Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/260/327/
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 06:13:58+00:00

Document:
1. The petition alleged that the United States, after having several times in the past discharged its battery over petitioner's land, reinstalled its guns with the intention of so firing them and without intention or ability to fire them otherwise, established a fire control and service upon that land, and again discharged all of the guns over and across it. A taking by the United States was alleged as a conclusion of fact from these specific acts, and damages were claimed. Held that the taking of a servitude, and an implied contract to pay might be inferred, and that a demurrer to the petition should not have been sustained. P. 260 U. S. 328.
2. Where acts amount to a taking of property by the United States without assertion of an adverse right, a contract to pay may be implied whether it was thought of or not. P. 260 U. S. 330.
Appeal from a judgment of the Court of Claims dismissing a petition on demurrer.
This is a claim in respect of land which, or an interest in which, is alleged to have been taken by the United States government. Similar claims in respect of the same land based upon earlier acts of the government have been made before. and have been denied. Peabody v. United States, 231 U. S. 530; Portsmouth Harbor Land & Hotel Co. v. United States, 250 U. S. 1. But it is urged that the cumulative effect of later acts, added to those that have been held not enough to establish a taking, leads to a different result. The land is on Gerrish Island, lying east of the entrance to Portsmouth Harbor, and borders on the ocean. Its main value is for use as a summer resort. Adjoining it to the north and west lies land of the United States upon which the government has erected a fort, the guns of which have a range over the whole sea front of the claimants' property. In the first case, it was decided that the mere erection of the fort and the fact that guns were fired over the claimants' land upon two occasions about two years and a half before the suit was brought, coupled with the apprehension that the firing would be repeated, but with no proof of intent to repeat it other than the facts stated, did not require the finding of an appropriation and a promise to pay by the United States. The second case was like the first except for "some occasional subsequent acts of gun fire," 250 U.S. 260 U. S. 2, and finding of the Court of Claims for the United States again was sustained.
"if the government had installed its battery not simply as a means of defence in war, but with the purpose and effect of subordinating the strip of land between the battery and the sea to the right and privilege of the government to fire projectiles directly across it for the purpose of practice or otherwise whenever it saw fit, in time of peace, with the result of depriving the owner of its profitable use, the imposition of such a servitude would constitute an appropriation of property for which compensation should be made."
231 U.S. 538. That proposition we regard as clearly sound. The question is whether the petition before us presents the case supposed.
time may prove it. Every successive trespass adds to the force of the evidence. The establishment of a fire control is an indication of an abiding purpose. The fact that the evidence was not sufficient in 1905 does not show that it may not be sufficient in 1922. As we have said, the intent and the overt acts are alleged, as is also the conclusion that the United States has taken the land. That we take to be stated as a conclusion of fact, and not of law, and as intended to allege the actual import of the foregoing acts. In our opinion, the specific facts set forth would warrant a finding that a servitude has been imposed.
It very well may be that the claimants will be unable to establish authority on the part of those who did the acts to bind the government by taking the land, United States v. North American Transportation & Trading Co., 253 U. S. 330. But, as the allegation is that the United States did the acts in question, we are not prepared to pronounce it impossible upon demurrer. As the United States built the fort and put in the guns and the men, there is a little natural unwillingness to find lack of authority to do the acts, even if the possible legal consequences were unforeseen. If the acts amounted to a taking, without assertion of an adverse right, a contract would be implied whether it was thought of or not. The repetition of those acts through many years and the establishment of the fire control may be found to show an abiding purpose to fire when the United States sees fit, even if not frequently, or they may be explained as still only occasional torts. That is for the Court of Claims when the evidence is heard.
MR. JUSTICE BRANDEIS dissenting, with whom MR. JUSTICE SUTHERLAND concurs.
private property, even if no physical damage is done to it thereby; that a single shot so fired may, in connection with other conceivable facts, justify a court in finding that the government took, by eminent domain, the land or an easement therein, and that such taking, if made under circumstances which give rise to a contract implied in fact to pay compensation, will entitle the owner to sue in the Court of Claims. But the question here is not whether the facts set forth in the petition would, alone or in connection with other evidence, justify the court in finding such a taking and the implied contract. The case was heard on demurrer to the petition; the facts therein set forth must therefore be taken as the ultimate facts, and they must be treated as are the findings of fact made by the Court of Claims. These are treated like a special verdict, and not as evidence from which inferences may be drawn. Rule 1 of this Court, relating to appeals from the Court of Claims; Crocker v. United States, 240 U. S. 74, 240 U. S. 78; Brothers v. United States, 250 U. S. 88, 250 U. S. 93. Unless, therefore, the petition sets forth facts well pleaded which, if found by the lower court would as matter of law entitle the claimants to a judgment, the lower court was, in my opinion, right in dismissing the petition.
Co., 246 U. S. 28, 246 U. S. 40-41. There is no suggestion of an express promise, and there is not to be found in the petition, or in the exhibits incorporated by reference, a single allegation, however general, of an implied contract. This omission would not be fatal if the petition set forth the facts essential to the existence of the cause of action. But it does not. An appropriation of private property will not entitle the owner to recover if made by mistake or if made under a claim of right, although the claim is later shown to be unfounded. Tempel v. United States, 248 U. S. 121, 248 U. S. 130-131. And, if the appropriation was made by an officer without authority, the claimant is likewise without this remedy against the government. United States v. North American Transportation & Trading Co., 253 U. S. 330, 253 U. S. 333. The essentials of a recovery are a taking on behalf of the United States, made by officials duly authorized, and under such conditions that a contract will be implied in fact. The petition fails to set out such facts. Indeed, the facts which are set out make it clear that what was done did not constitute a taking; that the officers of the government, in doing what they did, had no intention of subjecting it to any liability; that they were not authorized to take the land or an easement therein, and that they consistently denied that claimants were entitled to compensation. Implied contracts in fact do not arise from denials and contentions of parties, but from their common understanding whereby mutual intent to contract without formal words therefor is shown. Farnham v. United States, 240 U. S. 537; E. W. Bliss Co. v. United States, 253 U. S. 187, 253 U. S. 190-191; Knapp v. United States, 46 Ct.Cls. 601, 643.
material to the issue, which are set forth in this suit, in the petition as amended, are the reinstallation of the guns at the battery after the Armistice, the erection of a fire control station on claimants' land in connection therewith, and firing the guns on December 8, 1920.
v. United States, supra, and is not disputed. See also Peabody v. United States, 43 Ct.Cls. 5, 18. The Armistice, signed November 11, 1918, left the United States possessed in December, 1920, of the same power to fire over claimants' land as if war had then been flagrant. Hamilton v. Kentucky Distilleries & Warehouse Co., 251 U. S. 146, 251 U. S. 158-160. Reinstallation of the guns and testing them by firing was an appropriate precautionary measure in view of a possible renewal of the conflict. Thus, the only overt acts upon claimants' land which are alleged to have occurred after the date of the findings in the earlier cases, and which are relied upon as establishing a taking after entry of the judgment in 250 U. S. 250 U.S. 1 appear to have been acts done in the exercise of a right already possessed without a taking.
is no such statute. The mere fact of appropriation would not raise a promise implied in law; hence, claimants were obliged to set forth additional facts to show that the government intended to pay the claimants compensation. Moreover, the general allegation of taking was not left to stand alone. Claimants set forth, in great detail, the facts upon which they rely as constituting a legal taking. They have done it in such a way that the allegation of taking reads now not as an allegation of fact, but as a statement by the pleader of a conclusion of law, and consequently is not admitted by the demurrer. Pierce Oil Corp. v. City of Hope, 248 U. S. 498, 248 U. S. 500. And, for a further reason, the facts set forth in detail may not be disregarded as surplusage. They negative the existence of a cause of action. Randall v. Howard, 2 Black 585; McClure v. Township of Oxford, 94 U. S. 429; Speidel v. Henrici, 120 U. S. 377. The facts stated show, as indicated above, not only an absence of taking and of intention to take the claimants' property, but also an absence of authority to do so in those who did the acts relied upon.
"for procurement or reclamation of land, or rights pertaining thereto, needed for site, location, construction, or prosecution of work for fortifications and coast defenses,"
the Secretary of War asked for only $15,000 for the whole country for all these purposes, and that no part of that amount was allocated in the estimates to the "purchase of land and interest in land." Estimates of Appropriations, 66th Congress, 2d Session, Doc. 411, pp, 531, 532. The facts alleged, and of which we take judicial notice, show not only an absence of intention to take, but the absence of power and authority to take.
and that the government did not institute condemnation proceedings, may tend to show that officers of the United States committed a tort on its behalf; but, if a tort was committed, the remedy lies with Congress, not with the courts.
By Act of February 21, 1873, c. 175, 17 Stat. 468, 469, Congress appropriated $50,000 for batteries in Portsmouth Harbor on Gerrish Island and Jerry Point, and by Act of February 10, 1875, c. 39, 18 Stat. 313, added to the appropriation for the Gerrish Island battery, $20,000. Under the authority thus conferred, a tract of 70 acres abutting claimants' land was purchased in 1873, and construction was begun. After $50,000 had been expended in substantially completing the breast-high walls of the fortification, the work was suspended for lack of appropriations in 1876, and it was not resumed until funds were allotted out of the general appropriation made by the Act of May 7, 1898, c. 248, 30 Stat. 400, for fortifications and like purposes. Then, on the site of the old uncompleted battery, there was constructed the battery now known as Ft. Foster, and in December, 1901, it was transferred to the Artillery. In June, 1902, the government fired two of the guns, and in September, 1902 another, for the purpose of testing guns and carriages off the coast, and, in so doing, it fired across complainants' land. Between that time and 1911, no gun was fired from the fort. This battery is located within 200 feet of a corner of claimants' land. No part of the fort encroaches upon it, but the guns there installed had a range of fire over all its seafront, and whether the guns then installed could have been fired for practice or other necessary purpose in time of peace without shooting over claimants' land depends upon a question of law concerning ownership of a narrow strip of land over which the guns had a range of fire -- a question as to which the parties were, and so far as appears are still, in dispute. It was not, so far as then appeared, the intention of the government to fire in time of peace any gun already installed, or which might thereafter be installed, over and across the claimants' land so as to deprive them of the use of the same or to injure them, except as such intention can be drawn from the fact that the guns then installed were so fixed as to make it possible so to do, and the fact that they had been fired as stated. On these facts found by the Court of Claims, 46 Ct.Cls. 39, that court and this held that there was no basis for the claim that the government had appropriated the land and impliedly agreed to pay for it. Peabody v. United States, 231 U. S. 530.
"And, in so doing, the United States have established the said fort and battery with the said guns as a part of the permanent establishment of the coast defense fortifications maintained by [it] . . . without intending to fire, or being able to fire, the said guns to sea except over and across the said land. And the United States have used the said land of the said claimants for the establishment of a fire control station and service for the use of said fort. The United States have, since setting up the said guns as aforesaid, at frequent intervals in the use of said fort raised the said guns and pointed them as aforesaid, over and across the said land, and have further, in the use of the said fort, discharged all of the said guns as aforesaid, on or about the 8th day of December, 1920, over and across the said land."

References: v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 

v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v.