unempl.ins.rep. Cch 21,747 Robert R. Mayberry v. Benjamin C. Adams, Etc.

First Circuit

unempl.ins.rep. Cch 21,747 Robert R. Mayberry v. Benjamin C. Adams, Etc.

745 F.2d 729, 1984 U.S. App. LEXIS 17844

CourtCourt of Appeals for the First Circuit

DecidedOctober 9, 1984

Docket84-1399

StatusPublished

Cited by4 cases

This text of 745 F.2d 729 (unempl.ins.rep. Cch 21,747 Robert R. Mayberry v. Benjamin C. Adams, Etc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the First Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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unempl.ins.rep. Cch 21,747 Robert R. Mayberry v. Benjamin C. Adams, Etc., 745 F.2d 729, 1984 U.S. App. LEXIS 17844 (1st Cir. 1984).

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Opinion

PER CURIAM.

Put simply, the question in this Civil Rights action is whether, following the enactment of Pub.L. 96-364, 94 Stat. 1310 (1980), amending 26 U.S.C. § 3304(a)(15), the State of New Hampshire, in 1981 and 1982, was prohibited, in determining an individual’s unemployment weekly payments, from deducting — or crediting — the amount reasonably attributable to that week that the individual was receiving from a government pension payable to him on account of his having served 20 years or more in the Armed Services. RSA 282-A:28, as it then read. The district court ruled in favor of the State. We affirm, on the basis of the recent Fourth Circuit opinion in Watkins v. Cantrell, 736 F.2d 933 (4th Cir.1984), in which the court answered fully exactly the same arguments that appellant makes today.

We add that we are offended by appellant’s concept that because of an at least reasonable statutory interpretation by the State he should receive, if it proved mistaken, in addition to back payments and counsel fees, $100,000 damages for emotional distress and a like sum for punitive damages. A state is obliged to make statutory interpretations for the benefit of its citizens, and it should not have to do so in terrorem. Cf. City of Newport v. Fact Concerts, Inc., 453 U.S. 247, 259-63, 267-69, 101 S.Ct. 2748, 2755-58, 2759-61, 69 L.Ed.2d 616 (1981) (policies of deterrence and punishment of willful wrongdoing may in appropriate circumstances warrant awards of punitive damages against officials personally, but do not support such awards against municipalities; innocent taxpayers should not bear this burden).

Affirmed; costs to appellee.

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PER CURIAM.

Put simply, the question in this Civil Rights action is whether, following the enactment of Pub.L. 96-364, 94 Stat. 1310 (1980), amending 26 U.S.C. § 3304(a)(15), the State of New Hampshire, in 1981 and 1982, was prohibited, in determining an individual’s unemployment weekly payments, from deducting — or crediting — the amount reasonably attributable to that week that the individual was receiving from a government pension payable to him on account of his having served 20 years or more in the Armed Services. RSA 282-A:28, as it then read. The district court ruled in favor of the State. We affirm, on the basis of the recent Fourth Circuit opinion in Watkins v. Cantrell, 736 F.2d 933 (4th Cir.1984), in which the court answered fully exactly the same arguments that appellant makes today.

We add that we are offended by appellant’s concept that because of an at least reasonable statutory interpretation by the State he should receive, if it proved mistaken, in addition to back payments and counsel fees, $100,000 damages for emotional distress and a like sum for punitive damages. A state is obliged to make statutory interpretations for the benefit of its citizens, and it should not have to do so in terrorem. Cf. City of Newport v. Fact Concerts, Inc., 453 U.S. 247, 259-63, 267-69, 101 S.Ct. 2748, 2755-58, 2759-61, 69 L.Ed.2d 616 (1981) (policies of deterrence and punishment of willful wrongdoing may in appropriate circumstances warrant awards of punitive damages against officials personally, but do not support such awards against municipalities; innocent taxpayers should not bear this burden).

Affirmed; costs to appellee.

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745 F.2d 729, 1984 U.S. App. LEXIS 17844, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/unemplinsrep-cch-21747-robert-r-mayberry-v-benjamin-c-adams-etc-ca1-1984.

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