United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Margolin v. United States, 269 U.S. 93 (1925)

Margolin v. United States

No. 254

Argued October 5, 1925

Decided November 16, 1925

269 U.S. 93

Syllabus

1. Section 13 of the War Risk Insurance Act, as amended May 20, 1918, forbids an attorney to charge more than three dollars for any services rendered a beneficiary in respect of a claim under the Act for insurance on the life of a deceased soldier when no action in court is instituted, and makes the violation of this prohibition a misdemeanor. P. 269 U. S. 101.

2. So construed, the section is not in conflict with the Fifth Amendment. Calhoun v. Massie, 253 U. S. 170. Id.

3. Disregard of the plain language of a statute cannot be justified by reports of the committees in Congress which recommended the bill, or by communications from the head of a department incorporated in the reports. Id.

3 F.2d 602 affirmed.

Certiorari to a judgment of the circuit court of appeals affirming a sentence imposed by the district court on the petitioner for receiving a fee of $1,500 as compensation for services in preparing and presenting to the Veterans' Bureau a claim for insurance money under the War Risk Insurance Act.

Page 269 U. S. 97