Federal Trade Commission v. American Brands Inc.
(Consolidated US Sup Ct. 1921 Denied) Consolidated with Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. v. Engman, Philip Morris Inc. v. Engman, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. v. Engman, Loew's Theaters Inc. v. Engman Citation: 283 F. 999 (3 Oct 1922); 264 U.S. 298 (17 Mar 1924)These consolidated writs of mandamus were brought by the Federal Trade Commission against American Tobacco Co., Brown & Williamson, Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds, Loew's Theaters and Lorillard respectively in pursuance to the resolution passed by the Senate on August 9, 1921. The writs of mandamus were filed on September 16, 1921.
The FTC demanded production of all records from 1921 for inspection regarding market price to producers for domestic and export trade in order to prevent unfair methods of competition in commerce. It alleges that complaints were filed that the defendants regulated their resale prices and that the Senate instructed the Commission to conduct an investigation. The defendants produced certain documents, but refused to produce others.
The case was heard in the United States District Court, Southern District of New York (75 Civ. 4047 through 75 Civ. 4051) before the Honorable Charles R. Tenney. The judge (283 Fed. 999) denied the production of records.
The United States Supreme Court (264 U.S. 298) affirmed the judgment on March 17, 1924. The Court ruled that to allow an agency to search through all of a company's documents in the hope that something will turn up was a violation of Fourth Amendment rights. The agency's subpoena had to instead be limited to those documents it could outline as relevant to the inquiry. Also, the demand had to be reasonable.