ment within the limitations of Section 156 of the Judicial Code (28 U. S. C. 262). Standard-Vacuum Oil Co., 137.
II. Where, on August 20, 1942, the War Shipping Admin- istration, acting pursuant to the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, as amended, requisitioned title to and possession of the Maitland No. 1, a car ferry be- longing to the plaintiff, and fixed the sum of $72,500 as just compensation; and where plaintiff, under the provisions of the statute, notified the defendant that the award was not satisfactory and elected to receive 75 percent of the amount awarded by the defendant and reserved its right to sue for the balance; it is held that plaintiff is entitled to recover on the basis of a valuation of $161,833.72, against which the defendant is entitled to credit for the sum of $54,375 paid on June 10, 1944; and plaintiff is further entitled to recover compensation measured by interest at 4 percent per annum for delay in payment on $161,- 833.72 from August 20, 1942, to June 10, 1944, and on $107,458.72 from June 10, 1944, to date of payment. Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo Navi- gation Co., 240.
III. In ascertaining a fair valuation of the Maitland No. 1, at the time of taking, where it is found that the vessel had a value in excess of the residual value of an obsolete car ferry not in actual opera- tion in 1942, the earnings of the vessel during the time it was in operation are given consideration as well as contemporaneous transactions in vessels of close similarity on or about the time the vessel was requisitioned. Id.
RETIREMENT PAY.
See Suit For Salary III, IV, V, VI.
I. Where plaintiffs file joint actions under Rule 9 (a) of the Court of Claims which allows "claimants whose claims arise out of the same transactions, occurrences or series of transactions or occurrences and if any question of law or fact common to all of them will arise in the action" to join in one action as plaintiffs; the Government's motion to dismiss such portions of the claim of each plaintiff as accrued prior to six years before the filing of his suit is granted. Moorehead et al., 298.
II. All of the claimants in the four suits with which the court is here concerned were employees of The Alaska Railroad, an agency of the United States, who claim to have worked more than 40 hours per week at some time since March 28, 1934, and to be entitled to overtime pay under the Act of that date (48 Stat. 509), and the question will arise in each of the instant cases whether the Act of March 28, 1934, is applicable to employees of The Alaska Rail- road. (See Townsley v. United States, 101 C. Cls. 237, affirmed United States v. Townsley, 323 U. S. 557; Hearne v. United States, 107 C. Cls. 335, United States v. Hearne, certiorari denied, 331 U. S. 858; Gray v. United States, 110 C. Cls. 661.) If the Court of Claims should conclude, as a matter of law, that the Act of March 28, 1934, is not appli- cable to the employees of The Alaska Railroad, all these suits would fail and there would be no necessity for taking evidence. The joint actions, therefore, are proper cases for the use of Rule 9 (a) to save trouble and expense to litigants whose cases present a common question. Id.
III. It is a jurisdictional requisite in suits of this nature in the Court of Claims that the claim shall not have accrued more than six years before the filing of the suit, unless the claimant was subject to one of the disabilities named in the Statute of Limitations. (156 Judicial Code, 28 U. S. C. 262, amended after the filing of these suits by the Act of June 25, 1948, 62 Stat. 869, in which Section 2501 of Title 28 U. S. Code is the pertinent section.) Id.
IV. It does not substantially impair the utility for plain- tiffs of Rule 9 (a) to require that, as to each plain- tiff, the petition should show either the accrual of his claim within six years prior to the filing of the petition or a disability which has tolled the statute. The court is impelled to this conclusion both by the jurisdictional quality of the statute in relation to cases in the Court of Claims and by considerations of the economy and convenience of the parties and the court. Id.
SOVEREIGN, ACT OF.
See Contracts XVI.
STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS.
I. Additional adjustments for recovery of income tax, involving amortization of engineering expendi- tures, were properly introduced after the statute
STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS-Continued
of limitations for filing claims had run by amend- ments of pending claims which had been filed on time, where the facts upon which the amended claims were based did not involve a new and un- related ground but bore a close relationship to the original claim for refund, involving a consider- ation of depreciation; and plaintiff is entitled to recover. Addressograph-Multigraph Corporation, 201.
II. The income tax of decedent's estate for 1938 was paid in 1939. The litigation concerning the valid- ity and probate of decedent's will was not finally determined and settled until March 30, 1944, al- most 5 years after the 1938 tax had been paid; and long before that date (March 1944), the time within which an original refund claim could be filed had expired under the statute of limitation of 3 years from the due date of the return and 2 years from the payment of the tax. However, soon after the will had been admitted to probate and plaintiff Roe had been appointed executor the estate made written application to the Commissioner asking that the refund claim of September 28, 1941, be al- lowed for the amount of tax overpaid for 1938, but no action was taken on this application and sub- sequently the instant suit was filed. It is held that the application of the plaintiff to the Commis- sioner was proper and the suit was not barred by the statute. Roe, 224.
III. Where plaintiffs file joint actions under Rule 9 (a) of the Court of Claims which allows "claimants whose claims arise out of the same transactions, occurrences, or series of transactions or occurrences and if any question of law or fact common to all of them will arise in the action" to join in one action as plaintiffs; the Government's motion to dismiss such portions of the claim of each plaintiff as accrued prior to 6 years before the filing of his suit is granted. Moorehead et al., 298.
IV. All of the claimants in the four suits with which the court is here concerned were employees of The Alaska Railroad, an agency of the United States, who claim to have worked more than 40 hours per week at some time since March 28, 1934, and to be entitled to overtime pay under the Act of that date (48 Stat. 509), and the question will arise in each of the instant cases whether the Act of March
STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS-Continued
28, 1934, is applicable to employees of The Alaska Railroad. (See Townsley v. United States, 101 C. Cls. 237, affirmed United States v. Townsley, 323 U. S. 557; Hearne v. United States, 107 C. Cls. 335, United States v. Hearne, certiorari denied, 331 U. S. 858; Gray V. United States, 110 C. Cls. 661.) If the Court of Claims should conclude, as a matter of law, that the Act of March 28, 1934, is not ap- plicable to the employees of The Alaska Railroad, all these suits would fail and there would be no necessity for taking evidence. The joint ac- tions, therefore, are proper cases for the use of Rule 9 (a) to save trouble and expense to litigants whose cases present a common question. Id. V. It is a jurisdictional requisite in suits of this nature in the Court of Claims that the claim shall not have accrued more than 6 years before the filing of the suit, unless the claimant was subject to one of the disabilities named in the Statute of Limita- tions. (156 Judicial Code, 28 U. S. C. 262, amended after the filing of these suits by the Act of June 25, 1948, 62 Stat. 869, in which Section 2501 of Title 28 U. S. Code is the pertinent section.) Id.
VI. It does not substantially impair the utility for plain- tiffs of Rule 9 (a) to require that, as to each plaintiff, the petition should show either the ac- crual of his claim within 6 years prior to the filing of the petition or a disability which has tolled the statute. The court is impelled to this conclusion both by the jurisdictional quality of the statute in relation to cases in the Court of Claims and by considerations of the economy and con- venience of the parties and the court. Id.
VII. Where, on December 24, 1941, the War Department
requisitioned certain automobiles and equipment from the plaintiff, Reliance Motors, Inc., a corpo- ration organized under the laws of the Philippine Islands, then a possession of the United States, and on December 30, 1941, issued a check to said plaintiff in payment therefor; and where it is alleged that on account of the Japanese invasion and occupation of the islands the plaintiff corpo- ration was unable to deposit promptly the check which was in the possession of an officer of the corporation, W. A. H. Duff, who was captured and imprisoned; and where, during the imprisonment
STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS-Continued
of Duff and another officer of the corporation, Keiffer, the two endorsed the check in blank as officers of the corporation and in June 1942 ex- changed it with persons outside the prison camp for pesos at a discount; the plaintiff on June 15, 1945, made demand upon defendant for payment of the full amount of the check, $4,300, alleging that at the time of their endorsement Duff and Keiffer were no longer officers or agents of the corporation and had no authority to act for or on behalf of nor to bind the corporation. No action having been taken on plaintiff's claim, suit was filed in the Court of Claims December 12, 1947. Reliance Motors, etc., 324.
VIII. By leave of the court, and without objection, on April 16, 1948, an intervening petition was filed by E. Awad & Company, Inc., also a Philippine corporation, alleging that during June 1942 Reli- ance Motors, Inc., endorsed and caused to be delivered to the intervenor through its then presi- dent, Samuel E. Awad, at Manila, the U. S. Treas- ury check in question "in exchange for the full amount of said check then and there paid in lawful Philippine currency." Because of the continued Japanese occupation, the check could not be deposited or presented for payment and was accordingly retained by the intervenor until December 1944, at which time Awad was arrested by the Japanese forces and presumably put to death. All property of E. Awad & Company, Inc., including the check, was seized and the check was presumably destroyed. Id.
IX. Plaintiff's motion to dismiss the intervening petition upon the ground that the claim first accrued at the time of the check, dated December 30, 1941, should have been presented for payment and that the claim on which the intervening petition is based accrued December 31, 1941, and was barred more than four months before such petition was filed on April 16, 1948, is denied. Id.
X. The general rule is that a claim accrues, within the meaning of the statute (28 U. S. C. 262), when all the events have occurred which fix the liability of the United States to a claimant and which entitle such claimant to sue thereon. Where two parties assert ownership of a claim against the United States under circumstances such as the instant
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