Trace v. War Contracts Price Adjustment Board

21 T.C. 303, 1953 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 19
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedNovember 27, 1953
DocketDocket Nos. 406-R, 547-R, 748-R.
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 21 T.C. 303 (Trace v. War Contracts Price Adjustment Board) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Tax Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Trace v. War Contracts Price Adjustment Board, 21 T.C. 303, 1953 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 19 (tax 1953).

Opinion

OPINION.

Hill, Judge:

In Docket Nos. 406-R, 547-R, and 748-R.the War Contracts Price Adjustment Board issued a unilateral order determining that the petitioner for his fiscal years ended December 31,1943, December 31,1944, and December 31, 1945, respectively, had realized excessive profits. The petitioner filed petitions with this Court for a redetermination of the issue. The authority under which the petitioner filed his petitions and by which this Court had jurisdiction thereof is section 403 (e) (1) of the Renegotiation Act of 1943, which provides in pertinent part as follows:

Any contractor or subcontractor aggrieved by an order of the Board determining the amount of excessive profits received or accrued by such contractor or subcontractor may, within ninety days (not counting Sunday or a legal holiday in the District of Columbia as the last day) after the mailing of the notice of such order under subsection (c) (1), file a petition with The Tax Court of the United States for a redetermination thereof. Upon such filing such court shall have exclusive jurisdiction, by order, to finally determine the amount, if any, of such excessive profits received or accrued by the contractor or subcontractor, and such determination shall not be reviewed or redetermined by any court or agency. The court may determine as the amount of excessive profits an amount either less than, equal to, or greater than that determined by the Board. A proceeding before the Tax Court to finally determine the amount, if any, of excessive profits shall not be treated as a proceeding to review the determination of the Board, but shall be treated as a proceeding de novo. * * *

In accordance with the then effective rules of this Court, the War Contracts Price Adjustment Board was named as the respondent. After the filing of the petitions mentioned above and while these actions were still pending in this Court, Congress enacted the Renegotiation Act of 1951, which pursuant to section 201 (k) was effective 60 days after the Act’s approval, or on May 22, 1951. Section 201 (a) of that Act abolished the War Contracts Price Adjustment Board, and section 201 (h) contained a savings clause which provides in pertinent part as follows:

(h) Savings Pbovision. — This section shall not be construed * * * to prejudice or to abate any action taken or any right accruing or accrued, or any suit oi proceeding had or commenced in any civil cause; but any court having on its docket a case to which the War Contracts Price Adjustment Board is a party, on motion or supplemental petition filed at any time within twelve months after the effective date of this section, showing a necessity for the survival of sueh suit, action, or other proceeding to obtain a determination of the questions involved, may allow the same to be maintained by or against the United States.

By supplemental statute (66 Stat. 752), Congress extended the time for filing a supplemental petition or motion for an additional 12 months, or to May 22, 1953. On November 15, 1952, the Buies of Practice of this Court were amended to conform to the provisions of section 201 (h). Buie 64, Buies of Practice Before The Tax Court of the United States.

No motion or supplemental petition seeking to substitute the United States as defendant in the causes involved herein was filed with this Court during the statutory period as set forth above. It was not until September 21,1953, that the petitioner’s motion herein was filed with this Court. On August 13,1953, the respondent by motion moved this Court to dismiss the proceedings involved herein for lack of jurisdiction because the provisions of section 201 (h) of the Benegotiation Act of 1951 had not been complied with by the petitioner.

We must grant the respondent’s motion to dismiss and deny the petitioner’s motion to substitute the United States as respondent. Our reason for doing so is that the petitioner’s failure to comply with the provisions of section 201 (h) has effected an abatement of the proceedings and deprives us of jurisdiction in the matters involved.

This Court is, of course, a court of limited jurisdiction, exercising only those powers granted to it by statute. If the statutes upon which our jurisdiction rests are not complied with, we lose jurisdiction, e. g., Hill Machine Co. v. Secretary of War, 4 T. C. 922; Iverson & Laux, Inc. v. Secretary of Navy, 6 T. C. 247.

In reaching our conclusion we are not unmindful of the recent decision of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in Chairman of United States Maritime Commission v. California Eastern Line, Inc., 204 F. 2d 398. That case involved section 9 of the Beorganization Act of 1949, which provided:

No suit, action, or other proceeding lawfully commenced by or against the head of any agency or other officer of the United States, in his official capacity or in relation to the discharge of his official duties, shall abate by reason of the taking effect of any reorganization plan under the provisions of sections 133z to 133z-15 of this title, but the court may, on motion or supplemental petition filed at any time within twelve months after such reorganization plan takes effect, showing a necessity for a survival of such suit, action, or other proceeding to obtain a settlement of the questions involved, allow the same to be maintained by or against the successor of such head or officer under the reorganization effected by such plan or, if there be no such successor, against such agency or officer as the President shall .designate.

Counsel for the respondent argued that since the petitioner in that case did not file a motion or supplemental petition with this .Court within the 12-month period following May 24, 1950, requesting that the action survive against the Secretary of Commerce, who was the successor to such Board, that the action abated and that this Court was without jurisdiction to render its decision. In denying the respondent’s motion the Court of Appeals decided that the term “court” as used in section 9 of the Reorganization Act of 1949 was not meant to include The Tax Court of the United States and, further, that the common law rules of abatement did not apply to this Court, saying in part as follows:

In renegotiation proceedings before the Tax Court, the doctrines of abatement and substitution applicable to judicial proceedings are not in our view required for the protection either of the citizen or of the Government. On the Government’s side, it is the national treasury which, in any event, will ultimately gain or lose as against the citizen. And the hazard that the proper Government official may not be named as respondent under the rules of the Tax Court presents no serious difficulty. In the instant case, no affirmative relief was asked against the Chairman of the Maritime Commission in the Tax Court proceedings; the Tax Court was simply to review his order and redetermine the matters there involved. Abatement on the ground that the Chairman was no longer in office or his office no longer in existence would not bear any relation to the realities of the situation, and would defeat the ends of justice. We would not willingly reach that result unless required to do so by legislation or proper administrative rule. In the present case we find no such statutory or administrative requirement.

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Related

Trace v. United States
25 T.C. 538 (U.S. Tax Court, 1955)
Fairmont Aluminum Co. v. Commissioner
22 T.C. 1377 (U.S. Tax Court, 1954)
Trace v. War Contracts Price Adjustment Board
21 T.C. 303 (U.S. Tax Court, 1953)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
21 T.C. 303, 1953 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 19, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/trace-v-war-contracts-price-adjustment-board-tax-1953.