ITT Gilfillan, Inc. v. United States

471 F.2d 1382, 200 Ct. Cl. 367, 1973 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 3
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedJanuary 18, 1973
DocketNo. 356-68
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 471 F.2d 1382 (ITT Gilfillan, 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
ITT Gilfillan, Inc. v. United States, 471 F.2d 1382, 200 Ct. Cl. 367, 1973 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 3 (cc 1973).

Opinion

Nichols, Judge,

delivered the opinion of the court:

This is a contract case before the court on cross motions for summary judgment pursuant to Buie 163(b). Plaintiff seeks review of a decision of the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals (ASBCA), 68-2 BCA ¶ 7086, alleging that the Board’s decision did not meet the standards set forth in part two of the Wunderlich Act, 41 U.S.C. §§ 321,322 (1964).

The question raised in this case is whether ITT Gilfillan, Inc., is entitled to be reimbursed under certain cost reimbursement contracts for corporate service charges (G & A) and corporate research fund charges (IB, & D) incurred by ITT Corporation and assessed against its subsidiaries, including plaintiff. At issue are two contracts. The parties agree that the result as to the two contracts will control similar costs on fourteen other contracts. All sixteen contracts were among some 443 contracts transferred, all made with the Gilfillan Corporation, or its predecessor.

Gilfillan Brothers Inc., was a closely held corporation of excellent repute for efficiency, engaged in the design and manufacture of radar equipment. The principal stockholders were members of the Gilfillan family. In 1962 that corporation’s name was changed to Gilfillan Corporation. On January 30,1964, immediately prior to the transfer here involved the corporate name was changed to 1815 Venice Boulevard Corporation. On that same date all of the assets of 1815 Venice Boulevard Corporation were transferred to plaintiff, ITT Gilfillan (hereafter ITT G), a wholly owned subsidiary of the well know ITT Corporation. Also on that date the Government recognized by a novation agreement with ITT G and 1815 Venice Boulevard Corporation the [370]*370transfer of some M3 contracts, including the contracts here in question, to the plaintiff.

The novation agreement, which was incorporated by amendment into the transferred contracts, states in pertinent part in paragraph 16:

16. The Transferor and the Transferee hereby agree that the Government shall not be obligated to pay or reimburse them or either of them for, or otherwise give effect to, any costs, taxes or other expenses, or any increases therein, directly or indirectly arising out of, resulting from, or attributable to (i) said assignment, conveyance or transfer, or (ii) this Agreement, and that no claim for payment by or reimbursement from the Government shall be made by either of them with respect to such items, other than those which the Government, in the absence of said assignment, conveyance and transfer, or this Agreement, would have been obligated to pay or reimburse under the terms of the Contracts in effect prior to the execution of this Agreement.

The dispute as to the application of the novation agreement arose in April, 1965, when ITT G presented cost vouchers to defendant’s contracting officer seeking reimbursement for the allocable portions of assessments for IB. & D and G & A costs which it had paid to ITT Corporation. The contracting officer viewed the costs as being barred by paragraph 16, and disallowed them. Plaintiff appealed this decision to the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals (the Board). In a carefully considered and well reasoned decision the Board made fact findings in great detail, discussed the applicable law in depth, and upheld the contracting officer’s decision, on the basis of the novation agreement.

In its petition before this court, plaintiff contends that the decision of the Board was erroneous as to matters of law and therefore should be overturned. Neither side takes exception to the Board’s numbered findings, but plaintiff rejects some of its ultimate factual conclusions. In its petition plaintiff includes two counts. The first is under the Wunder-lich Act, supra, alleging legal error by the Board, and the second is a breach claim. In its brief in support of its motion for summary judgment plaintiff urges alternatively that it should be granted a trial de novo on its second claim. We hold [371]*371that the issues presented in both claims are such that they can be disposed of now.

In its first claim for relief (count I of plaintiff’s petition), plaintiff contends (1) that the novation agreement lacked consideration and was therefore a nullity, and (2) that even if the novation agreement is held to be effective it was not intended to bar recovery of the costs in question.

That the novation agreement lacked consideration and therefore is of no effect is urged on the premise that the transfer of the contracts took place by operation of law, as the result of a corporate merger. If the transfer was by operation of law, the plaintiff argues, then there was no need to enter into a novation agreement. The Government’s consent to the transfer was, it says, not required. In support of this argument the plaintiff points to an administrative decision made by the IES in response to questions concerning plaintiff’s tax liability as the result of its taking over the assets of Gil-fillan Corporation. The plaintiff also argues that the instant case does not present the evils intended to be dealt with in the anti-assignment statutes. See 31 U.S.C. §203, and 41 U.S.C. §15 (1964).

The defendant argues that what has taken place is a complete corporate reorganization, the costs of which are specifically barred by the Cost Principles which control Cost Reimbursement Contracts, 32 C.F.R. § 15.205-23 (1960, Supp.) and that the anti-assignment statutes were intended, among other things, to prohibit incurrence of extra costs to do the same job which might result from the assignment of contracts.

■From the defendant’s point of view, since the transfer would have been barred by statute, without the signing of the novation agreement, there was adequate consideration on the part of the Government, and the novation agreement should be given effect.

In dealing with the question of consideration it is not necessary- to examine the character of the acquisition of Gil-fillan Corporation by ITT Corporation, as the Board did, to determine if the transfer was a “reorganization” or not. It is clear that at the time of the acquisition the defendant [372]*372b&lieved and claimed in good faith, that the transfer of the contracts in question, even by reorganization, was barred by the anti-assignment statutes unless consented to by novation. ASPE 1-1602. There is nothing in the text of the statutes or the regulation to establish that a transfer incident to a reorganization was specifically excepted. As a result of the parties signing the novation agreement the defendant refrained from asserting its position. It has been held by this court that such a compromise leading to forbearance is in itself consideration. In Penn-Ohio Steel Corp. v. United States, 173 Ct. Cl. 1064, 354 F. 2d 254 (1965), the plaintiff was the lessee of a plant from the Navy. As the result of the Korean War, the Army wished to make the plant available for the use of another corporation with which it had contracted for the production of tanks.

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471 F.2d 1382, 200 Ct. Cl. 367, 1973 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 3, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/itt-gilfillan-inc-v-united-states-cc-1973.