Lowell v. United States

158 F. Supp. 704, 141 Ct. Cl. 111, 1958 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 61
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedJanuary 15, 1958
DocketNo. 361-56
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 158 F. Supp. 704 (Lowell 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
Lowell v. United States, 158 F. Supp. 704, 141 Ct. Cl. 111, 1958 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 61 (cc 1958).

Opinions

Need, Justice {Bet.),

sitting by designation, delivered the opinion of the court:

This is a suit by a Eeserve officer retired for physical disability who seeks to recover the difference between disability retired pay based upon 75 percent of the basic pay of a major, which he is now receiving, and 75 percent of the basic pay of a lieutenant colonel to which he claims he is entitled. Both parties have moved the court for summary judgment on the ground that there is no genuine issue of any material fact and as a matter of law they are entitled to judgment.

Plaintiff first entered the service as an enlisted man on December 1,1917, and remained on active duty until January 21, 1918, when he was honorably discharged. On April 20, 1918, he re-entered the service as an enlisted man and continued in this status until commissioned a second lieutenant, Army of the United States, on October 22, 1918. On J anu-ary 28, 1919, plaintiff was again discharged from active duty, and on March 31, 1919, accepted a commission as second lieutenant, Air Corps Eeserve. He has been a member of the Eeserve components of the Army and the Air Force continuously from the date of his original Eeserve commission until the present time, receiving successive promotions to lieutenant colonel.

On February 1, 1942, while a Eeserve captain, plaintiff was called to active duty with the Army Air Corps in the temporary grade of captain, Army of the United States, and served in this grade until promoted to the temporary grade of major on June 17, 1942. He continued to serve in the temporary grade of major on active duty until August 31, 1950, when he was retired for physical disability pursuant to title IV of the Career Compensation Act of 1949,63 Stat. 802, [113]*113with, a disability rating of 60 percent. In accordance with section 402 (d) of title IV of the Career Compensation Act, and paragraph 4, section 15, of the Pay Readjustment Act of 1942, 56 Stat. 359, 367-368, plaintiff’s retired pay was computed on the basis of 75 percent of the basic pay of a major with over 30 years’ service.

On August 27,1947, which was prior to his retirement and while still serving on active duty in the temporary grade of major, plaintiff was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Officers’ Reserve Corps. He has never served on active duty in the grade of lieutenant colonel, but did hold this rank in the Reserve component at the time of his retirement on August 31, 1950. It is plaintiff’s contention that his disability retired pay should have been computed at 75 percent of the basic pay of a lieutenant colonel with over 30 years’ service rather than that of a major.

The defendant contends that under the provisions of section 402 (d) of the Career Compensation Act, supra, plaintiff is not entitled to have his retired pay computed upon the basis of the active duty pay of the rank of lieutenant colonel because he has never served on active duty in that grade. At the time of plaintiff’s forced retirement section 402 (d) was in effect. It read:

* * * a member of the uniformed services who is retired pursuant to the provisions of this title, shall be entitled to receive disability retirement pay computed * * * by multiplying an amount equal to the monthly basic pay of the rank, grade, or rating held by him * * * at the time of his retirement, * * *.

Tracy v. United States, 136 C. Cls. 211, presented the same statutory provision to be interpreted by this court. Tracy was serving on active duty in the temporary grade of lieutenant colonel while at the same time holding a “permanent” commission in the Reserve as a colonel. Tracy was retired for physical disability under the Career Compensation Act and paid disability retired pay pursuant to section 402 (d).

The court held that the reference in the statute to the rank “held by him” at the time of his retirement meant “permanent” rank unless otherwise qualified by some provision [114]*114in the statute. No other provision was found to be applicable in the case of officers retired for physical disability whose “permanent” rank in the Eeserve was higher than the rank in which they served on active duty. Therefore the court concluded that Tracy should have received disability retired pay computed upon the basis of the active duty pay of his “permanent” rank of colonel, which he held at the time of his retirement, rather than the temporary active duty rank of lieutenant colonel despite the fact that Tracy had never served in the rank of colonel on active duty.

The defendant in the case presently before us urges that the court erred in its interpretation of section 402 (d) of the Career Compensation Act in the Tracy decision because Congress did not intend to allow the retirement of officers for disability in grades higher than those in which they were serving on active duty at the time of their retirement. In support of its position the defendant points to P. L. 1028, 84th Congress, 2d session, 1956, 70A Stat., which codified the laws relating to the armed services, including title IV of the Career Compensation Act. Section 1872 of this codification replaced section 402 (d) of the Career Compensation Act and provides in pertinent part:

Unless entitled to a higher retired grade under some other provision of law, any member of the armed force who is retired for physical disability under section 1201 or 1204 of this title * * *is entitled to the grade equivalent to the highest of the following:
(1) The grade or rank in which he is serving on the date when his name is placed on the temporary disability retired list or * * * on the date when he is retired.
(2) The highest temporary grade or rank in which he served satisfactorily, as determined by the Secretary of the armed force from which he is retired.
(3) The permanent regular or reserve grade to which he would have been promoted had it not been for the physical disability for which he is retired and which was found to exist as a result of his physical examination for promotion.
(4) The temporary grade to which he would have been promoted had it not been for the physical disability for which he is retired, * * *.

The defendant asserts, and the codification so provides, 70A Stat. 640, that it was the legislative purpose in [115]*115codifying the armed services’ laws not to make substantive changes in the disability retirement provisions, but only to restate them. However, defendant points to subparagraph (1) of the above quoted provision of section 1372 which provides for retirement pay based on the “rank in which he is serving * * * on the date when he is retired.” This differs from section 402 (d) in that 402 (d) contained instead the wording “rank * * * held by him at the time of his retirement.” From this defendant draws the conclusion that “serving” as used in the codification meant the same as “held” in section 402 (d) and reading the codification as a congressional restatement of the law, it is argued we should hold that plaintiff must have, at the time of his retirement, been serving on active duty in the rank upon which his retired pay is to be based.

We are unable to agree with this contention of the defendant.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
158 F. Supp. 704, 141 Ct. Cl. 111, 1958 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 61, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lowell-v-united-states-cc-1958.