Margolin v. United States

175 Ct. Cl. 768, 1966 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 233, 1966 WL 8874
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedMay 13, 1966
DocketNo. 411-61
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 175 Ct. Cl. 768 (Margolin 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
Margolin v. United States, 175 Ct. Cl. 768, 1966 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 233, 1966 WL 8874 (cc 1966).

Opinion

Per Curiam; ;

This case was referred to Trial Commissioner Herbert N. Maletz pursuant to Buie 47 (c) by order of the court of April 17, 1964, granting plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment, denying defendant’s cross-motion and entering judgment for plaintiff. The commissioner submitted an opinion, including findings of fact, on August 3, 1965. Exceptions were filed by the parties and the case was submitted to the court on the briefs of the parties and oral argument of counsel. Since the court is in agreement with the opinion and recommendation for conclusion of law of the commissioner, it hereby adopts the same as the basis for its judgment in this case, as hereinafter set forth. Plaintiff is therefore entitled to recover and judgment is entered for plaintiff in the amount of $8,500.52.

[771]*771OPINION OF COMMISSIONER

Maletz, Commissioner: In May 1954, plaintiff, while employed by a government contractor, was denied by a Defense Department Industrial Personnel Security Board security clearance to work on classified government contracts. He applied for reconsideration in October 1958 which application was allowed in May 1961 when security clearance was granted. His administrative claim for monetary reimbursement under Defense Department regulations having been denied, he brought suit here under such regulations seeking reimbursement for loss of earnings which he allegedly suffered as a result of the action of the department in denying him security clearance. The case came before the court on the parties’ cross-motions for summary judgment, upon consideration of which, the court, on April 17,1964, without oral argument, on the basis of Greene v. United States, 376 U.S. 149 (1964), entered judgment for plaintiff1 and remanded the case to the trial commissioner for purpose of determining the amount due him under the Defense Department’s Industrial Personnel Security Review Regulation of 1955 (Department of Defense Directive 5220.6, February 2, 1955), paragraph 26 of which provided as follows:

26. Monetary Restitution
In cases where a final determination is favorable to a contractor employee, the department whose activity originally forwarded the case to the Director will reimburse the contractor employee in an equitable amount for any loss of earnings during the interim resulting directly from a suspension of clearance. Such amount shall not exceed the difference between the amount the contractor employee would have earned at the rate he was receiving on the date of suspension and the amount of his interim net earnings. No contractor employee shall be [772]*772compensated for any increase in bis loss of earnings caused 'by Ms Yolontary action in unduly delaying tbe processing of Ms case under tbis regulation.2

Tbe facts pertinent to tbis issue are as follows:3 Plaintiff, a graduate engineer, was employed from October 1952 to May 1954 by Emerson Radio & Phonograph Corporation (Emerson) at 111 Eighth Avenue, New York City, as a project mechanical engineer at a salary of $135 per week, which was later increased to $142 per week. In this job, he headed a section of mechanical engineers and draftsmen and had complete responsibility for the mechanical design of complex electromechanical equipment consisting of flight simulators to simulate the training procedures for pilots on military aircraft. The nature of the work was to design and put into production a prototype that would enable the Air Force to train pilots for the latest type of bombers without the necessity of awaiting actual production of such aircraft. After plaintiff had started this employment, Emerson made application to the Eastern Industrial Personnel Security Board for his security clearance to work on classified contracts the company had with the government. On May 18, 1954, the Board wrote Emerson that its Screening Division had decided to deny security clearance to plaintiff on the ground that it was not clearly consistent with the interests of national security.4 On the same day (May 18), Emerson discharged plaintiff as of May 27, 1954, and told Mm that he could no longer have access to its building at 111 Eighth Avenue.

After his discharge, plaintiff began looking for a new job and was hired on June 4, 1954 as quality control manager by the Quiet-IIeet Manufacturing Corporation (Quiet-Heet), Newark, New Jersey, a subsidiary of Emerson, wMch manu[773]*773factured air conditioners and oil burners. His starting salary in that job was $135 per week which was later increased to about $145 a week, and his duties were to insure that incoming and manufactured materials met specifications and to supervise an unskilled labor force in the Inspection Department.

In early October 1958, Emerson began making plans to disband the facilities of the Quiet-Heet plant in Newark and move them to a plant of Emerson’s in Jersey City where the latter had several million dollars worth of classified government contracts, and also did a substantial amount of civilian work. At about the same time, plaintiff requested the Defense Department to reconsider the decision denying him security clearance. A few weeks after that he was furnished by the department with the specific findings made in his case, and on May 12, 1961, more than 2% years later, he was granted security clearance for access to classified Secret information.

In the meantime, on January 1,1959, the Quiet-Heet facilities in Newark were moved to the Emerson plant in Jersey City and on the same day, plaintiff’s employment at Quiet-Heet was terminated due to the fact that his security clearance had been denied. He was advised by the company that he could not move with Quiet-Heet to the Emerson plant at Jersey City for the reasons that government security work was being carried out at that plant; that his work would be of a supervisory nature which would necessitate his moving about the plant freely; that he lacked security clearance; and that unless he obtained such clearance, he could not in the circumstances be allowed access to the buildings even to work on civilian products. See findings 16 (a) -(c).

Following termination of his employment with Quiet-Heet on January 1, 1959, plaintiff filed an application on January 5, 1959, for State unemployment insurance and about a week later began receiving such payments in the amount of $35 per week, as compared to the $145 weekly salary he had been earning at Quiet-Heet. During 1959, plaintiff was unemployed for all but 18 weeks when he had two jobs — one as a senior industrial engineer at $220 per week, the other with [774]*774a boiler company at $170 a week. In 1960, be was unemployed for some 20 weeks, having three jobs in this period — two of which paid $175 a week, while the third was temporary office work for a few days during the Christmas period for which he was paid $20.25. He was then unemployed until May 12, 1961, when his security clearance was granted. During the periods in which he was unemployed, plaintiff made continuous efforts to obtain employment in the engineering field. See Kanarek v. United States, 161 Ct. Cl. 37, 43-4, 314 F. 2d 802, 805 (1963), cert. denied 379 U.S. 838 (1964).

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Related

Wolfson v. United States
492 F.2d 1386 (Court of Claims, 1974)
Cutler v. United States
202 Ct. Cl. 221 (Court of Claims, 1973)
Rabineau v. United States
182 Ct. Cl. 371 (Court of Claims, 1968)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
175 Ct. Cl. 768, 1966 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 233, 1966 WL 8874, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/margolin-v-united-states-cc-1966.