Duesenberg Motors Corp. v. United States

56 Ct. Cl. 96, 1921 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 180, 1921 WL 1237
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedFebruary 21, 1921
DocketNo. 34655
StatusPublished

This text of 56 Ct. Cl. 96 (Duesenberg Motors Corp. 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
Duesenberg Motors Corp. v. United States, 56 Ct. Cl. 96, 1921 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 180, 1921 WL 1237 (cc 1921).

Opinion

Hat, Judge,

delivered the opinion of the court:

This is a suit brought by the Dusenberg Motors Corporation against the United States for $1,201,851.96. The defendant has demurred to the petition of the plaintiff.

The facts stated in the petition are as follows:

The plaintiff is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of New York. The plaintiff, on November 20, 1917, entered into a contract with the United States for the production of 500 Liberty aircraft engines or motors and their spare parts. It was stated in the contract that said engines were to be “in accordance with the drawings and specifications attached hereto,” but no such drawings or specifications were annexed to the contract. The contract is set out in full, and annexed to the petition as Exhibit A.

At the time of entering into said contract the plaintiff was engaged in producing internal-combustion engines and had large commercial contracts, and had at that time an unabsorbed investment of $238,261.26 in said commercial contracts ; and by reason of the contract aforesaid it was necessary for the plaintiff to discontinue all of said commercial contracts, and this resulted in the loss to the plaintiff of all said commercial contracts.

The contractor, by said contract, agreed to deliver the 500 engines according to the following schedule: Ten in February, 1918; 50 in March; 125 in April; 165 in May; and 150 [98]*98in June, 1918; payment to be made of all cost, as defined in the contract, of the production of said engines and of an additional sum of $913.05 as a fixed profit on each engine delivered and accepted.

On December 11, 1917, the plaintiff entered into a supplemental agreement with the United States, a copy of which is filed with the petition and marked “ Exhibit'B,” whereby the fixed profit was changed from $913.05 to $625 for each engine, and the amount of estimated cost of production was changed from $6,087 to $5,000, and whereby it was agreed that the United States should place with the plaintiff company an additional order for 500 additional engines.

On December 24,1917, the plaintiff was notified in writing by the United States to stop work on the engines called for in its contract, as it was desired to substitute at least an equal number of engines of a different type; and on January 4, 1918, the plaintiff entered into a further supplemental agreement with the United States (marked Exhibit C and filed with the petition), whereby it was provided that the plaintiff should make for the United States 2,000 Bugatti motors and such spare parts for said motors as the United States might order from time to time in accordance with the specifications to follow. The amount of fixed profit for each article was to be $750 instead of $625, and the estimated cost was changed from $5,000 to $6,000. The articles were to be delivered in numbers fixed in the contract from March, 1918, to September, 1918.

On January 15, 1918, the plaintiff entered into a further supplemental agreement with the United States (rharked “ Exhibit D ” and filed with the petition), whereby the United States agreed to advance to the plaintiff an amount not exceeding $250,000, which the contractor was to repay to the United States with interest at the rate of 5 per cent per annum.

On February 11, 1918, the plaintiff entered into a further agreement with the United States (marked “Exhibit E” and filed with the petition) making further provisions for an advance by the United States to the plaintiff of the sum of $400,000, with interest at the rate of 6 per cent per annum.

[99]*99On February 14, 1918, the plaintiff entered into a further supplemental agreement with the United States (marked “Exhibit F” and filed with the petition) relating to the purchase of the plant of the F. I. A. T. corporation for the sum of $400,000.

On October 23, 1918, the plaintiff entered into a further supplemental agreement with the United States (marked “ Exhibit I ” and filed with the petition), whereby the United States agreed to make a further advance of $1,250,000 to the plaintiff, which the plaintiff agreed to repay with interest at the rate of 6 per cent per annum.

On September 25, 1918, the United States gave the plaintiff a production release, and on October 4,1918, the plaintiff had produced three Bugatti motors.

Active hostilities between the United States and Germany were suspended by the armistice of November 11,1918, and the plaintiff was notified that the United States desired and would take only 40 Bugatti motors of those contracted for, and the United States in accordance with the terms of the contract canceled the same, the contract having provided that if, in the opinion of the Chief Signal Officer of the United States Army the public interests required it, the contract might be terminated by 30 days’ notice in writing to the contractor.

After the termination of the contract a supplemental agreement of settlement was made and entered into on August 14,1919 (a copy of which marked “ Exhibit K ” is filed with the petition). By said agreement a full settlement was made between the parties, except that the plaintiff reserved the right to prosecute in any court of competent jurisdiction (1) a claim for interest for money borrowed by the contractor for the execution of the contract and used in the contract; (2) a claim asserted by the contractor for disbursement of certain expenditures made in connection with its commercial business by the termination of which the plaintiff claimed to have suffered a loss to the amount of such disbursements; and (3) a claim asserted by the contractor arising out of the cancellation of the provisions for the production of Liberty motors and substitution therefor of provisions for the production of Bugatti motors, and de[100]*100lay in production thereof, asserted by the contractor to be due to the Bugatti motors not being ready for production.

The plaintiff in this suit claims that there is due it the sum of $1,201,851.96, which sum is ascertained as follows: Fixed profit for each motor, $750; fixed profit on 2,000 motors, $1,500,000, which last sum is to be credited by the fixed profit on 40 motors, and other items amounting to the sum of $298,148.04.

The plaintiff claims as a part of its expenses in performing the original and supplemental contracts the following sum for interest and revenue stamps, $152,808.93. The plaintiff also claims the sum of $238,261.26, which it claims it had as an unabsorbed investment in its commercial business at the time of entering into the original contract with the United States, and which it claims is a total loss by reason of that contract and the supplemental agreements. The two claims above mentioned are claimed by the plaintiff as alternative to the amount of $1,201,851.96, the first claim reserved in the contract of settlement.

The facts set forth in the petition show the relations of the parties to be those of contractors. Although section 120 of the act of June 3, 1916, 39 Stat., 213 (commonly known as the National Defense Act), is cited in the contract and seems in some way to be relied upon in the plaintiff’s brief, the provisions of that section have nothing to do with contracts between persons and the United States. That section reads as follows:

“ Seo. 120.

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Bluebook (online)
56 Ct. Cl. 96, 1921 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 180, 1921 WL 1237, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/duesenberg-motors-corp-v-united-states-cc-1921.