United States v. Jerry R. Bohonus

The government appeals the dismissal of an indictment against the defendant Jerry R. Bohonus on 12 counts of mail fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1341 .

The district court dismissed the indictment on the ground that § 1341, as applied to the defendant, was unconstitutionally vague. The court also held that the indictment did not allege facts constituting a violation of the mail fraud statute because Congress did not intend that statute to reach employee disloyalty. We reverse and remand for further proceedings.

I. Facts.

The pertinent facts as set forth in the indictment are as follows:

The defendant was employed as an insurance manager by Amerco, a Nevada corporation. U-Haul International was and is a division of Amerco. The defendant was president and a member of the Board of Directors of four Amerco subsidiaries, all of which were insurance companies, and he was the insurance manager for Amerco and for U — Haul.

In January, 1971, Amerco entered into a contract with American Bankers Insurance Company of Florida (hereinafter “American Bankers”). American Bankers was to provide insurance coverage on a retention basis for lessees of U-Haul under what was denominated the…