Case Name: BENJAMIN C. GRYMES v. THE UNITED STATES
Court: United States Court of Claims
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 1923-05-28
Citations: 58 Ct. Cl. 398
Docket Number: No. 16-A
Parties: BENJAMIN C. GRYMES v. THE UNITED STATES.
Judges: 
Reporter: United States Court of Claims Reports
Volume: 58
Pages: 398–399

Head Matter:
BENJAMIN C. GRYMES v. THE UNITED STATES.
[No. 16-A.
Decided May 28, 1923.]
On the Proofs.
Eminent domain; just compensation; ■interest.— Where lands are taken by the Government for public use under the right of eminent domain, the owner of such lands is entitled to recover the fair and reasonable value of the same, together with interest thereon, at the rate of 6 per cent, from the date the owner’s possession ended to the date of judgment.
The Reporters statement of the case:
Mr. Alvin T. Emibrey for the plaintiff.
Mr. Frank B. GrostFmaite, with whom was Mr. Assistant Attorney General Robert H. Lovett, for the defendant.
The following are the facts of the case as found by the court:
I. The plaintiff up to June 10, 1918, was the owner in fee simple of a tract of land, with improvements thereon, situated on Machodack Creek, at Dahlgren, King George County, Virginia, containing 352.5 acres, known as “ Berry Plain.”
II. The President of the United States under authority of the act of April 26, 1918, 40 Stat. 537, by proclamation dated June 10, 1918, 40 Stat. 1790, 1792, described by metes and bounds certain lands and improvements, including the lands of plaintiff as set forth in Finding I, at Dahlgren, King George County, Virginia, and took title and possession of said lands on behalf of the United States for military purposes and notified all owners thereof to vacate the same before July, 1918. The plaintiff thereupon in obedience to said proclamation vacated said lands and surrendered the possession thereof on June 10, 1918, to the United States.
III. Pursuant to said statute and proclamation the board, acting for the President, made an award in favor of the plaintiff in the sum of $14,452.50, as just compensation for the property taken as aforesaid.
XV. The amount so awarded was not satisfactory to the plaintiff, who, pursuant to the act of June 10, 1918, swpra, elected to receive 75 per centum of said award and bring suit in the Court of Claims. The United States accordingly, on December 30, 1920, paid plaintiff the sum of $10,839.38, being 75 per centum of the amount of said award, which is all he has been paid for the lands and improvements taken by the Government for military purposes as set forth in Finding II.
V. The plaintiff’s said property, taken by the Government as stated, was, on June 10, 1918, of the fair and reasonable value of $27,847.50. Computing interest on this sum at the rate of 6 per centum per annum from the date plaintiff’s possession ended, June 10, 1918, to the date of judgment, May 28, 1923, amounting to $8,298.56, and adding this to the said value as a convenient method of ascertaining the just compensation to which plaintiff is entitled, gives as the aggregate of these sums $36,146.06. Deducting from this aggregate the amount paid by the Government on the 30th day of December, 1920, $10,839.38 (being 75 per centum of the amount fixed by the President), and allowing interest on said payment at 6 per cent per annum from the date thereof, December 30, 1920, to the date of judgment, May 28, 1923, $1,568.09, leaves the sum of $23,738.59 as the balance of the just compensation to which the plaintiff is entitled for his property taken as aforesaid.

Opinion:
MEMORANDUM BY THE COURT.
The court applies the principle announced in Seaboard Air Line By. Go. case, 261 U. S. 299.
It adopts as a convenient method of fixing just compensation the addition of interest for the time elapsing between the date plaintiff lost possession and the date of judgment, allowing, however, interest on the payment made by the Government.
Judgment for plaintiff in the sum of $23,738.59.