mailing were being withheld from dispatch for the reason that he considered the October 1954 issue of “One” obscene, lewd, lascivious and filthy, and as such constituted non-mailable matter under the provisions of Section 1461 of Title 18 U.S.C.A., and Section 36.2 of Vol. 29, Code of Federal Regulations (1949). Subsequently, all copies of the magazine were returned by the Postmaster to the plaintiff.

Plaintiff then commenced this action seeking a judgment declaring the October 1954 issue of “One” lawful and mailable, and an injunction against the Postmaster, his agents, servants and…