Case ID: us-ct-cl_58/html/0707-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "Mr. Justice Sutherland", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

OMNIA COMMERCIAL COMPANY v. THE UNITED STATES.
    [56 C. Cls. 392 ; 261 U.S. 502.]
    Judgment was rendered in favor of the United States in the court below. On appeal the judgment was affirmed, and the Supreme Court decided:
    A valuable contract right is property within the meaning of the fifth amendment, and when taken for public use must be paid for by the Government; but when it is lost or injured as a consequence of lawful governmental action not a taking, the law affords no remedy.
    When the Government, for war purposes, requisitioned the entire production of a steel manufacturer, rendering impossible and unlawful of performance an outstanding contract between the manufacturer and a customer, the customer’s rights were not taken by the Government, but frustrated by its lawful action.
   Mr. Justice Sutherland

delivered the opinion of the Supreme Court April 9, 1923.