COOPER et al. v. UNITED STATES

COOPER et al. v. UNITED STATES. The decision in UNITED STATES v. COOPER et al. was appealed in the 8th Circuit Court of Iowa in 1925.

Lawyers for the A. A. COOPER WAGON AND BUGGY COMPANY raised several issues on appeal. They argued at the indictment should have been quashed because of an improper search and seizure of private papers. They further argued that the use of improperly obtained papers led to tainted evidence. Both arguments were rejected on appeal.

Lawyers also appealed that there had been an improper admission of books of the corporation as they were not books of individual defendants. They also disagreed with the admission of experts' books rather than the actual records. These issues too were rejected by the court.

The court, however, found 131 errors in the lower court's handling of the case. The court found that there had been a failure to instruct the jury that they should not hold the owners responsible for clerical mistakes by employees. The lower court had also failed to provide clear instruction about agency-court. The issue was the business could be a co-partnership or an agency, but it could not be both. Lastly, the court failed to instruct the jury about honest belief, good faith, and lack of criminal intent issues on the part of the Wagon Works.

The verdict finding the owners of the Wagon Works guilty in the lower court was overturned. There is no evidence that the charges were ever re-investigated or the defendants being retried.

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Source:

Circuit Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit. COOPER v. UNITED STATES 9 F.2d 216 (8th Cir. 1925) Online: https://casetext.com/case/cooper-v-united-states-25

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