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United States v. Waterman Dock Company

United States District Court, D. Puerto Rico
Mar 31, 1955
131 F. Supp. 956 (D.P.R. 1955)

Opinion

Cr. No. 7243.

March 31, 1955.

Ruben Rodriguez Antongiorgi, U.S. Atty., San Juan, Puerto Rico, for plaintiff.

James R. Beverley, San Juan, Puerto Rico, for defendant.


Defendant corporation has moved to dismiss the indictment on the ground that it fails to state a crime against the United States because it does not negative the exceptions to 29 U.S.C.A. § 186 contained in 29 U.S.C.A. § 186(c).

It is settled law that an indictment founded on a general provision defining the elements of an offense need not negative an exception made by a distinct clause and that it is incumbent on the party relying on such an exception to set it up and establish it. McKelvey v. United States, 260 U.S. 353, 43 S.Ct. 132, 67 L.Ed. 301. In the case now at bar the exception relied on is set up in a separate clause of the statute, and the ingredients constituting the offense may be accurately and clearly defined without reference to the exception which is matter of defense and must be shown by the defendant. See United States v. Cook, 17 Wall. 168, 21 L.Ed. 538.

Moreover, paragraph 5 of the indictment in this case clearly takes the case out of the exception, as it charges that defendant knew that Mejias Rodriguez had performed no work for defendants.

The motion to dismiss the indictment is therefore denied.


Summaries of

United States v. Waterman Dock Company

United States District Court, D. Puerto Rico
Mar 31, 1955
131 F. Supp. 956 (D.P.R. 1955)
Case details for

United States v. Waterman Dock Company

Case Details

Full title:UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. WATERMAN DOCK COMPANY, Inc.…

Court:United States District Court, D. Puerto Rico

Date published: Mar 31, 1955

Citations

131 F. Supp. 956 (D.P.R. 1955)

Citing Cases

United States v. Mejias

I. By its order of March 31, 1955 entered in United States v. Waterman Dock Inc., D.C., 131 F. Supp. 956,…