Harding L. Cacy, Daniel W. Campbell, Bart Grant and Sherwin J. Shoen v. United States

Appellants together with five other persons were jointly indicted in an indictment charging nine counts of violation of the Mail Fraud Statute and one count of conspiracy to commit the crime of mail fraud.

The nine substantive counts all related to an over-all scheme to defraud, but each dealt with a separate and specific act of mailing in connection with that scheme. These appellants, although jointly charged upon all counts, were each found guilty upon one substantive count and upon one only and each appellant upon a separate count. None was found guilty of conspiracy.

The principal question presented by this appeal is whether the jury verdict demonstrates misjoinder of parties defendant by determining that each appellant was independently guilty of a separate offense with which the others were not connected. Such is the contention of the appellants.

The scheme, characterized by the government as “the old and familiar franchise racket,” was basically to sell and resell franchises to distribute various products, many of them identical but using different names. By fraudulent misrepresentation and concealment of material facts, persons were induced into paying from $600 to…