United States v. Wintner

247 F. Supp. 47, 7 Ohio Misc. 213
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Ohio
DecidedSeptember 4, 1964
DocketCiv. A. No. 35830
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 247 F. Supp. 47 (United States v. Wintner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Wintner, 247 F. Supp. 47, 7 Ohio Misc. 213 (N.D. Ohio 1964).

Opinion

Kalbeleisch, District Judge.

The court has for consideration the following motion of the plaintiff:

“Plaintiff moves the court to vacate the judgment entered herein on January 2, 1962, and enter judgment in favor of the plaintiff and against the defendant Lillian Wintner in the amount of $18,274.65 and costs, on the following grounds:
“1. This court filed its opinion in this action on December 8, 1961. 200 F. Supp. 157. Pursuant thereto, the court entered judgment on January 2, 1962, in the amount of $26,002.09, plus interest and costs, in favor of the plaintiff and against the defendant Lillian Wintner. That judgment was affirmed by the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in an order dated [214]*214January 18,1963. 312 F. 2d 749. However, on January 6,1964, the Supreme Court of the United States, in a per curiam decision, granted a writ of certiorari and reversed the judgment. (18 AFTR 2d 340 [375 U. S. 393, 84 S. Ct. 451, 11 L. Ed 2d 411].) A certified copy of the judgment of the Supreme Court was mailed by the clerk of the Supreme Court to the clerk of this court on January 31, 1964.
“2. In its opinion of December 8, 1961, this court held the doctrine of marshaling of assets applicable to the insurance proceeds involved. In reversing the decision of this court, the Supreme Court gave no reasons, but cited its decision in Meyer v. United States, decided December 16, 1963 (12 AFTR 2d 6141 [375 U. S. 233, 84 S. Ct. 318, 11 L. Ed. 2d 293]), where it held the marshaling doctrine not applicable to insurance proceeds, under similar circumstances. However, without application of the marshaling doctrine, under the facts of the instant case, the plaintiff is entitled to recover the sum of $18,274.65, since without application of that doctrine, the defendant Lillian Wintner received the cash values of insurance policies in that amount, subject to federal tax liens thereon. United States v. Bess, 357 U. S. 51 [78 S. Ct. 1054, 2 L. Ed. 2d 1135]. Thus, although the judgment of January 2, 1962, in the amount of $26,002.09, plus interest and costs, cannot stand and must be vacated under the Supreme Court’s decision, the plaintiff is entitled to judgment in a lesser amount, $18,274.65 and costs.”

The defendant attacks the foregoing motion with the contention that this court is bound by the mandate of the Supreme Court and therefore may not rehear any of the issues involved. This contention of the defendant requires the court to determine the scope and effect of the Supreme Court’s per curiam opinion in Wintner v. United States, 375 U. S. 393, 84 S. Ct. 451, 11 L. Ed. 2d 411, such per curiam opinion being, “The petition for writ of certiorari is granted and the judgment is reversed. Meyer v. United States, 375 U. S. 233, 84 S. Ct. 318.”

The defendant’s contention rests upon the following authorities: Sibbald v. United States, 12 Pet. 488, 492, 9 L. Ed 1167, 1169 (1838); In re C. & A. Potts & Co., 166 U. S. 263, 17 S. Ct. 520, 41 L. Ed. 994; Wenborne-Karpen Dryer Co. v. Cutler Dry Kiln Co., 2 Cir., 21 F. 2d 692; Eastern Cherokees v. United States, 225 U, S, 572, 573, 32 S. Ct. 707, 56 L. Ed. 1212; [215]*215In re Sanford Fork & Tool Co., 160 U. S. 247, 16 S. Ct. 291, 40 L. Ed. 414; Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco v. Hall, 9 Cir., 225 F. 2d 349; Gibbons v. Brandt, 7 Cir., 181 F. 2d 650; Mays v. Burgess, 80 U. S. App. D. C. 236; 152 F. 2d 123; 5B C. J. S. Appeal & Error, Section 1965, pages 576-577; Ohio Power Co. v. United States, 157 F. Supp. 158, 140 Ct. Cl. 531; National Association for the Advancement of Colored People v. Alabama, 360 U. S. 240, 79 S. Ct. 1001, 3 L. Ed. 2d 1205; and defendant further says the following rules of the Supreme Court support her contention: Rules 24(1), 40(1) (d) (1), and 40(3), and also Rules 23(1) (c) and 40(1) (b) (1).

The defendant in her brief quotes certain excerpts from her petition for certiorari and the responses made thereto by the plaintiff and, based upon such excerpts and the authorities above cited, insists that this court is limited by the reversal • in Wintner, supra, to vacating the court’s former judgment of January 2, 1962, and entering judgment in favor of the plaintiff in the amount of $503.85.

This court does not have before it any of the papers filed in the appeal from this court’s original decision to the Circuit Court of Appeals or to the United States Supreme Court; however, the court can determine whether it may consider plaintiff’s claim to $18,274.65 without knowledge of the subsidiary issues which may have been revealed by the parties on appeal. The Supreme Court in Hartford Life Ins. Co. v. Blincoe, 255 U. S. 129, 41 S. Ct. 276, 65 L. Ed. 549 (1921), clearly stated the governing principles regarding the effect of a prior reversal by the Supreme Court:

“Counsel, however, admits that the question of the inclusion of the tax was not discussed, but insist that ‘the question was in the record, was necessarily involved, and was presented, ’ and invokes the presumption that whatever was within the issue was decided; in other words, that the case was conclusive not only of all that was decided, but of all that might have been decided.
“From our statement of the issues it is manifest that the quotation from the opinion has other explanation than counsel’s, and we need not dwell upon the presumption invoked or the extent of its application in a proper case. * * # The most that can be said of any question that was decided is that it [216]*216became the law of the case and as such binding on the Supreme Court of the state, * * * Certainly, omissions do not constitute a part of a decision and become the law of the case, nor does a contention of counsel not responded to. The element of taxes in the assessment was not considered by the Supreme Court, and in this court the Connecticut judgment and its effect were the prominent and determining factors. * * #
“It was urged, it is true, in the brief of counsel that the assessment ‘was void because it included money for taxes erroneously claimed to be exacted under the laws of Missouri.’ No notice, however, was taken of the contention and no influence given to it or to the effect it asserted. If it made any impression at all it was obviously as a state question dependent upon the state statutes upon which we would naturally not anticipate the state courts, the case necessarily going back to them.” (Pages 136-137, 41 S. Ct.

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Bluebook (online)
247 F. Supp. 47, 7 Ohio Misc. 213, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-wintner-ohnd-1964.