P.O.D. Docket No. 2/136
January 08, 1965
In the Matter of the Complaint Against
CORONA SALES COMPANY CORONA SALES CO. CORONA SALES
and
JOHN J. BRADY
at Los Angeles, California
(hereinafter called Respondent)
is engaged in conducting a scheme for obtaining money through
the mails in violation of 39 U.S. Code 4005
(formerly 39 U.S. Code 259 and 732).
P.O.D. Docket No. 2/136;
APPEARANCES:
Ralph B. Manherz, Esq.
Office of the General Counsel
Post Office Department
for the Complainant
Edwin M. Rosendahl, Esq.
4262 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, California
for the Respondent
DEPARTMENTAL DECISION
The Complainant in the above-named case charged the Respondent with conducting a fraudulent scheme in violation of Title 39 U.S. Code 4005 by obtaining remittances of money through the mails by means of false and fraudulent pretenses, representations, and promises as set out in parts (1), (2), (3)(a), (3)(b), and (4) of the Complaint. Part (3)(c) was deleted on Plaintiff's Motion with the consent of the Respondent. 1/ The device involved in this case is called the Coronal Extension. It is a latex band designed to fit over the male penis. Attached to the latex band are latex nodules projecting at two different positions located approximately near four o'clock and eight o'clock on the band. This device used in sexual intercourse is supposed to stimulate by contact a sensitive center of sexual feeling located in the middle third of the female vagina thus creating more satisfying sex relations.
The chief witness for the Complainant was Dr. William Howell Masters, Research Director of the Reproductibility and Research Foundation which is a new foundation chartered in the State of Missouri. Since 1947 Dr. Masters' work has been in reproductive physiology and since 1954 in sexual physiology. Since 1954 his primary research interest has been directed toward investigating the response of the human male and the human female to sexual tensions from an anatomic and a physiologic point of view. He was an obstetrician but now his work is in gynecology, infertility and sexual incompatibility.
The chief witness for the Respondent was Dr. Arnold H. Kegel, a licensed physician since 1934 in the State of California. He has served in several hospitals and at one time did postgraduate work of four years and eight months at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He has held several high positions in the medical profession. He is a member of the American College of Surgeons, International College of Surgeons, California State Medical and Los Angeles County Medical Associations. He is on the staff of the Presbyterian Hospital in California and on that of the Los Angeles County Hospital. At present he is an Associate Professor of gynecology at the University of Southern California and is also Director of Research in connection with certain programs. There is no doubt about the outstanding qualifications of both Dr. Masters and Dr. Kegel.
Dr. Masters maintains because of his research and the devices which he has used in research that there is no sexual stimulation in the inner third or two-thirds of the vagina Tr. 19 as that part of the vagina is extended during sexual intercourse. Dr. Masters used at various times ten couples, several men and prostitutes under observation in the sexual act. As a result of his actual observations Dr. Masters testified that "the clitorus is the most universal stimulatable organ--that the vagina is the most important from the standpoint of the female's enjoyment of the sex act" but Dr. Masters doesn't know what the informed body of medical opinion is Tr. 109. He is convinced that the device--Coronal Extension--involved in this case is of no benefit because the vagina in the sex act is so ballooned that there is no contact.
Dr. Masters further testified Tr. 128 that it is a scientifically established fact from his investigation that the inner two-thirds of the vaginal wall expands during sexual intercourse but why it expands he doesn't know Tr. 130.
From 1932 to the present time Dr. Kegel has done research in physiology and pathology of the neuro musculature of the human female's pelvis. During that period he engaged in clinical application of new findings to his research work and also developed aids in connection with both the research and the diagnostic techniques that he applied Tr. 142.
The first aid was a device called a perineometer. This was used as a means of detecting degrees of awareness of the function of the neuro muscular structures of the pelvis Tr. 142. Dr. Kegel did research in urinary stress and incontinence. His medical career up to 1947 did not concern the sexual process--his chief concern was with the female pelvis. In his investigative work he traveled around the world. It was about in 1936 that Dr. Kegel became aware of what he calls the pubococcygeus muscle in the vagina. In his study of the urinal incontinence he found that a strengthening of this muscle was a deterent in urinary incontinence. He was interested in all the muscles in the pelvic area but found that in his work the strengthening of this pubococcygeus muscle was very beneficial. It was in 1947 that Dr. Kegel realized there was a relationship between the pubococcygeus muscle and sexual satisfaction. With the perineometer aid and with prescribed exercises that were given to women patients--he found that this particular muscle in the vagina was strengthened. He believed and does believe that the most sensitive center in sexual response is in the vagina. This belief led to the eventual development of the Coronal Extension. Counsel for the Post Office Department maintains that the evidence submitted by Dr. Masters is factual but the evidence submitted by Dr. Kegel is opinion. Dr. Masters observed the sexual act while Dr. Kegel did not. But Dr. Kegel has spent thirty-two years in the study of the female pelvis and the muscles therein. Between 1954 and 1964 there were about 4,000 cases referred to him by members of the American Institute of Family Relations, marriage counselors and priests. Dr. Kegel said that when the pubococcygeus muscle was improved in women they admitted that the sexual sensation was inside the vagina.
From all of the detailed medical testimony it would appear that information on particular functions in sex activity in the physical area about which this case is concerned is comparatively new in the medical field. Even though there has been little research, both Dr. Masters and Dr. Kegel have been conscientiously concerned and both have come up with divergent views. Each respects the other. How can anyone then decide that one is right and the other one is wrong? When I believe that the testimony of each was founded on fact my conclusion concerning such divergence cannot hold that the Appellant has violated Title 39 U.S. Code 4005.
Since Dr. Kegel was convinced that the sexual sensation of the female who had a strengthened pubococcygeus muscle in the vagina gives a better sensual sexual perception, he began to think of the possibility of doing something about the male organ so he made a study of it. He saw Mr. Louis W. Linetsky in July of 1962 and eight or nine months later the device in question in this case was made.
Mr. Louis Linetsky is the president of Linetsky Distributors, Inc., doing business under the fictitious name and trade style of Corona Sales Co.
Dr. Kegel admits that he is responsible for the advertising literature and the directions for the use of the device. He also has the right of quality control of the product and receives 15% of the gross sales and up to now has received about $10,000. On April 23, 1963, Dr. Kegel applied for a U. S. patent on the device Coronal Extension.
The fact that one participate in a business deal of the Appellant is an element to be considered in a case of fraud. 2/ It is not conclusive. In the history of this device and its development fraud is not proved. The procedure adopted by Dr. Kegel based upon his research does not show an intent to defraud. I believe that the research made by both doctors is factual, that the conclusion reached by each--even though that conclusion was different--was based on their particular research.
The Judicial Officer agrees with the Hearing Examiner in not admitting into evidence Complainant's Exhibits 3, 3-A, or 3-A-1. This exhibit was a book sold at wholesale by the Linetsky Distributors, Inc., of which Mr. Linetsky is the president. The Complainant argued that the contents of the book would refute the statements made in the advertisements of the Coronal Extension. Mr. Linetsky had not written the book--he sold it. The Hearing Examiner was right in denying the admission of this book as evidence.
The decision of the Hearing Examiner in the above-named case is hereby sustained. There was no violation of Title 39 U.S. Code 4005.
01/08/65
Bosone, Reva Beck
1/ (1) That public attention is attracted to said scheme by means of advertising matter widely distributed to the public and which is calculated and intended to induce readers thereof to remit money through the mails to Respondent;
(2) That attached as exhibits and made a part hereof are copies of advertising matter mentioned in paragraph (1) above;
(3) That by means of the advertising matter mentioned in paragraph (2), and in similar matter, the Respondent represents to the public in substance and effect:
(a) That the use of the Respondent's "Coronal Extension" as directed will provide "men and women who find marital relations disappointing" with "gratifying physical enjoyment from sexual intercourse", that is to say that the said device will provide full and complete satisfaction to any husband and wife from the sex act;
(b) That the said "Coronal Extension" is the answer to the main problem of unsatisfactory sexual intercourse of "men and women", that is to say that it will correct the principal cause of unsatisfactory sexual relations.
(4) That said representations are false and fraudulent.