Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/270/280/
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 08:22:22+00:00

Document:
1. Where the taking (if any) of a railroad, under the Federal Control Act was purely technical, resulting from the generality of the President's proclamation, etc., and the Director General did not in fact take over its possession or control or deal with it specifically in any way, so that it continued to be operated by the owner company as theretofore, without interference, the company could not maintain an action for "just compensation" under § 3 of the Act, since nothing of value was taken from it, it was subjected to no pecuniary loss by the government, and nominal damages are not recoverable in the Court of Claims. P. 270 U. S. 282.
"receive as just compensation an annual sum . . . for each year, and pro rata for any fractional year of such federal control, not exceeding a sum equivalent as nearly as may be to its average annual railway operating income for the three years ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and seventeen"
(§ 1), did not establish a rule of compensation applicable when there was no agreement, but relegated the carrier in that case to proceedings for the ascertainment of just compensation (§ 3), in which the burden was on the carrier of proving the value of the use taken from it, or the damage suffered by it under rules ordinarily applicable to takings by eminent domain. P. 270 U. S. 283.
3. Although § 3 of the Federal Control Act declares that, in such proceedings, the report of a board of referees appointed by the Interstate Commerce Commission shall be prima facie evidence of the amount of just compensation and the facts stated therein, a report which, by its face and by the findings of the Court of Claims, is shown to have been based upon mere assumptions, without evidence of loss or damage, has no evidential value. P. 270 U. S. 285.
Appeal from a judgment of the Court of Claims rejecting a claim for compensation for the alleged taking of the petitioner's short line railway.
not take actual possession of the railroad, did not operate it, and did not otherwise exercise control. It contended also that, even if there was a technical taking of possession, the plaintiff was not entitled to any compensation, because it suffered no pecuniary loss. Both contentions were sustained by the court, and judgment was entered for the defendant on January 26, 1925. 60 Ct.Cls. 230. The appeal was duly taken under § 242 of the Judicial Code. We have no occasion to determine whether, in law, the President took possession and assumed control of the Marion & Rye Valley Railway. For, even if there was technically a taking, the judgment for defendant was right. Nothing was recoverable as just compensation, because nothing of value was taken from the company, and it was not subjected by the government to pecuniary loss. Nominal damages are not recoverable in the Court of Claims. Grant v. United States, 7 Wall. 331, 74 U. S. 338.
"[I] do hereby . . . take possession and assume control at 12 o'clock noon on the twenty-eighth day of December, 1917, of each and every system of transportation . . . consisting of railroads, . . ."
did not at any time give any specific direction as to its management or operation, and did not at any time interfere in any way with its conduct or activities. The company retained possession and continued in the operation of its railroad throughout the period in question. The railroad was operated during the period exactly as it had been before, without change in the manner, method, or purpose of operation. The railroad did not serve any military camp, nor did it transport troops or munitions. The character of the traffic remained the same. Nothing appears to have been done by the Director General which could have affected the volume or profitableness of the traffic or have increased the requirements for maintenance or depreciation, and apparently it retained its earnings, expended the same as it saw fit, and, without accounting to the government, devoted the net operating income to the company's use.
of compensation or for enforcing payment. Compare United States v. Great Falls Manufacturing Co., 112 U. S. 645; Great Falls Mfg. Co. v. Garland, 124 U. S. 581; Tempel v. United States, 248 U. S. 121, 248 U. S. 129. Here both the method of determining the amount and the means of enforcing payment are prescribed by statute. Compare William Cramp & Sons, etc., Co. v. International Curtis Marine Turbine Co., 246 U. S. 28. But the question remains what is the amount recoverable. D id the Federal Control Act merely confer authority upon the President to enter into an agreement to pay as much as the so-called "standard return," or did it also direct him, if such an agreement was not reached, to make payment on the basis of the "standard return"?
"receive as just compensation an annual sum . . . for each year and pro rata for any fractional year of such federal control, not exceeding a sum equivalent as nearly as may be to its average annual railway operating income for the three years ended June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and seventeen."
that the "standard return" should be taken as the measure of just compensation, in any event, there would have been no occasion for a hearing before a board of referees. The amount so payable could have been determined by calculation from the "average" annual railway operating income which, by § 1 of the Federal Control Act, p. 452, the Interstate Commerce Commission itself was required to ascertain and to certify to the President.
for an indeterminate period, because the duration of federal control could not be foretold on December 28, 1917; that this rental value should be ascertained as of the date of the commencement of federal control, and should be measured not upon the then immediate outlook for business for the first six months of 1918, but by the then probable earnings for a period of years, and finally that the amount should be fixed at one-half of the average annual operating income for the three years prior to January 1, 1918, and not at the smaller amount actually shown to have been earned during the six months' period and retained by the company. In other words, the board simply adopted as its measure the so-called "standard return" of the Federal Control Act. No evidence was introduced before it to show that the alleged taking had subjected the company to any pecuniary loss or had deprived it of anything of pecuniary value, although the hearing before the board was commenced long after the period of alleged possession and control had expired. [Footnote 2] The report was therefore without evidential value.
The opinion of the Court of Claims discloses, pp. 253-255, that the company claimed there that, if it was not entitled to recover under the Federal Control Act, it was entitled to recover under § 204 of the Transportation Act of 1920. This contention, overruled below, was not renewed here.
The board entered upon the hearing and made its report despite objection by the Director General that it was without jurisdiction, because the proceeding was commenced after Transportation Act Feb. 28, 1920, c. 91, 41 Stat. 456, 460, had provided by § 204 another and exclusive remedy for carriers which, like the plaintiff, had operated their own railroads throughout the period for which compensation was claimed.
"Dear Sir: It is not clear whether the Marion & Rye Valley Railway Company has at any time been under federal control. To remove any possible question, this order is issued definitely relinquishing same."
"T. S. Ambler, Gen. Mgr. Marion & Rye Valley Ry. Co."

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 § 242
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 § 204
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