Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/284/352/
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 06:03:49+00:00

Document:
"pending in any other court . . . against any person who at the time when the cause of action . . . arose, was, in respect thereto, acting . . . under the authority of the United States,"
is inapplicable where the other suit is against the United States, and not against its agent. P. 284 U. S. 355.
2. Where the words of a statute are plain, they may not be added to or altered, in construction, to effect a purpose not apparent on its face or from its legislative history. P. 284 U. S. 356.
3. Under the Suits in Admiralty Act, §§ 1 and 2, jurisdiction of maritime causes of action against the United States, arising out of the operation of merchant vessels for it, is vested exclusively in the district courts. Id.
4. After vessels had been requisitioned by the Shipping Board under the Act of June 15, 1917, the Board and the owner entered into a charter contract providing that the vessels should remain in the service of the United States, to be employed as it might determine, but that the owner should operate them, furnish crew and equipment, and pay for provisions, wages, etc. The United States agreed to pay the owner for certain expenses of maintenance and operation, and ship hire at a rate established by the Board for vessels of like description, with liberty in the owner to terminate the charter if the rate should be less than a specified minimum. It agreed also to reimburse the owner for any proper increases in wages over a specified standard.
(1) That the making of the contract worked an abandonment of the requisition and a release of the owner's right to just compensation under the Act of 1917, and that a cause of action of the owner based on the contract provision for recovery of increased wage payments could not be entertained by the Court of Claims, under Jud.Code § 145, as a claim for just compensation. P 284 U. S. 357.
(2) That the contract was maritime, and the cause of action within the admiralty jurisdiction. P. 284 U. S. 358.
5. A claimant in the Court of Claims has the burden of alleging and proving a cause of action within its jurisdiction. P. 284 U. S. 359.
6. As the present suit is against the United States upon a maritime cause of action growing out of the operation of ships for the government, the Court of Claims is without jurisdiction if the vessels in question were operated as merchant vessels, and as the petition does not allege that they were otherwise operated, it fails to state a cause of action within the jurisdiction of that court. P. 284 U. S. 359.
7. Want of jurisdiction of the subject matter may be considered, and appropriate judgment given at any stage of the proceedings, either here or below. Id.
"the same right to sue the United State as he would have had if the decision and been made by the President of the United States under the acts hereby repealed,"
did not purport to enlarge existing remedies or establish a new procedure for the enforcement of maritime obligations which, like the present, are embraced within the Suits in Admiralty Act. P. 284 U. S. 359.
Certiorari, post, p. 600, to review a judgment dismissing a claim for want of jurisdiction.
This case is here on certiorari to review a judgment of the Court of Claims dismissing the petition for want of jurisdiction. 72 Ct.Cls. 210.
"in consideration of the compensation provided [by the requisition charter] and the other obligations assumed by the United States . . . , accepts this Requisition Charter in full satisfaction of any and all claims he has or may have against the United States arising out of the Requisition, and accepts the compensation herein provided for as the just compensation required by law. . . ."
The attached form contained numerous clauses dealing with matters commonly covered by time charters. It provided that the vessel should remain in the service of the United States, to be employed as it might determine, but that petitioner should operate the vessel, furnish crew and equipment, and pay for provisions, wages, shipping fees, and supplies. The United States agreed to pay to petitioner, in addition to certain enumerated expenses of maintenance and operation of the vessel, ship hire at the monthly rate established by the Shipping Board for vessels of like description, but with provision for terminating the charter by petitioner, if the rate should be less than a specified minimum. By the tenth clause of the charter, with which we are chiefly concerned, the government agreed to reimburse petitioner "for any proper increases in wages and bonuses over the standard prevailing 1 August, 1917, for master, officers, and crew. . . ."
including payments of increased wages and bonuses. On October 1, 1926, petitioner entered into a second agreement with the Government, accepting a specified amount in full satisfaction of all its demands except one for the sum of $49,373.11, claimed under clause tenth, for the recovery of which the present suit was brought.
"pending in any other court . . . against any person who at the time when the cause of action . . . arose, was, in respect thereto, acting . . . under the authority of the United States."
to require an election between a suit in the Court of Claims and one brought in another court against an agent of the government, in which the judgment would not be res adjudicata in the suit pending in the Court of Claims (Statement of Senator Edmunds, Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, in reporting the bill to the Senate, Cong.Globe, 40th Cong., 2nd Sess., 1868 P. 2769). See Sage v. United States, 250 U. S. 33, 250 U. S. 37, and compare Southern Pacific R. Co. v. United States, 168 U. S. 1, 168 U. S. 48-49, holding otherwise as to a judgment obtained in a suit brought against the United States in a district court. As the words of the section are plain, we are not at liberty to add to or alter them to effect a purpose which does not appear on its face or from its legislative history. Corona Coal Co. v. United States, 263 U. S. 537, 263 U. S. 540.
In supporting the judgment of dismissal below, the government relies on the Suits in Admiralty Act of March 9, 1920, c. 95, 41 Stat. 525-528 by which, it is contended, jurisdiction over the asserted cause of action is vested exclusively in courts of admiralty. Section 1 of the Suits in Admiralty Act forbids the arrest or seizure of vessels owned or operated by or for the United States. Section 2 provides that, where a proceeding in admiralty could be maintained, if at the time of the commencement of the action such vessel were privately owned or operated, "a libel in personam may be brought against the United States . . . provided that such vessel is employed as a merchant vessel . . . ," and that "such suits shall be brought in the district court of the United States. . . ."
Bros. & Co., 276 U. S. 202. The language of § 2 is general, embracing suits on maritime causes of action by owners, as well as by third persons injured by the operation for the government of merchant vessels. See Eastern Transportation Co. v. United States, 272 U. S. 675, 272 U. S. 689 et seq.
It is true that, under § 145 of the Judicial Code, c. 231, 36 Stat. 1087, 1136, the Court of Claims has jurisdiction of claims for just compensation for property requisitioned by the United States, but such is not the cause of action alleged. Subdivision (e) of the Emergency Shipping Fund provisions of the Urgent Deficiencies Appropriation Act of June 15, 1917, authorized the requisition of the title or possession of ships "for use or operation by the United States." It required just compensation for requisitioned ships to be fixed by the President, and provided, in case the amount was unsatisfactory to the person entitled to compensation, that 75 percent of it should be paid, and that suit might be brought against the United States to recover such further amount as, with that already paid, would make up just compensation.
conferred new and different rights upon petitioner, and subjected it to new obligations, not flowing from the requisition. The requisition of the ships imposed no duty on petitioner to operate them or to pay expenses of operation and maintenance after their seizure. That duty and petitioner's right to compensation for the performance of it and its right to be reimbursed for increased costs of operation, one of which is the subject of the present suit, arose from the contract alone. Such compensation and reimbursement are not included in just compensation for the requisition, even though waiver of the constitutional right was part consideration for the obligation to pay for the operation of the ships. The stipulated monthly payments to petitioner for ship hire were not measured by the just compensation which petitioner would otherwise have been entitled to receive and might, in fact be either more or less. The effect of the agreement was to release petitioner's rights, growing out of the requisition, and to define the rights of the parties with respect to the use of petitioner's ships and the compensation for them, as effectively and completely and with the same consequences as though no requisition had ever been made.
We need not examine the requisition charter with meticulous care to see whether it is in all respects identical with the usual charter party, which, as petitioner concedes, is maritime. Morewood v. Enequist, 23 How. 491. It is enough that the right asserted is upon express contract with the shipowner for its operation of the ship for the government, and stipulates compensation both for use of the ship and for service rendered and expense incurred in its operation and maintenance, all of which undertakings are characteristically within the admiralty jurisdiction. Compare 47 U. S. v. Merchants' Bank, 6 How. 344, 47 U. S. 392; The Thomas Jefferson, 10 Wheat. 428, 23 U. S. 429; The Eddy, 5 Wall. 481, 72 U. S. 494; The General Smith, 4 Wheat. 438; James Shewan & Sons, Inc. v.
United States, 266 U. S. 108; The Arlyn Nelson, 243 F. 415; 3 Benedict, Admiralty (5th ed.) 82-96.
Petitioner also asserts that the present cause of action is not maintainable under the Suits in Admiralty Act because it does not appear that it arose out of the operation of the ships as merchant vessels. The government argues that it is inferable from certain allegations in the petition, read in the light of the requisition charter, that the vessels were so used, but we do not stop to consider the argument. The burden rested upon petitioner to allege and prove a cause of action within the jurisdiction of the Court of Claims. Johnson v. United States, 160 U. S. 546, 160 U. S. 552-553; Merritt v. United States, 267 U. S. 338; Contzen v. United States, 179 U. S. 191, 179 U. S. 192. As the suit is against the United States upon a maritime cause of action growing out of the operation of ships for the government, the Court of Claims is without jurisdiction if the vessels in question were operated as merchant vessels, and, as the petition does not allege that they were otherwise operated, it fails to state a cause of action within the jurisdiction of the Court of Claims. As the want of jurisdiction is of the subject matter, it may be considered and appropriate judgment given at any stage of the proceedings, either here or below. Hilton v. Dickinson, 108 U. S. 165, 108 U. S. 168; Gainesville v. Brown-Crummer Co., 277 U. S. 54, 277 U. S. 59; see Grace v. American Central Ins. Co., 109 U. S. 278, 109 U. S. 283-284; Bors. v. Preston, 111 U. S. 252, 111 U. S. 255.
out of or incident to the exercise by or through the President of any of the powers or duties conferred or imposed upon the President."
"the same right to sue the United States as he would have had if the decision had been made by the President of the United States under the Acts hereby repealed."
Assuming, without deciding, that the present claim is one which the Board was authorized to settle, we think it clear that the Act did not purport to enlarge existing remedies or establish a new procedure for the enforcement of maritime obligations which, like the present, are embraced within the Suits in Admiralty Act.

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