Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/150/588/
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 18:50:05+00:00

Document:
Ordinarily a court has no power to grant a new trial at a term subsequent to that at which the original judgment was rendered.
The Court of Claims, however, under Rev.Stat. § 1088, has power to grant a new trial in such case on a motion on behalf of the United States, and a mandate from this Court does not affect that power.
When such a motion is made on behalf of the government on the ground that its officers understood that there was an agreement that a case which had been appealed to this Court by the United States, and had been remanded to that court by this Court on the ground that the appellants had not entered it here, was to abide the result in another case appealed from the Court of Claims by the United States and decided here in their favor, the granting of the motion by the Court of Claims mast be taken by this Court as conclusive on the question whether the evidence warranted the action of that court, as that evidence is not preserved.
The payment to an Indian agent of the amount appropriated by Congress for the payment of his salary being less than the amount fixed by general law as the salary of the office, and his receipt of the sum paid "in full of my pay for services for the period herein expressed," is a full satisfaction of the claim.
United States v. Langston, 118 U. S. 389, explained and limited.
"recover the difference between the salary established by law for the office which he held and the amount paid to him in accordance with the appropriations made by Congress."
An appeal was taken in each case by the United States. That in the Mitchell case was duly entered in this Court, and was submitted on briefs on March 30, 1883. On November 5 of that year, this Court rendered its decision in favor of the United States, reversing the judgment of the court below. 109 U. S. 109 U.S. 146.
"And whereas, in the present term of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighty-three, the said cause came on to be heard before the Supreme Court, and it appearing that the appellant has failed to have its appeal filed and docketed in conformity with the rules of this Court, it is now here ordered and adjudged by this Court that his appeal from the Court of Claims be, and the same is hereby, docketed and dismissed."
"And it is further ordered that this cause be, and the same is hereby, remanded to the said Court of Claims. (May 5, 1884.)"
be had in said cause as, according to right and justice and the laws of the United States, ought to be had, the said appeal notwithstanding."
On the 13th of May, the United States, by the Attorney General, filed a motion in the Court of Claims for a new trial on the ground that wrong and injustice in the premises had been done to the United States. The reasons therefor, as stated, were that the two cases were heard together; that in both the judgment was for the plaintiff, and both cases were appealed to the Supreme Court; that the same questions of law were involved in each case, and that the defendants understood that the appeal in this case was to abide the decision in the case of Mitchell; that, relying upon this understanding, they took no further action in this case, and it was only in consequence of such reliance that the transcript was not filed by them in the District Court, and the opportunity thus given to the appellant to have the case docketed and dismissed; that by the Mitchell case the law has been decided adversely to the claim of petitioner, and therefore that wrong and injustice would under the circumstances be done by permitting the judgment to stand.
that any fraud, wrong, or injustice in the premises has been done to the United States; but until an order is made staying the payment of a judgment, the same shall be payable and paid as now provided by law."
In order to give full effect to this statute, the Court of Claims must have power to grant a new trial at a term subsequent to that at which the judgment was rendered, for it explicitly provides that it may be exercised at any time within two years. This section has been before this Court in several cases, and in them its scope and effect considered and determined. United States v. Ayres, 9 Wall. 608; United States v. Crusell, 12 Wall. 175; Ex Parte Russell, 13 Wall. 664; Ex Parte United States, 16 Wall. 699; United States v. Young, 94 U. S. 258; Young v. United States, 95 U. S. 642, 95 U. S. 643. That a mandate from this Court does not prevent the operation of this statute or take away the power or interfere with the discretion of the Court of Claims to grant a new trial was settled in Ex Parte Russell, supra.
such an agreement, and a deliberate breach thereof by the appellant, all that is claimed by the United States is that there was on their part an understanding that there was such an agreement, and that they acted in reliance upon such an understanding. We are to assume that the testimony showed that there were reasonable grounds for believing in the existence of such an agreement and for acting in reliance thereupon. The defendants were guilty of no laches or omissions, and the effect upon them is the same as if there had been in fact an agreement and a willful breach. That being so, it would evidently be a wrong, an injustice to the government, not to relieve it from the consequences of such a mistake of fact and to continue in force a judgment which ought not to have been rendered. We think that the Court of Claims was authorized, upon the facts stated in this motion, to grant a new trial.
"The President is authorized to appoint from time to time, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, the following Indian agents: . . . Four for the tribes in California at an annual salary of eighteen hundred dollars, each."
Of these ten appropriation acts, the first four made appropriations for only three agencies in California (Hoopa Valley, Round Valley, and Tule River), the fifth made an appropriation for only two of these agencies, (Round Valley and Tule River), while the last five made appropriations for four agencies, that of Hoopa Valley being restored and the Mission agency being added, but the salary of the agent at this last point was at first fixed at $3,000, and by the Act of June 14, 1878, 20 Stat. 115, 119, c. 191, reduced to $1,300 at which figure it remained under the other acts.
In all these ten acts, the appropriations for the pay of the other California agents, as well as the one at Tule River, differ from the figure named in section 2052; in the first five acts, the other appropriations being at the same rate as that allowed for Tule River, while in the last five, the Round Valley agent is paid $1,500, the Mission agent $1,300, and the other two $1,000.
the amount appropriated by Congress for his compensation by reason of the existence of a statute prescribing a salary. United States v. Fisher, 109 U. S. 143; United States v. Mitchell, 109 U. S. 146; United States v. Langston, 118 U. S. 389; Wallace v. United States, 133 U. S. 180, and Dunwoody v. United States, 143 U. S. 578. In one of these cases, United States v. Langston, we held that the act prescribing the salary controlled; in the others, that the appropriation acts were conclusive as to the amount the officer was entitled to receive. The difference in result does not, however, show a variation in ruling. On the contrary, all the cases have been decided in accordance with the general rule laid down in United States v. Mitchell, supra: "The whole question depends on the intention of Congress as expressed in the statutes."
"For pay of seventy-four agents of Indian affairs at the following named agencies at the rates respectively indicated, namely: at the Warm Springs agency at one thousand dollars; at the Klamath agency at one thousand one hundred dollars."
"That hereafter the estimates for appropriations for the Indian service shall be presented in such form as to show the amounts required for each of the agencies in the several states or territories, and for said states and territories, respectively."

References: § 1088
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v.