Court refuses one-cent suit
October 1939: The Supreme Court refused to hear the case of C. Leon De Aryan, thereby ending his legal campaign to recover the one cent of sales tax he believed he had been incorrectly charged.
Actually, it was worse than that. The actual amount of the excess charge in question was closer to one-half a cent. De Aryan had bought 15 cents worth of cardboard, and had been charged one cent of sales tax on this purchase. He noted that the tax was three percent. Therefore, he should only have been charged approximately one-half cent of tax, but the retailer rounded up.
I'm guessing De Aryan spent a lot more than one cent in court costs.
This recalls the 1979 case of Frank Makara who felt he had been overcharged $1.95 at the gas station and took his case all the way to the Supreme Court — which then refused to hear it, as it did with De Aryan's case.
Actually, it was worse than that. The actual amount of the excess charge in question was closer to one-half a cent. De Aryan had bought 15 cents worth of cardboard, and had been charged one cent of sales tax on this purchase. He noted that the tax was three percent. Therefore, he should only have been charged approximately one-half cent of tax, but the retailer rounded up.
I'm guessing De Aryan spent a lot more than one cent in court costs.
San Pedro News-Pilot - Oct 9, 1939
This recalls the 1979 case of Frank Makara who felt he had been overcharged $1.95 at the gas station and took his case all the way to the Supreme Court — which then refused to hear it, as it did with De Aryan's case.
Comments
I found a master's thesis about this guy, not about this suit, but about his political activities. Here's the beginning of the abstract: Between the years 1930 and 1965, C. Leon de Aryan wrote and edited a newspaper in San Diego, California entitled The Broom. The newspaper was radical right-wing and antisemitic, and pushed the alternative religion of Mazdaznan, of which de Aryan was a devout follower. This newspaper and the life of de Aryan gives insight to the antisemitism and radical right presence in San Diego, as well as to the diversity of the radical right during the 1930s and 1940s.
Link: http://dspace.calstate.edu/bitstream/handle/10211.3/123291/SmartJuliana_Summer2014.pdf?sequence=1
Link: http://dspace.calstate.edu/bitstream/handle/10211.3/123291/SmartJuliana_Summer2014.pdf?sequence=1
Posted by ges on 11/04/20 at 09:36 PM
With a name like De Aryan, no wonder he's a white supremacist. Or is it De Arayan? This newspaper isn't clear on that point.
Posted by Yudith on 11/05/20 at 05:20 AM
According to this, he changed his name to De Aryan because he was a white supremacist.
http://www.sandiegoyesterday.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/DeAryan.pdf
http://www.sandiegoyesterday.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/DeAryan.pdf
Posted by ges on 11/05/20 at 10:10 PM
More than a white supremacist, I'd say. A facist, if not a Nazi. Crackpot for sure. Running for mayor, he said he would free the city from domination by the gamblers and brothels.
Posted by Virtual in Carnate on 11/06/20 at 12:40 PM
The weirdest thing is, if he was such a virulent anti-Semite (which it appears he really was), he can't have been a devout Mazdaznan...ist? ian? Anyway, that religion claims Jews are part of the Aryan race, because that way they can claim Jesus was Aryan and therefore can be a prophet of their religion. Which is also crackpottery, but not anti-Semitic crackpottery. I wonder how he talked his way around that.
Posted by Richard Bos on 11/07/20 at 03:37 AM
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Category: Lawsuits | 1930s