Blumenstock Bros. Advertising Agency v. Curtis Pub. Co., 252 U.S. 436 (1920)

Blumenstock Brothers Advertising Agency

v. Curtis Publishing Company
No. 197

Submitted January 2, 1920
Decided April 19, 1920
252 U.S. 436

ERROR TO THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS

Syllabus

Jurisdiction based on diverse citizenship cannot be maintained in the district court, over defendant’s objection, in a district where neither party resides. P. 440.

To confer jurisdiction on the district court over an action for triple damages under § 7 of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, a claim under the statute, plainly real and substantial, must be set up by the averments. Id.

A business conducted by an advertising agency of placing, by contracts with publishers, advertisements for manufacturers and merchants, in magazines which are published and distributed throughout the United States is not interstate commerce, although the circulation and distribution of the publications themselves be such, and a declaration claiming triple damages for injury alleged to have resulted from refusal of a publisher to accept such advertisements from such an agency pursuant to an attempt of the publisher to monopolize the business of publishing such advertising matter fails to state a claim or cause of action of the substantial character requisite to confer jurisdiction on the district court under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. P. 441. International Textbook Co. v. Pigg, 217 U.S. 91, distinguished.

Affirmed.

The case is stated in the opinion.