Lerner v. United States

168 Ct. Cl. 247, 1964 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 169, 1964 WL 8581
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedDecember 11, 1964
DocketNo. 207-63
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 168 Ct. Cl. 247 (Lerner 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
Lerner v. United States, 168 Ct. Cl. 247, 1964 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 169, 1964 WL 8581 (cc 1964).

Opinion

ColliNS, Judge,

delivered the opinion of the court:

Plaintiff seeks to recover disability retirement pay from December 22,1943, the date of his initial release from active duty; or, alternatively, under the continuing claim-theory, for the 6 years prior to the filing of his petition on July 31, 1963. Defendant has moved to dismiss the petition on the ground that plaintiff’s claim is barred by the statute of limitations, 28 U.S.C. § 2501, and plaintiff has moved for summary judgment.

The court concludes, for reasons to be explained, that defendant’s motion must be denied; a statement of the facts pertinent to plaintiff’s motion follows:

Plaintiff, a first lieutenant in the Medical Corps, Officers’ Deserve Corps, was ordered to extended active duty in the Army effective January 16, 1941. On November 9, 1942, plaintiff was promoted to the grade of captain. In March 1943, while serving as a medical officer with a combat unit in the North African campaign, plaintiff became ill; in June 1943 he was hospitalized overseas, and shortly thereafter he was returned to the United States for further hospitalization. On October 9, 1943, plaintiff appeared before an Army Ke-tiring Board which found that he was incapacitated for active service, that the incapacity was permanent, and that the cause of the incapacity was a duodenal ulcer which was an incident of service. The Surgeon General concurred in these findings but, in view of the then urgent need for medical officers, he directed the Board to determine whether plaintiff was physically qualified for limited service. On December 4,1943, a reconvened Betiring Board met and affirmed the prior Board’s finding of incapacity for active service, but added the recommendation that plaintiff be placed on limited service duty. The Surgeon General concurred in both the finding of incapacity and the recommendation of limited service.

Effective December 22, 1943, plaintiff, pursuant to his request, was relieved from active duty by reason of physical disability and was placed on inactive status. On December [251]*25181, 1943, the Secretary of War approved the findings of the December 4, 1943, Retiring Board.

By orders dated December 30, 1943, plaintiff was called to active duty for limited service effective January 13,1944. During the period of limited service, plaintiff continued to suffer from his disability. On December 6, 1945, a third Retiring Board found plaintiff to be permanently incapacitated for active service; and, finally, on January 11,1946, he was relieved from active duty on the ground of physical disability.

The Surgeon General did not concur in the findings of the December 6,1945, Retiring Board. Thus, a fourth Retiring Board was convened on March 7, 1946, which Board, in accord with a suggestion of the Surgeon General’s office, found that plaintiff was not permanently incapacitated for active service and recommended 6 months’ temporary limited inactive duty status to be terminated by reexamination and reevaluation. On April 4,1946, after plaintiff’s release, he was authorized to report in September 1946 to an Army hospital for a reexamination and a determination of his eligibility for retirement pay benefits. Plaintiff declined to undergo further reexamination but requested that a decision be made on the basis of his previous hospitalizations and the existing record. The Adjutant General informed him in January 1947 that his case would be filed without further action.

On April 17,1961, plaintiff applied to the Army Board for the Correction of Military Records to have his -records changed to show that he was certified to the Veterans Administration for disability retirement benefits, effective December 23,1943. After a hearing held on February 21,1962, at which plaintiff personally appeared, the Correction Board concluded that the failure to certify plaintiff to the Veterans Administration was “neither erroneous nor unju'st.” In accord with the Correction Board’s, recommendation, plaintiff’s application was denied on June 14, 1962. The result of the various proceedings was that plaintiff has received no disability retirement pay.

[252]*252The first question to be considered is whether or not plaintiff’s claim is barred by the statute of limitations. Assuming that plaintiff, in or before 1946, was entitled to receive disability retirement pay, the precise issue is whether plaintiff’s failure to bring suit until 1963 precludes him from any recovery.

Defendant contends that plaintiff’s cause of action accrued in 1946 and that, therefore, it is barred by the 6-year limitation. In support of its position, defendant cites Lipp v. United States, 157 Ct. Cl. 197, 301 F. 2d 674, cert. denied, 373 U.S. 932 (1962), and Friedman v. United States, 159 Ct. Cl. 1, 310 F. 2d 381, cert. denied, 373 U.S. 932 (1962). Defendant’s argument can be answered by pointing out a basic factual distinction between the instant case on the one hand and Lipp and Friedman on the other. In neither of the latter two cases was there a finding of permanent disability by a retiring board; however, such a finding was made with regard to Captain Lerner (on December 4, 1943) and the Retiring Board’s determination was approved by the Secretary of War on December 31, 1943. The relevance of such a finding to the limitations problem was pointed out in Barnes v. United States, 163 Ct. Cl. 321 (1963). In 1944 Barnes was found by a Retiring Board to be permanently incapacitated for active service, but, contrary to his wishes, he was retained on active duty in limited service status. In 1946 a subsequent Retiring Board held that Barnes was not permanently incapacitated, and he was relieved from active duty not for physical disability. Barnes brought suit in 1961. This court concluded that, since the findings of the 1944 Retiring Board were in effect approved by the Secretary of War, Barnes was entitled to disability retirement pay in 1944; we added (p. 328) that his right to the pay had “passed beyond ‘those other claims dependent on prior administrative evaluation,’ and had become a claim ‘independent of administrative determination.’ Friedman v. United States [supra].” Thus, in Barnes, on the basis of Gordon v. United States, 134 Ct. Cl. 840, 140 F. Supp. 263 (1956), this court held the continuing claim theory to be [253]*253applicable and permitted recovery for the 6 years prior to institution of the suit. In Gordon, we stated (at pp. 843-44) :

* * * when the claim is dependent only upon the law as written independent of any action by a board or agency, an action may be brought for any payments becoming due thereon within six years before the petition is filed. * * *
In this case, any claim plaintiff might have , is dependent upon his military record and the law, independent of the action of any board or agency. If he has a claim it accrues on each pay period, and, in the event of failure to be paid, a new claim would accrue at each successive pay period. * * *

From the standpoint of limitation, the instant case is similar to Barnes v. United States, supra, and, in some respects, the present plaintiff’s case is even stronger. The actual

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Bluebook (online)
168 Ct. Cl. 247, 1964 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 169, 1964 WL 8581, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lerner-v-united-states-cc-1964.