Uebersee Finanz-Korporation, A.G. v. Brownell

133 F. Supp. 615, 1955 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2928
CourtDistrict Court, District of Columbia
DecidedJune 17, 1955
DocketCiv. A. No. 26453
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 133 F. Supp. 615 (Uebersee Finanz-Korporation, A.G. v. Brownell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, District of Columbia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Uebersee Finanz-Korporation, A.G. v. Brownell, 133 F. Supp. 615, 1955 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2928 (D.D.C. 1955).

Opinion

LAWS, Chief Judge.

In this suit intervener plaintiff seeks to recover an interest in property vested by the Alien Property Custodian in 1942 under provisions of the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917, 40 Stat. 411, as amended by the First War Powers Act of 1941, 55 Stat. 839, 50 U.S.C.A. Appendix, § 5(b). At a former trial, in which plaintiff Uebersee sought to recover the property itself, this Court found that the enemy taint of plaintiff barred recovery. Uebersee Finanz-Korporation, A. G. v. Clark, D.C., 82 F.Supp. 602. Judgment was affirmed -by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Uebersee Finanz-Korporation, A. G. v. McGrath, 89 U.S.App.D.C. 167, 196 F.2d 557, and by the Supreme Court of the United States, 343 U.S. 205, 72 S.Ct. 618, 96 L.Ed. 888. The same day the Supreme Court decided plaintiff’s case, it also decided in another case that when the Government seizes assets of a corporation organized under the laws of a neutral country, the rights of innocent stockholders to an interest in the assets proportionate to their stockholdings must be fully protected. Kaufman v. Societe Internationale Pour Participations Industrielles et Commerciales, S.A., 1952, 343 U.S. 156, 72 S.Ct. 611, 96 L.Ed. 853. The Supreme Court accordingly remanded this case for consideration of any application that might be made on behalf of intervener plaintiff Fritz von Opel, the legal owner of 97% of the corporation’s stock.

At the instance of the parties, the Court before trial ruled on several motions pertaining to the scope of inquiry at this trial. It held that its previous findings and conclusions entered at the trial of plaintiff’s case would control in the present suit as to all issues framed, without prejudice to the right of either party to offer additional evidence supplemental to, but not contradictory of, such determinations. D.C., 121 F.Supp. 420. It also held that the interest recoverable, if any, must be determined by the law of Germany, where Fritz von Opel [618]*618obtained legal title to plaintiff corporation under a gift agreement, rather than the law of Switzerland, where plaintiff was incorporated. D.C., 127 F.Supp. 42.

In ruling on the question of res judicata, 121 F.Supp. 420, the Court determined the issues in this trial to be as follows: (1) enemy status; (2) enemy taint; and (3) the value of Fritz von Opel’s severable interest.

I. Enemy Status

Enemy status is defined by Section 2 of the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917, which provides, so far as pertinent to this suit:

“The word ‘enemy,’ as used herein, shall be deemed to mean, for the purposes of such trading and of this Act—
“(a) Any individual * * *, of any nationality, resident within the territory * * * of any nation with which the United States is at war, or resident outside the United States and doing business within such territory * * * ” 50 U.S.C.A.Appendix, § 2.

Residence or doing business in a hostile territory, and not nationality, is the test of enemy status. Section 39 of the Act provides:

“No property or interest therein of Germany, Japan, or any national of either such country vested in or transferred to any officer or agency of the Government * * * shall be returned to former owners thereof or their successors in interest * * * ” 50 U.S.C.A.Appendix, § 39.

As interpreted by the Supreme Court, Section 39 applies only to those German nationals who are also “enemies” under the Act. Guessefeldt v. McGrath, 1952, 342 U.S. 308, 72 S.Ct. 338, 96 L.Ed. 342.

Fritz von Opel was not a resident within enemy territory under the first part of Section 2(a). As this Court found at the first trial, he never resided in Germany after December, 1929, but lived successively in the United States, Belgium and Switzerland; in 1934 he became a Swiss domiciliary. The question under enemy status is therefore whether he was a “resident outside the United States and doing business within such [hostile] territory”.

The evidence as to residence is that Fritz von Opel entered the United States in May, 1940, on a six months’ visitor’s visa to attend to his investments in this country. The visa was extended for additional periods of six months at a time until February, 1942, shortly after the United States entered the war, when he was interned. He remained in custody until the end of the war, and was permitted to depart voluntarily in 1950. He was never admitted to the United States for permanent residence. There is no indication that he established any abode in this country. He stayed variously in New York, New Jersey, Miami Beach and Palm Beach, Florida, and elsewhere in the South before he was interned. The period of his internment is without significance, since involuntary detention or'physical constraint does not constitute residence within the meaning of the Act. Guessefeldt v. McGrath, supra, and cases cited.

In connection with the question of residence, the Court will consider what were Fritz von Opel’s activities, associations, statements, ties and sympathies as throwing light on where the family hearth was centered. See District of Columbia v. Murphy, 1941, 314 U.S. 441, 62 S.Ct. 303, 86 L.Ed. 329; Kristensen v. McGrath, 1949, 86 U.S.App.D.C. 48, 179 F.2d 796, affirmed 340 U.S. 162, 71 S.Ct. 224, 95 L.Ed. 173; McGrath v. Zander, 1949, 85 U.S.App.D.C. 334, 177 F.2d 649; Stadtmuller v. Miller, 2 Cir., 1926, 11 F.2d 732, 45 A.L.R. 895; Ruoff v. Brownell, D.C.D.C.1953, 14 F.R.D. 371. Although a native of Germany, by establishing his domicile in Switzerland he had been able to avoid German foreign exchange restrictions. Between December, 1930, and August, 1939, he went to Germany for short visits totalling about ten per cent of the time, principally in connection with his father’s financial in[619]*619vestments and to participate in sporting events. When war came to Europe in September, 1939, he undertook negotiations to acquire neutral citizenship. In November, 1939, he became a naturalized citizen of Liechtenstein upon payment of approximately $10,000, although the only time he had ever been there was when he was traveling through it. He never took an oath of allegiance to the principality. Statements made and acts performed by him after he was naturalized indicate a continued interest in the welfare of and sympathy for Germany. This Court previously found such attachment to and sympathy for Germany in deciding the question of Uebersee’s enemy taint. Fritz von Opel’s naturalization by Liechtenstein clearly appears to have been a citizenship of convenience.

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133 F. Supp. 615, 1955 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2928, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/uebersee-finanz-korporation-ag-v-brownell-dcd-1955.