Washington Market Co. v. United States

60 Ct. Cl. 930, 1925 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 406, 1925 WL 2798
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedJune 8, 1925
DocketNo. E-113
StatusPublished

This text of 60 Ct. Cl. 930 (Washington Market Co. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Washington Market Co. v. United States, 60 Ct. Cl. 930, 1925 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 406, 1925 WL 2798 (cc 1925).

Opinion

Hat, Judge,

delivered the opinion of the court:

The plaintiff, Washington Market Company, is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the United [931]*931States and brings this suit to recover the sum of $200,000 from the United States.

The United States has demurred to the petition.

The plaintiff alleges in its petition that Congress passed an act approved May 20, 1870, to incorporate the Washington Market Company; that in accordance with that act the plaintiff was organized, and under the provisions of that act took possession of reservation 7 and used and occupied it continuously and exclusively until the lease granted under the act of May 20,1870, was annulled by the act of Congress approved March 4, 1921.

The act of May 20, 1870, provided, among other things as follows:

“ Seo. 12. And be it further enacted, That the privileges conferred by this act shall be enjoyed by said company for the term of ninety-nine years, unless sooner terminated for a non-compliance or abuse of the conditions herein imposed upon said company, which may be done by suit in the name of the United States, to recover possession of said property. At the end of said period of ninety-nine years, the said lands, with all the erections and improvements thereon, shall revert to the United States, unless Congress shall by law extend the period of occupation thereof by said company: Provided, That if the corporation of the city of Washington shall, after a period of thirty years from the approval of this act, by a vote of the councils thereof express a desire to possess itself of the said market buildings and grounds, Congress may authorize the corporate authorities to take possession of the same upon payment to said Market House Company of a sum of money equal to a fair and just valuation of the buildings and improvements then standing on said grounds, and the mode and manner of ascertaining such valuation shall be determined by Congress.”

The plaintiff further alleges that the market establishment commonly known as “ Center Market ” has a value of approximately $2,000,000; that the market contained 1,000 stalls and places of retail dealers and has cold-storage rooms containing approximately 400,000 cubic feet; that a very large sum of money was expended as operating expenses, advertising, and in building up the going concern value of the said business of the plaintiff; that the market conducted was well patronized and was the principal and largest mar[932]*932ket in the District of Columbia and became such by reason of its operation by the plaintiff and the expenditure of large sums of money and the efforts and services of its officers and employees.

The plaintiff further alleges in its petition that by an act of Congress of March 4, 1921, 41 Stat. 1441, Congress declared the “ purpose and intent of the United States to annul and hold for naught the lease made by Congress to the Washington Market Company of reservation number seven, in the District of Columbia, and to take over unto its own ownership, use, occupancy, and control the said grounds and buildings and improvements thereon and therein now held and occupied by said market company and its tenants.” The said act also provides as follows:

“ Sec. 3. That the President of the United States, as soon as is practicable after the approval of this act, shall appoint a commission composed of three disinterested men, not more than one of whom shall be a resident of the District of Columbia, to appraise the said buildings and improvements thereon and therein which were erected or ma.de at the expense of the Washington Market Company and which stand and remain upon said reservation, .the valuation thereof to be determined as of the date of filing said award; and the finding of a majority of said commission shall constitute the award. Any member of the commission who may dissent from the award made by the majority thereof shall make a minority report in writing, which shall be filed with the award and made part of the record to be considered by the court of appeals, if an appeal be taken as hereinafter provided. A copy thereof shall be delivered to the market company at the same time and place that the award is delivered.
“ Thereafter the said commission shall fix the amount to be awarded as a fair and just valuation of» the buildings and improvements erected and made on said premises at the expense of the said market company and remaining thereon when the award is made; and the award of the commission, together with the record and evidence on which the same is based, shall, within six months from the date of the appointment and qualification of the members thereof, be filed in the office of the clerk of the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia, and copies of said award and minority report or finding, if any, together with said record and evidence, shall, on the day of the filing thereof, be delivered by said commission to the Attorney General of the United States and to [933]*933the market company at its principal place of business in the District of Columbia.
“If either party be dissatisfied with the amount of the award, such dissatisfied party may take an appeal to the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia by noting in the office of the clerk of the court of appeals an appeal therefrom within thirty days after the filing of said award and perfect the said appeal within sixty days thereafter by filing the entire record, or a copy thereof, certified by the chairman or any two members of said commission, and filing it in the office of the clerk of the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia, which court is hereby vested with jurisdiction to hear and determine such appeal, and may revise the amount of the award as shall be just: and the judgment rendered by said court shall be final.”

The petition of the plaintiff further alleges that hearings were had before the commission appointed in accordance with the provisions of the act; that a majority of said commission made a total award of $960,250, as the value of the buildings and improvements erected on reservation I, and made at the' expense of the plaintiff; that from this award the plaintiff appealed to the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia, and after a hearing on said appeal the Court of Appeals found that the fair and just value of the buildings and improvements ivas the sum of $1,522,197.88; that neither in the award of the commission nor in the finding of the Court of Appeals fixing the fair and just value of the buildings and improvements erected on reservation 7 at the expense of the plaintiff was any allowance made for going concern value, and such item was expressly excluded from both the award and finding; that the Court of Appeals held that if the matter were properly before them they would have no doubt of the right of the plaintiff to a reasonable allowance for going concern value, but that the question was not before them nor did they have jurisdiction to consider it.

The petition of the plaintiff further alleges that pending the appeal from the award of the commission the United States on April 1, 1922, .paid a proportion of the amount of the award, and entered into possession, and deprived the plaintiff of the use and occupancy of the buildings and [934]

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
60 Ct. Cl. 930, 1925 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 406, 1925 WL 2798, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/washington-market-co-v-united-states-cc-1925.