Henry Armstrong, Administrator of the Estate of Ella Armstrong, Deceased v. United States v. Carrie Holmes and Sarah Duhart, Third-Party

283 F.2d 122, 1960 U.S. App. LEXIS 3590
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedOctober 12, 1960
Docket13196_1
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 283 F.2d 122 (Henry Armstrong, Administrator of the Estate of Ella Armstrong, Deceased v. United States v. Carrie Holmes and Sarah Duhart, Third-Party) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Henry Armstrong, Administrator of the Estate of Ella Armstrong, Deceased v. United States v. Carrie Holmes and Sarah Duhart, Third-Party, 283 F.2d 122, 1960 U.S. App. LEXIS 3590 (3d Cir. 1960).

Opinions

KALODNER, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiff, Henry Armstrong, Administrator of the Estate of Ella Armstrong, deceased, brought suit against the United States seeking payment of $1,-400 1 which the deceased had deposited during her lifetime in the Postal Savings System. The United States filed a third-party complaint against Sarah Duhart and Carrie Holmes, sisters of the deceased, premised on their receipt of the $1,400 from the Postal Savings System. The $1,400 had been paid to Sarah pursuant to a withdrawal order2 executed by the deceased during her lifetime. Sarah, it appears had given $400 of the sum which she received to Carrie.

The District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, after trial, directed entry of judgment for the United States on the merits.3 The issues raised by the third-party complaint against the sisters of the deceased were declared moot. The Opinion of the District Court, making detailed Findings of Facts and stating Conclusions of Law, is reported at 171 F.Supp. 835 (D.C.E.D. Pa.1959).

Only the facts stated are critical to our disposition inasmuch as they establish that the District Court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the action against the United States and should have dismissed it for that reason.

It is true that United States in its Answer to the plaintiff’s Amended Complaint admitted jurisdiction, but it is settled that the United States Attorney has no power to waive jurisdictional requirements with respect to suits against the United States or to consent to such a suit. Munro v. United States, 1938, 303 U.S. 36, 39, 58 S.Ct. 421, 82 L.Ed. 633. It is also settled, that although the jurisdictional issue has not been raised by the United States on this appeal, we must consider the statutory requirements for maintaining an action against the United States, since, as we said in Rodinciuc v. United States, 1949, 175 F.2d 479, 481, certiorari denied 338 U.S. 895, 70 S.Ct. 234, 94 L.Ed. 550:

“A clear failure to comply with the conditions laid down by statute for suits against the United States may not be waived.”

Anent the foregoing the plaintiff in Paragraph 1 of his Amended Complaint averred:

“This action relates to the Postal Savings System, and jurisdiction is founded upon the existence of questions arising under provisions of Act of June 25, 1948 c 646 62 Stat. 933 as amended, 28 U.S.C.A. 1346 (a) known as the Tucker Act, and under provisions of Act of August 24, 1912, c 389 Par. 10, 37 Stat. 559, 39 U.S.C.A. 768, and the Postal Laws and Regulations.”

In Para. 3 of his Amended Complaint plaintiff averred:

[124]*124“The Defendant is the United States of America acting at the times complained of by and through the Postal Savings System of the United States Post Office Department, a duly authorized and properly constituted Executive Department of said Defendant.” (Emphasis supplied.)

The United States in its Answer stated in its “Second Defense”:

“The United States of America admits the allegations contained in paragraphs 1 and 3. * * * ”

The Tucker Act provides in relevant part:

“(a) The district courts shall have original jurisdiction, concurrent with the Court of Claims, of: “(1) * * *
“(2) Any other civil "action or claim against the United States, not exceeding $10,000 in amount, founded either upon the Constitution, or any Act of Congress, or any regulation of an executive department, or upon any express or implied contract with the United States, or for liquidated or unliquidated damages in cases not sounding in tort.” (Emphasis supplied.) [125]*125community where the deposit was made, and the withdrawals or repayments to be made at the place of deposit and from deposits within the State or community. Interest was to be paid on the deposits, and as provided in the act interest was collected from the banks on the deposits held by them. No part of the fund, it will be observed, went into the Treasury of the United States or became the property of the United States. It was held in trust separate and apart from the funds of the Government. Such being the case the Secretary of the Treasury has no fund out of which to pay the judgment of this court, as it is not payable out of any Government funds. The debt due on this deposit is not a liability of the United States payable out of its funds. It is payable out of the funds in the hands of the trustees, namely, the funds deposited under the postal savings system, and such regulations as they had promulgated as to withdrawals and conditions of payment.

[124]*124It is apparent from the plain terms of the Tucker Act that in order for the plaintiff to maintain his action it was incumbent on him to establish that it was founded on an “Act of Congress” or “any regulation of an executive department” of the United States, “or upon any express or implied contract with the United States” since it was not premised “upon the Constitution.” Assuming that the plaintiff was relying on the Federal Tort Claims Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1346(b), although he had not in fact pleaded it as a basis for jurisdiction, it was also incumbent on him to establish liability on the part of the United States.

The Postal Savings Bank Act of June 25, 1910, c. 386, § 1, 36 Stat. 814; as amended, August 24, 1912, c. 389, § 10, 37 Stat. 559; September 23, 1914, c. 308, 38 Stat. 716 and August 14, 1958, P.L. 85-634, 72 Stat. 589,4 creates “a board of trustees for the control, supervision, and administration of the postal savings depository offices designated and established under the provisions of this Act and of the funds received as deposits at such postal savings depository offices by virtue thereof” (emphasis supplied) and contains nothing which would afford a premise for plaintiff’s contention that the board of trustees was “a duly authorized and properly constituted Executive Department of the United States”, as alleged by the Amended Complaint (para. 1).

In the leading case of Leka v. United States, 1930, 69 Ct.Cl. 79 it was expressly held that a debt due on a deposit in the postal savings system “is not a liability of the United States payable out of its funds” and that “The United States has nowhere in this act provided for a suit against it or consented to be sued.”

In United States v. Stewart, 9 Cir., 1941, 119 F.2d 492, 493, it was held that Congress has not authorized suit against the United States in the Postal Savings Bank Act of 1910, and that “the money [deposited in the postal savings system] is not the property of the United States nor of the Post Office Department.”

In Bell-Dowlen Mills v. Draper, 1935, 169 Tenn. 112, 83 S.W.2d 247

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283 F.2d 122, 1960 U.S. App. LEXIS 3590, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/henry-armstrong-administrator-of-the-estate-of-ella-armstrong-deceased-v-ca3-1960.