Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/346/235/
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 04:39:16+00:00

Document:
1. The running of the general three-year statute of limitations on federal prosecutions for crimes, now 18 U.S.C. (Supp. V) § 3282, was suspended by the Wartime Suspension of Limitations Act, 18 U.S.C. (Supp. V) § 3287, as to violations, in 1945 and 1946, of the false claims clause of the False Claims Act, now 18 U.S.C. (Supp. V) § 287. Pp. 346 U. S. 240-244.
(a) The offenses charged here of attempting to obtain payments from the Commodity Credit Corporation in amounts based upon knowingly false certifications to that corporation by the accused that certain purchases of wool had been made by him when he knew that no such purchases had been made by him or at least, that no such purchases had been made by him at prices as high as those he certified that he paid, are offenses of a pecuniary nature. Pp. 346 U. S. 240-241.
(b) Offenses which occurred in 1945 or 1946, preceding the President's proclamation of December 31, 1946, declaring that the hostilities of World War II terminated on that day, come within the period to which the Suspension Act applies. P. 346 U. S. 241.
(c) Fraud upon the United States is an essential ingredient of violations of the false claims clause of the False Claims Act, 18 U.S.C. (Supp. V) § 287. Pp. 346 U. S. 241-243.
(d) In the Wartime Suspension of Limitations Act, the phrase "involving fraud . . . in any manner" makes the Act applicable to offenses which are fairly identifiable as those in which fraud is an essential ingredient, by whatever words they be defined; it does not limit the application of the Act to such offenses as Congress has denominated as "frauds" by using that very word or one of its derivatives. The same reasoning applies to conspiracies to commit such offenses. Pp. 346 U. S. 243-244.
2. The Wartime Suspension of Limitations Act had the effect of extending through 1952 the time for the prosecution of the offenses to which it applied. Pp. 346 U. S. 244-246.
3. In relation to those offenses here involved which were committed in 1945 and 1946, during the period of suspension, the general three-year limitation prescribed by 18 U.S.C. (Supp. V) § 3282 began to run for the first time on January 1, 1950, and expired December 31, 1952. Pp. 346 U. S. 246-247.
4. The codification of the Criminal Code, June 25, 1948, effective September 1, 1948, did not change the situation respecting the extension through 1952 of the time for prosecuting the offenses to which the Wartime Suspension of Limitations Act applied. Pp. 346 U. S. 247-248.
5. The Wartime Suspension of Limitations Act is applicable to the indictments here involved for offenses committed in 1945 and 1946, and the United States could thus prosecute them in 1952, except that (1) this conclusion does not apply to any overt act alleged in No. 636 to have been committed in 1947, and (2) this conclusion does not apply to overt acts set forth in paragraphs 2, 3, and 4, under Count Two of the Indictment in No. 636, which are not explicit enough to show that the issuance or endorsement of certain checks there described constituted an attempt to defraud the United States. Pp. 346 U. S. 236-248; p. 237, n 1.
The principal questions here are: (1) whether the Wartime Suspension of Limitations Act [Footnote 2] suspended the running of the general three-year statute of limitations [Footnote 3] as to violations of the false claims clause of the False Claims Act, [Footnote 4] and (2) if so, whether the indictments for such offenses, found in 1952, were timely. For the reasons hereafter stated, our answer to each question is in the affirmative.
"Accordingly, the Court holds that, as to all three indictments, the three-year statute of limitations fixed by 18 USC section 582 and its successor, 18 USC (Supp. V) section (3282), applies. Because the statute that the various defendants are charged with having violated or with having conspired to violate does not 'denominate' the acts proscribed therein as 'frauds,' or does not, in so many words, have as an 'ingredient' a 'defrauding or an attempt to defraud the United States,' neither the Wartime Suspension of Limitations Act of 1942 nor its successor of 1948 can apply."
attempts to obtain payments from the Commodity Credit Corporation in amounts based upon knowingly false certifications to that corporation by the accused that certain purchases of wool had been made by him when he knew that no such purchases had been made by him, or at least that no such purchases had been made by him at prices as high as those he certified that he paid. The offenses charged are, therefore, of a pecuniary nature, and we are not required in these cases to pass upon the contention, discussed in the Bridges case, that, in order for the Suspension Act to apply to them, the offenses not only must involve defrauding the United States or an agency thereof, but they also must be of a pecuniary nature or of a nature concerning property.
B. The offenses with which we concern ourselves here are alleged to have occurred in 1945 or 1946. They therefore precede the President's proclamation of December 31, 1946, which declared that the hostilities of World War II terminated on that day. [Footnote 12] The offenses thus come within the period to which the Suspension Act applies. United States v. Smith, 342 U. S. 225.
be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both."
52 Stat. 197, 18 U.S.C. § 80, now 18 U.S.C. (Supp. V) § 287.
The indictments show that it is the false claims clause that is involved. And, what is more important to the issue here, the offense defined by that clause is the kind of offense at which the Suspension Act is directed.
"When the United States is at war, the running of any statute of limitations applicable to any offense (1) involving fraud or attempted fraud against the United States or any agency thereof in any manner, whether by conspiracy or not . . . shall be suspended until three years after the termination of hostilities as proclaimed by the President or by a concurrent resolution of Congress."
18 U.S.C. (Supp. V) § 3287.
-- constituting violations of the false claims clause of the False Claims Act. The statement of the offenses here carries with it the charge of inducing or attempting to induce the payment of a claim for money or property involving the element of deceit that is the earmark of fraud. [Footnote 14] The false statement clause contains no such ingredient. The difference between the clauses is emphasized in the 1948 codification which has placed the former in § 287 and the latter in § 1001 of 18 U.S.C.(Supp. V).
Appellees have placed emphasis also upon the following statement by Mr. Justice Roberts, speaking for the Court, in United States v. Scharton, 285 U. S. 518, 285 U. S. 521-522.
to be extended by construction to embrace so-called frauds not so denominated by the statutes creating offenses."
Appellees argue that this language limits the Suspension Act not merely to those offenses in which fraud upon the United States is an essential ingredient, but to such of those offenses as Congress has "denominated" as "frauds" by using that very word, or at least, one of its derivatives.
We believe that Congress sought by its phrase "involving fraud . . . in any manner" [Footnote 15] to make the Suspension Act applicable to all offenses which are fairly identifiable as those in which fraud is an essential ingredient, by whatever words they be defined, and that Congress did not seek to limit its applicability to such of those identifiable offenses as also are labeled with a particular symbol. In the false claims clause of the False Claims Act, Congress met the requirement by identifying the offense as that of making "any claim upon . . . the United States . . . knowing such claim to be false, fictitious, or fraudulent. . . ." [Footnote 16] The combination of either falsity, fiction, or fraud with the claim is enough. The same reasoning applies to a conspiracy to make false claims, as alleged in No. 636.
". . . the running of any existing statute of limitations applicable to offenses involving the defrauding or attempts to defraud the United States or any agency thereof, whether by conspiracy or not, and in any manner, and now indictable under any existing statutes, shall be suspended until June 30, 1945, or until such earlier time as the Congress by concurrent resolution, or the President, may designate. . . ."
(Emphasis supplied.) 56 Stat. 747-748.
There is no doubt as to the meaning of the word "running" in that enactment. The running of any existing statute of limitations simply was to be suspended until June 30, 1945 -- that is, for about three years -- unless such suspension was cut short by Congress or the President. The obvious purpose was to add about three years (or a shorter wartime period) to the time otherwise available for the prosecution of certain wartime frauds.
"The running of any existing statute of limitations applicable to any offense . . . (1) involving defrauding . . . the United States . . . or (2) committed in connection with the . . . performance . . . of any contract . . . related to the prosecution of the present war . . . shall be suspended until three years after the termination of hostilities in the present war as proclaimed by the President or by a concurrent resolution of the two Houses of Congress. . . ."
(Emphasis supplied.) 58 Stat. 667.
The effect of this language, when read with the Act of 1942, is inescapable. The phrase as to "running of any existing statute of limitations" remains precisely as it was in 1942, but the expiration date of the suspension is changed from June 30, 1945 (or an earlier date to be designated by Congress or the President), to a new date. The new date is not fixed as one to come three years later. It is made a movable date which can occur only three years after the date of the termination of hostilities as proclaimed by the President or Congress. Under the 1942 Act, the running of the general three-year statute was suspended for three years or less. Under the 1944 amendment, the running is just as clearly suspended until three years has expired after the termination of hostilities.
When the President, December 31, 1946, proclaimed the termination of hostilities of World War II, 3 CFR, 1946 Supp. 77-78, thus automatically caused the resumption of the running of statutes of limitations on December 31, 1949. Accordingly, in relation to the instant offenses committed in 1945 and 1946, during the period of suspension, the general three-year limitation prescribed by 18 U.S.C. (Supp. V) § 3282, began to run for the first time on January 1, 1950, and expired December 31, 1952.
"These cases clearly illustrate that the suspension statute was not intended to and should not embrace offenses committed subsequent to December 31, 1946. It applies only to offenses committed between August 25, 1939, and December 31, 1946. For those offenses which occurred between the date of the 1942 Act and the cessation of hostilities, Congress' intention was to give the Department of Justice six years from the latter date to investigate and prosecute. For those offenses which occurred before the date of the 1942 Act, Congress' intention was to give the Department three years after the cessation of hostilities plus whatever portion of the regular three-year limitations period had not yet run when the 1942 Act was passed."
342 U.S. at 342 U. S. 231.
This issue was before the Court in No. 527, United States v. Klinger, 199 F.2d 645, which this day is affirmed by an evenly divided Court, 345 U.S. 979. In that case, however, there was presented not only this issue, but also an issue as to whether the offense charged was one involving fraud of a pecuniary nature upon the United States.
repealed sections. They suggest also that any extended periods of limitation resulting from the Suspension Act were thus repealed as of September 1, 1948, leaving applicable the general three-year statute of limitations which would terminate the period for prosecution September 1, 1951. We do not agree with that suggestion. The reenactment of the Suspension Act as § 3287, June 25, 1948, effective September 1, 1948, like the reenactment of the general three-year statute of limitations as § 3282, carried with it the purpose of the codification. That purpose makes §§ 3287 and 3282 applicable not merely prospectively to subsequent offenses, but forthwith to existing offenses in the same manner and with the same effect as if the reenacted provisions had remained continuously in effect in their substantially identical pre-codification form. Codification contemplates, implies, and produces continuity of existing law in clarified form, rather than its interruption.
The motions to dismiss the indictments should have been denied. The judgment of the District Court therefore is reversed, and the cause is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
MR. JUSTICE BLACK, MR. JUSTICE FRANKFURTER, and MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS, adopting the reasoning in the opinion of Judge Learned Hand in United States v. Klinger, 199 F.2d 645, would affirm the District Court in dismissing these indictments.
* Together with No. 635, United States v. Clavere et al., and No. 636, United States v. Clavere et al., both also on appeal from the same Court.
This conclusion does not apply to any overt act alleged in No. 636 to have been committed in 1947. Any such act was committed after the President's proclamation of the termination of hostilities December 31, 1946, Proclamation No.2714, 3 CFR, 1946 Supp., 77-78, and therefore, after the period to which the Suspension Act applied. United States v. Smith, 342 U. S. 225.
18 U.S.C. (Supp. V) § 3282.
§ 35(A) of the Criminal Code, 52 Stat. 197, 18 U.S.C. § 80, now 18 U.S.C. (Supp. V) § 287.
Commodity Credit Corporation was a Delaware corporation in which the United States was a stockholder. In 1945 and 1946, it served as an agency of the United States in making loans or purchases in connection with the expansion of the production of many commodities. 15 U.S.C. §§ 713-713a-9; 1 CFR, 1938, 659-678. See also Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act of June 29, 1948, 62 Stat. 1070, as amended, 15 U.S.C. (Supp. V) §§ 714-714o.
§ 37 of the Criminal Code, 35 Stat. 1096, 18 U.S.C. § 88, now 18 U.S.C. (Supp. V) § 371. See also 51 Stat. 197, 18 U.S.C. § 83, now 18 U.S.C. (Supp. V) § 286.
"An appeal may be taken by and on behalf of the United States from the district courts direct to the Supreme Court of the United States in all criminal cases in the following instances:"
"From a decision or judgment setting aside, or dismissing any indictment or information, or any count thereof, where such decision or judgment is based upon the invalidity or construction of the statute upon which the indictment or information is founded."
"From the decision or judgment sustaining a motion in bar, when the defendant has not been put in jeopardy. . . ."
18 U.S.C. (Supp. V) § 3731.
In its notices of appeal, the United States said merely that it appealed from the several orders dismissing the respective indictments. In its combined statement of jurisdiction, it relied upon its right to appeal from a judgment sustaining a motion in bar where the defendant has not been put in jeopardy. The Government, however, now suggests that its appeals are based upon the District Court's construction of the statutes upon which the indictments are founded, and it seeks to restrict us to the consideration of the District Court's view of the relation between those statutes and the Suspension Act, without reference to the claim of appellees that the extension of time provided by the Suspension Act expired before the indictments were found. We treat the appeals as presenting both issues. See United States v. Borden Co., 308 U. S. 188; United States v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corp., 299 U. S. 304. See also United States v. Hark, 320 U. S. 531, 320 U. S. 536; United States v. Goldman, 277 U. S. 229, 277 U. S. 236-237; United States v. Barber, 219 U. S. 72, 219 U. S. 78; and United States v. Kissel, 218 U. S. 601, 218 U. S. 606.
"Except as otherwise expressly provided by law, no person shall be prosecuted, tried, or punished for any offense, not capital, unless the indictment is found or the information is instituted within three years next after such offense shall have been committed."
"When the United States is at war, the running of any statute of limitations applicable to any offense (1) involving fraud or attempted fraud against the United States or any agency thereof in any manner, whether by conspiracy or not, or (2) committed in connection with the acquisition, care, handling, custody, control or disposition of any real or personal property of the United States, or (3) committed in connection with the negotiation, procurement, award, performance, payment for, interim financing, cancelation, or other termination or settlement, of any contract, subcontract, or purchase order which is connected with or related to the prosecution of the war, or with any disposition of termination inventory by any war contractor or Government agency, shall be suspended until three years after the termination of hostilities as proclaimed by the President or by a concurrent resolution of Congress."
The above Act originated in 1942, and was amplified in 1944. In 1945 and 1946, it contained substantially the terms shown above which went into effect September 1, 1948. 56 Stat. 747-748, 58 Stat. 667, 781, 18 U.S.C. § 590a.
52 Stat. 197, 18 U.S.C. §§ 80, 83, 84, 85. In the codification of 1948, § 80 was subdivided by placing its false claims clause in § 287, and its false statement clause in § 1001 of 18 U.S.C (Supp. V). The special conspiracy clause, found in § 83, became § 286 in Supp. V.
3 CFR, 1946 Supp., 77-78.
United States v. Scharton, 285 U. S. 518; United States v. McElvain, 272 U. S. 633; United States v. Noveck, 271 U. S. 201.
"whoever shall . . . make . . . any false or fraudulent statements or representations . . . in any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of the United States or of any corporation in which the United States of America is a stockholder . . . shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both."
52 Stat. 197, 18 U.S.C. § 80, now 18 U.S.C. (Supp. V) § 1001. Cases arising under that clause need not be discussed here, and the references made in them to offenses arising generally under the False Claims Act should be read as referring to its false statement clause, rather than to its false claims clause or to the Act as a whole.

References: § 3282
 § 3287
 § 287
 § 287
 § 3282
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 § 80
 § 287
 § 3287
 § 287
 § 1001
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 § 3282
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 § 3287
 § 3282
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 § 3282

§ 35
 § 80
 § 287

§ 37
 § 88
 § 371
 § 83
 § 286
 § 3731
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 § 590
 § 80
 § 287
 § 1001
 § 83
 § 286
 V.

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 § 80
 § 1001