Dresser Operations, Inc. v. United States

121 F. Supp. 619, 128 Ct. Cl. 294, 1954 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 134
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedJune 8, 1954
DocketNo. 563-53
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 121 F. Supp. 619 (Dresser Operations, Inc. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dresser Operations, Inc. v. United States, 121 F. Supp. 619, 128 Ct. Cl. 294, 1954 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 134 (cc 1954).

Opinion

Laramore, Judge,

delivered the opinion of the court:

This case is before us on defendant’s motion to dismiss plaintiff’s petition on the ground that the facts alleged therein fail to state a cause of action (1) within the jurisdiction of this court, and/or (2) upon which relief can be granted.

The plaintiff was renegotiated for the fiscal year ended December 31, 1943, and a determination was issued on September 28,1945, under which the net amount due the Government was $231,706.60, after appropriate tax credits.

On May 20, 1949, plaintiff paid to defendant $231,706.60.

The petition recites that the unilateral determination of excessive profits was not timely issued by the renegotiators, and that the amount of the principal was paid to the United States “in order to curtail any further interest accumulation until its rights could be determined, and under compulsion from defendant.”

There is pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California a suit by defendant against plaintiff to recover interest on the alleged renegotiation liability above described.

The petition recites that plaintiff requested a review of said determination of the War Contracts Price Adjustment Board and that said request was denied.

Plaintiff further recites that all liabilities for alleged excessive profits for its fiscal year ended December 31, 1943, were fully discharged on October 23, 1945, for the reason [296]*296the War Contracts Price Adjustment Board made no order determining the amount of plaintiff’s alleged excessive profits for said fiscal year prior to the expiration of one year after the commencement of the renegotiation proceedings and that the determination of the War Contracts Price Adjustment Board was invalid, illegal, and void.

Defendant’s motion to dismiss is based upon the fact that this court does not have jurisdiction over the subject matter of this action and plaintiff’s failure to exhaust its administrative remedy in that plaintiff did not file a petition for a redetermination of its excessive profits in the Tax Court of the United States as permitted by section 403 (e) of the Renegotiation Act of 1942, 56 Stat. 245, 246, as amended 50 U. S. C. App. (1946 ed.) § 1191.

'Plaintiff says that the petition in this case does not seek a redetermination of the amount of excessive profits but. rather seeks a determination of its rights under the statute, i. e., its right of discharge from liability because an order was not made by the War Contracts Price Adjustment Board within one year following the commencement of the renegotiation proceedings. Hence plaintiff is not required under the Renegotiation Act to petition the Tax Court for an order declaring it discharged of liability under section 403 (c) (3). Plaintiff cites in support of this contention the case of Blanchard Machine Co. v. Reconstruction Finance Corporation Price Adjustment Board, 177 F. 2d 727, cert. den. 339 U. S. 912. In that case an issue was raised regarding timeliness of the commencement of renegotiation. We find that the Blanchard case, supra, upon which plaintiff relies, was. specifically modified by the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia by its opinion in the case of United States v. Martin Wunderlich Co., docket nos. 11,446 and 11,447, decided March 25, 1954, reported 6 CCF par. 61,512, in which, the Court of Appeals said:

* * * to the extent the Blanchard case may be construed as holding we have jurisdiction to review the Tax Court’s decision as to timeliness in initiating renegotiation, it is no longer to be regarded as authority..

The position of plaintiff that the question here is not one of redetermination but whether or not the order by the War [297]*297Contracts Price Adjustment Board was timely made is not well taken. Section 403 (e) (1) of the Eenegotiation Act, sufra, provides for the filing of a petition for redetermination of its excessive profits in tbe Tax Court in the following language:

Any contractor or subcontractor aggrieved by an order of the Board determining the amount of excessive profits received or accrued by such contractor or subcontractor may, within ninety days (not counting Sunday or a legal holiday in the District of Columbia as the last day) after the mailing of the notice of such order under subsection (c) (1), file a petition with the Tax Court of the United States for a redetermination thereof. Upon such filing such court shall home exclusive jurisdiction, by order, to finally determine the amount, if any, of such excessive profits received or accrued by the contractor or subcontractor, and such determination shall not be reviewed or redetermined by any court or agency. [Italics supplied.]

Section 403 (c) (1) of the Eenegotiation Act provides:

* * * If the Board does not make an agreement with respect to the elimination of excessive profits received or accrued, it shall issue and enter an order determining the amount, if any, of such excessive profits, and forthwith give notice thereof by registered mail to the contractor or subcontractor. In the absence of the filing of a petition with the Tax Court of the United States under the provisions of and within the time limit prescribed in subsection (e) (1), such order shall be pnal and conclusive and shall not be subject to review or re-determination by any cov/rt or other agency. [Italics supplied.]

These sections vest in the Tax Court an exclusive jurisdiction to determine questions of law and fact relating to the amount of excessive profits. This has been repeatedly held by both this court and the Supreme Court in the cases of Whitehead v. United States, 124 C. Cls. 136; Ring Construction Corp. v. United States, 121 C. Cls. 604, cert. den. 343 U. S. 953; Hickey v. United States, 116 C. Cls. 241; Lichter v. United States, 334 U. S. 742; Aircraft & Diesel Equipment Corp. v. Hirsch, 331 U. S. 752, 767, 781; Macauley v. Waterman Steamship Corp., 327 U. S. 540.

[298]*298In the Richey case, supra, this court stated the rules concisely, at pages 245 and 246, as follows:

The allegations of the petition herein show that the partnership and the individual members thereof, although denying the right of the Secretary of War under the provisions of existing law to make a renegotiation determination and refusing to refund to the rovernment the excess so determined by the Secretary, failed to petition the Tax Court of the United States, pursuant to the statute above referred to, for a final determination of the amount, if any, of excess profits which had accrued to the partnership.

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Bluebook (online)
121 F. Supp. 619, 128 Ct. Cl. 294, 1954 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 134, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dresser-operations-inc-v-united-states-cc-1954.