Grays Ferry Brick Co. v. United States

93 Ct. Cl. 713, 1941 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 136, 1941 WL 4539
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedMarch 3, 1941
DocketNo. 44005; No. 44347; No. 44072; No. 44273; No. 44343; No. 44364
StatusPublished

This text of 93 Ct. Cl. 713 (Grays Ferry Brick Co. 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
Grays Ferry Brick Co. v. United States, 93 Ct. Cl. 713, 1941 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 136, 1941 WL 4539 (cc 1941).

Opinions

Littleton, Judge,

delivered the opinion of the court:

In this case plaintiff seeks to recover $2,441.59 as reimbursement for certain increased costs incurred by it by reason of its compliance with the provisions of the National Industrial Recovery Act of June 16, 1933, 48 Stat. 195, and the President’s Reemployment Agreement thereunder in furnishing material for use in constructing a Post Office Building in Philadelphia. The suit is brought under the act of June 25, 1938, chap. 699, 52 Stat. 1197, which conferred upon this court jurisdiction to hear, determine, and enter judgments against the United States upon claims of the contractors, including ■completing sureties and all subcontractors and materialmen performing work or furnishing material to the contractor or another subcontractor, whose contracts were entered into on or before August 10, 1933, “for increased costs incurred as .a result of the enactment of the National Industrial Recovery Act.” The act further provided that it should not be interpreted as raising any presumption or conclusion of fact or [719]*719law but should be held solely to provide for trial upon the facts as may be alleged, but that judgments under the act “shall be allowed upon a fair and equitable basis.”

Both parties have made and submitted full and complete audits of plaintiff’s operations prior and subsequent to the enactment of the Becovery Act and the signing of the President’s Beemployment Agreement, and there is no dispute between the parties as to the accuracy of the figures in either audit but the parties disagree, first, as to the period of operations prior to the signing of the Beemployment Agreement to be used in determining manufacturing costs to be deducted from such costs incurred subsequent to the signing of such agreement; second, as to the number of bricks supplied for use on the Government contract to which the increased cost a thousand bricks after the signing of the Beemployment.'Agreement should be applied; and, third, the amount of that portion of plaintiff’s claim resulting in increased costs through loss of efficiency by reason of the necessity of having to employ new and untrained men in operating the plant in fulfillment of the contract for furnishing materials for use in construction of the Post Office Building at Philadelphia in conformity with restrictions, and requirements of the Beemployment Agreement.

December 8, 1932, and prior to the enactment of the National Industrial Becovery Act plaintiff entered into an agreement with John B. Kelly, Inc., brick mason subcontractor for the Philadelphia Post Office Building, for future delivery to Kelly of approximately 2,500,000 sand lime bricks as required and called for by Kelly in connection with the subcontract construction work. The evidence shows, without dispute, that plaintiff accepted the order of Kelly and agreed to furnish the necessary number of bricks for $9.50 a thousand in order to help keep its plant running, thus saving losses from inaction of the plant, although plaintiff expected to derive little or no profit from the contract at that price. During the year 1932 plaintiff’s brick plant was operated only to the extent necessary to fill such orders as it received and during the last six months of 1932 the plant was operated only two or three days a month. Plaintiff did not have sufficient open area at its plant to store a large quantity of [720]*720brick and, in 'addition to this, it was the custom of the trade, and more economical, to ship bricks directly from the brick-making machines to railroad cars or trucks, which practice resulted in a saving of $1 a thousand in handling charges. In April 1933 the Kelly Company gave plaintiff a call under its contract for production of bricks and in a continuous operation for approximately ten days plaintiff produced 193,000 bricks which, added to other bricks on hand, were delivered. No further calls for bricks were made by Kelly until October 1933. In the meantime, the National Industrial Recovery Act was approved June 16, 1933, and thereafter, on July 28,1933, plaintiff signed the President’s Reemployment Agreement pursuant to the Recovery Act. In October 1933 Kelly made calls on plaintiff for continuous delivery of brick and in compliance with the President’s Reemployment Agreement the plaintiff, whose plant had been idle since the end of April 1933, shortened its weekly hours of work, increased the pay of its employees, and fully complied with all the terms and provisions of the Reemployment Agreement. After October 1,1933, plaintiff manufactured and delivered, for use in the construction of the Philadelphia Post Office, 1,575,656 bricks, of which 1,393,906 were actually manufactured under the terms and conditions of the Recovery Act and the Reemployment Agreement. The difference of 181,750 brick delivered after October 1, 1938, came out of plaintiff’s inventory of the stock on hand at the time plaintiff signed the Reemployment Agreement on July 28, 1933, which bricks had been manufactured prior to that date.

Both parties agree that plaintiff’s direct labor cost in manufacturing and furnishing bricks in the construction of the Philadelphia Post Office was $3.1274 a thousand after the enactment of the Recovery Act and the signing of the Reemployment Agreement; and while the parties are not in disagreement as to the direct labor cost for manufacturing bricks prior to signing of the Reemployment Agreement, they are not in accord as to the period prior to the signing of such agreement which should be used for the purpose of determining the average direct labor cost per thousand to be applied to the costs subsequent to the date on which plaintiff [721]*721signed and thereafter complied with the Reemployment Agreement for the purpose of determining the increased direct labor cost for which plaintiff, under the act of June 25, 1938, is entitled to reimbursement'.' The defendant has used a 12 months’ period, July 1932 to June 1933, inclusive, and, by so doing, has arrived at a prior direct labor cost of $2.35 a thousand bricks manufactured, which price is arrived at by averaging the direct labor cost over such one-year period. This gives a subsequent N. R. A. increased cost of $0.7734. Plaintiff has used, for the purpose of determining the prior direct labor costs, the six months’ period January to June 1933, inclusive, which it insists should be used because it is more nearly comparable to the operations incident to furnishing the material in question after the signing of the Reemployment Agreement, and arrives at a prior direct labor cost of $1.7694. This gives a subsequent N. R. A. increased cost of $1.3580. The direct labor cost in manufacturing such bricks as plaintiff did manufacture during the last six months of 1932 was $2.9050 a thousand. Upon the evidence and circumstances disclosed by the record, we think plaintiff is correct and that the prior average direct labor cost of $1.7694 over a period of six months from January to June 1933, inclusive, is fair and equitable and more nearly comparable to the subsequent operations of plaintiff in fulfilling its contract and that this average direct labor cost should be used in determining the amount of subsequent increased cost for which the act of June 25, 1938, authorizes reimbursement to plaintiff. On this basis plaintiff’s increased direct labor cost after the signing of the Reemployment Agreement was $1.3580 a thousand bricks and, when applied to 1,393,906 bricks thereafter manufactured at the increased rate, amounts to $1,892.92, for which judgment will be entered. Plaintiff had operated under its contract with the John B.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
93 Ct. Cl. 713, 1941 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 136, 1941 WL 4539, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/grays-ferry-brick-co-v-united-states-cc-1941.