United States v. Butkin Precision Mfg. Corp.

376 F. Supp. 392, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8472
CourtDistrict Court, D. Connecticut
DecidedMay 17, 1974
DocketCiv. No. B-661
StatusPublished

This text of 376 F. Supp. 392 (United States v. Butkin Precision Mfg. Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Connecticut primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Butkin Precision Mfg. Corp., 376 F. Supp. 392, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8472 (D. Conn. 1974).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION ON PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR x SUMMARY JUDGMENT

NEWMAN, District Judge.

Plaintiff moves for summary judgment to collect excessive profits that the Renegotiation Board ordered repaid pursuant to 50 U.S.C.App. § 1213. Jurisdiction is alleged under 50 U.S.C.App. § 1215(b)(3) and 28 U.S.C. § 1345.

Defendant opposes the motion on two grounds: first, that the Court of Claims has exclusive jurisdiction to enforce the Board’s order as a result of defendant’s petition for a de novo determination, 50 U.S.C.App. § 1218, or that it should be accorded primary jurisdiction as a matter of comity so long as the petition is pending. Second, that k enforcement of the order by this Court prior to a de novo determination in the Court of Claims would deny constitutional rights to due process.

The Government is not seeking to prevent a de novo determination in the Court of Claims. It concedes that the judgment it wants entered here is a judgment entitling it to collect the excessive profits (less appropriate credit for taxes paid on such profits) without a determination by this Court that the excessive profits were correctly calculated. In effect, the Government wants to use the proceeding in this Court as a pre-judgment remedy — entitling it to obtain from defendant the funds in dispute subject to determination on the merits in the Court of Claims. In form, the action here is for a judgment, but vis-a-vis the Court of Claims action, this proceeding seeks a pre-judgment remedy.

Defendant might have stayed collection by posting sufficient bond pursuant to § 1218, but was allegedly “rendered indigent to the point that it was unable to procure the necessary monies” by a cutback in Government contracts. Granting summary judgment, defendant argues, would prevent it in effect from obtaining a hearing on the merits of its petition.

The jurisdiction question presented by this motion results from Congress’ 1971 Amendment to the Renegotiation Act, transferring jurisdiction over petitions for de novo review of Board orders to the Court of Claims from the Tax Court. See Act of July 1, 1971, Pub.L. No. 92-41 §§ 2(b), 3(a), 85 Stat. 97, 98. Previously, proceedings for “redetermination” had been wholly separate and distinct from those involving “collection” or enforcement of Board orders. The former took place only in the Tax Court; the latter occurred in the United States District Courts, 50 U.S.C.App. § 1215(b)(3), and could be stayed only if sufficient bond were posted within ten days of filing a petition for review, 50 U.S.C.App. § 1218. At the time the Court of Claims became the redetermining court pursuant to the 1971 Amendment, however, it was already a collecting court because it had jurisdiction over counterclaims. 28 U.S.C. § 2508. The 1971 Amendment thereby had the effect of uniting the two functions for the first time in one forum, Sandnes’ Sons, Inc. v. United States, 462 F.2d 1388, 1390, 199 Ct.Cl. 107 (1972). In the de novo proceeding brought by this defendant in the Court of Claims, the Government can counterclaim for the same judgment of collection that it seeks here.

The first question is whether Congress intended to grant the Court of Claims exclusive jurisdiction over such “collection” counterclaims. This Court cannot assume that Congress was unaware of the Court of Claims’ existing power over counterclaims when it approved the 1971 transfer of power over petitions for de novo determination. On the other hand, if Congress intended to grant the Court of Claims exclusive aurisdiction, it almost certainly would have also amended § 1215(b)(3) to specify [394]*394that “appropriate courts” would no longer refer to United States District Courts, as that phrase had been interpreted throughout the Renegotiation Act’s history.

Without clearer statutory guidance or evidence of Congressional intent, this Court cannot conclude that District Court jurisdiction was totally eliminated by the 1971 Amendment. But even if there is concurrent jurisdiction, approval of the 1971 Amendment, along with the frequently expressed dissatisfaction of federal courts with their rubber-stamp collection role, argue for according the Court of Claims primary jurisdiction as a matter of comity under the circumstances here.

The 1971 Amendment certainly evidences Congress’ desire to unify in one court the functions of de novo review and enforcement of orders. Separation of those functions has always been anomalous, and federal courts have “balked at or complained of the ignominious role assigned them, of summarily enforcing administrative orders, on whose validity they were not allowed to pass.” Sandnes’ Sons, Inc. v. United States, supra, 462 F.2d at 1390; see United States v. Miller, 111 F.Supp. 368, 370 (E.D.Mich.1953); Marie & Alex Manoogian Fund v. United States, 212 F.2d 369, 370 (6th Cir. 1954); cf. United States v. Hopkins, 95 F.Supp. 14, 16-17 (D.Ohio 1951).

Their complaints acquire added force in light of recent successful due process challenges to other pre-judgment collection and attachment procedures, see, e. g., Fuentes v. Shevin, 407 U.S. 67, 92 S.Ct. 1983, 32 L.Ed.2d 556 (1972) ; Sniadach v. Family Finance Corporation, 395 U.S. 337, 89 S.Ct. 1820, 23 L.Ed.2d 349 (1969). While the purposes and circumstances of those procedures are distinguishable from the ones involved here, and a different due process standard is traditionally applicable to techniques designed to safeguard government revenue, see Fuentes v. Shevin, supra, 407 U. S. at 91-92; Phillips v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 283 U.S. 589, 597, 51 S.Ct. 608, 75 L.Ed. 1289 (1931); Sandnes’ Sons, Inc. v. United States, supra, 462 F.2d at 1392, the vulnerability of pre-judgment procedures in other contexts indicates that defendant’s constitutional challenge here is not frivolous.

Under certain limited circumstances, the Court of Claims has decided, a petitioner for de novo review should be afforded an opportunity to challenge the merits of the Board’s order in spite of its failure to post bond in accordance with § 1218. Sandnes’ Sons, Inc. v. United States, supra, 462 F.2d at 1393. In order to avoid an “unconstitutional result,” the Court ruled that “an indigent corporation” should be granted a stay of collection without bond. Otherwise, the corporation would be defaulted, its “capacity ... to litigate further” would be destroyed, and a “due process hearing on the merits” would be denied. Ibid. The Court emphasized that the Board makes no pretense of providing a due process hearing. None is required by statute, 50 U.S.C.App. § 1215(a), or by the Constitution, Lichter v. United States, 334 U.S. 742, 791-792, 68 S.Ct. 1294, 92 L.Ed. 1694 (1948); Lykes Brothers Steamship Company v.

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Related

Phillips v. Commissioner
283 U.S. 589 (Supreme Court, 1931)
Lichter v. United States
334 U.S. 742 (Supreme Court, 1948)
Sniadach v. Family Finance Corp. of Bay View
395 U.S. 337 (Supreme Court, 1969)
Fuentes v. Shevin
407 U.S. 67 (Supreme Court, 1972)
United States v. Hopkins
95 F. Supp. 14 (N.D. Ohio, 1951)
Lykes Bros. Steamship Co. v. United States
459 F.2d 1393 (Court of Claims, 1972)
Sandnes' Sons, Inc. v. United States
462 F.2d 1388 (Court of Claims, 1972)
United States v. Miller
111 F. Supp. 368 (E.D. Michigan, 1953)
General Tire & Rubber Co. v. Isocyanate Products, Inc.
270 F. Supp. 868 (D. Delaware, 1967)
Texas Liquor Control Board v. Ammex Warehouse Co.
382 U.S. 977 (Supreme Court, 1966)

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Bluebook (online)
376 F. Supp. 392, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8472, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-butkin-precision-mfg-corp-ctd-1974.