Earle v. United States

148 F. Supp. 822, 1957 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4118
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. New York
DecidedFebruary 14, 1957
DocketNo. 14776
StatusPublished

This text of 148 F. Supp. 822 (Earle v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Earle v. United States, 148 F. Supp. 822, 1957 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4118 (E.D.N.Y. 1957).

Opinion

RAYFIEL, District Judge.

This is an action under section 1346 (a) (2) of Title 28 U.S.Code, for the recovery of the proceeds of a United States Treasury Bond in the amount of $500, and has been submitted for determination on the following agreed statement of facts:

The bond was posted by the plaintiff on May 28, 1953 in behalf of one Urcella Sibblies, an alien, who had been [823]*823admitted into the United States at the Port of Miami, Florida, on June 8, 1952 for a period of six months, pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(2) of the Immigration Act of 1924, as amended, 8 U.S.C.A. § 1101(a) (15) (B), as a visitor for pleasure and medical treatment.

Thereafter, on three occasions, the said alien applied for and obtained extensions of stay to remain temporarily in the United States, the first until June 8, 1953, the second until December 8, 1953 and the third until March 8, 1954.

The said Service, as a condition of the granting of the second extension, required that the alien post with it a bond in the principal sum of $500, conditioned for her departure from the United States within the time allotted to her, and also for her compliance with the conditions of her admission into the United States.

On May 28, 1953 the plaintiff duly posted a United States Treasury Bond in the principal sum of $500, and executed an agreement or form prepared by the Service, entitled “Bond Conditioned for Departure of an Alien Temporarily Admitted as a Visitor for Business or Pleasure.”

The said bond contained, among others, the following provisos:

“Now, Therefore, the conditions of this bond are such that if the said alien is permitted to remain temporarily as a visitor for business or pleasure (or is granted an extension of the period of her admission for such purpose or purposes), and if the said alien shall in all respects, comply with the conditions of her admission (or of the extension of the period of her admission) and shall actually depart permanently from the United States without expense thereto in any event on or before December 8, 1953, or such subsequent date as may be (sic by) proper order be fixed in extension of such date and if the immigration officer in charge of the port of Miami and New York shall receive from the above-bounden obligors satisfactory evidence of the time and place of such departure prior to the expiration of thirty (30) days from the date of such departure; then this obligation shall be void; otherwise, it shall remain in full force and virtue.”
******
“It is specially stipulated and agreed that by the obligors hereto and each of them that, if the appropriate officers of the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service shall authorize an extension of time within which the alien is required to depart from the United States, notice of such authorization is hereby waived, and no authorization of such extension, with or without notice to the said obligors, shall in any way diminish or extinguish the obligation hereunder of the said obligors.”

On May 28, 1953, upon the deposit of the said bond and the execution of said agreement or form, the said alien was granted permission to remain in the United States until December 8, 1953, which period was, on application of the alien, further extended to March 8, 1954.

On January 19, 1954 the said alien made a voluntary statement, under oath, to an investigating officer of the Service, which included the following questions and answers:

“Q. Are you employed? If so, where? A. Yes, by Mr. and Mrs. S. Silverstein, 140 Norma Road, Tea-neck, New Jersey.
“Q. When did you gain employment after your entry into the United States? A. I went to work for Mr. and Mrs. S. Silverstein, 140 Norma Road, Teaneck, New Jersey, about December 4, 1953.”

On January 19, 1954 an Immigration Warrant of Arrest was issued on a charge that the alien had violated Section 241(a) (9) of the Immigration and [824]*824Nationality Act of 1952 8 U.S-.C.A. § 1251(a) (9) in that she had failed to comply with the conditions of her status as a non-immigrant, to wit, as a visitor for pleasure under Section 3(2) of the Immigration Act of 1924.

On January 19, 1954 the alien waived all further proceedings and was granted the privilege of voluntary departure from the United States, to be effected not later than January 30, 1954.

On January 29, 1954, the alien, without expense to the Government, voluntarily departed from the United States from the port of Miami, Florida.

On March 10, 1954, in a letter of which the following is a copy, the District Director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service informed the plaintiff that the condition of the aforementioned departure bond had been violated.

“Re: Ureella Sibblies
“Sir or Madam:
“You are hereby notified that the condition of the $500.00 departure bond dated May 28, 1953, on which you are an obligor with respect to the above-named, has been violated. It has been concluded that the bond executed by you has been breached for the following reasons: subject arrived in the United States at Miami, Florida on June 8, 1952 and was admitted as a visitor. After a $500.00 departure bond was posted in her behalf on May 28, 1953 she received an extension of stay until December 8, 1953. She received a further extension of stay under bond until March 8, 1954. The subject breached the terms of the bond by accepting employment on December 4, 1953. A Warrant of Arrest was issued in her case on January 19, 1954. She was subsequently granted the privilege oi voluntary departure and departed from the United States from Miami, Florida on January 29, 1954; but this did not negate the previous breach of the terms of the bond by her acceptance of employment on December 4, 1953.
“Very truly yours,
“(Signed)
“Edw. J. Shaughnessy
“District Director
“New York District"

Plaintiff has duly demanded that the* said departure bond be cancelled and that the United States Treasury bond deposited with the Service, or its equivalent in cash, be returned to him, but the defendant has refused to comply with said demand.

The foregoing constitutes the entire-statement of facts on which this action has been submitted for determination.

The language of the departure bond appears to be .clear and unequivocal. It provides that the conditions to be performed in order to void obligation thereunder are conjunctive, that is to say, that the alien was required not only, to comply with the conditions of her admission but also to make her departure from the United States not later than the date therein provided for, or any extensions thereof.

In support of its contention the Government has cited the case of Watzek v. United States, D.C., 134 F.Supp. 605, involving similar facts, which Judge Palmieri decided in favor of the Government, declaring forfeit the bond posted therein.

The bond in the Watzek case appears to have been similar in form and content with that in the instant case, and I am in agreement with Judge Palmieri’s interpretation thereof.

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Related

Watzek v. United States
134 F. Supp. 605 (S.D. New York, 1955)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
148 F. Supp. 822, 1957 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4118, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/earle-v-united-states-nyed-1957.