Opinion ID: 718593
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Restitutionary Funds

Text: 4 The history of the Bebchick Fund begins in 1968 when this court set aside three Commission orders increasing D.C. Transit's fares and ordered the company to make restitution to the bus riders in the Washington metropolitan area for excessive fares collected. See Williams v. Washington Metro. Area Transit Comm'n, 415 F.2d 922, 938-43 (D.C.Cir.1968), cert. denied, 393 U.S. 1081, 89 S.Ct. 860, 21 L.Ed.2d 773 (1969); see also Bebchick v. Washington Metro. Area Transit Comm'n, 485 F.2d 858, 860-61 (D.C.Cir.1973). In 1974, representatives of the bus riders sought to collect the restitution due them from condemnation proceeds belonging to D.C. Transit then under the control of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. In an order dated December 19, 1974, the district court distributed to D.C. Transit all but $1,461,756 of the condemnation proceeds, retaining that amount in an account until all appeals of the restitution award were settled. 5 This court assumed custody of the account containing the withheld condemnation proceeds, known as the Bebchick Fund, by order dated December 2, 1975. In 1979, all appeals of the restitution award became moot when D.C. Transit agreed that the bus riders were entitled to the Bebchick Fund as restitution for excessive fares it had charged them. By 1986, all issues regarding the restitution owed the bus riders in connection with the excessive fares in this case had been settled. See Bebchick v. Washington Metro. Area Transit Comm'n, 805 F.2d 396, 399-401 (D.C.Cir.1986). As of April 30, 1996, the Bebchick Fund contained $6,560,588.17. This court has never relinquished custody of the Bebchick Fund, nor has it ever appointed a trustee for the fund.
6 The Riders' Fund was established pursuant to a compromise agreement, approved by this court's order of February 26, 1990, wherein D.C. Transit agreed to pay $9,200,000 in restitution into the Riders' Fund for the benefit of bus riders. See Democratic Cent. Comm. of the Dist. of Columbia v. Washington Metro. Area Transit Comm'n, 3 F.3d 1568, 1569 (D.C.Cir.1994). This court also adopted and executed a declaration of trust agreement, effective as of February 26, 1990, which, inter alia, appointed a trustee of the Riders' Fund to make all reasonable efforts to collect all amounts to which the Trust is or becomes entitled and to realize the fair value of the Trust Assets. Democratic Cent. Comm. of the Dist. of Columbia, 41 F.3d at 759. On March 30, 1993, the Riders' Fund obtained a judgment against D.C. Transit in the amount of $4,976,124.79, the balance of unpaid restitution. The Bank of New York is currently trustee of the Riders' Fund. As of April 30, 1996, the Riders' Fund contained $4,850,459.80. The nonliquidated assets of the Riders' Fund consist of various interests in real estate and the judgment against D.C. Transit that the trustee is currently seeking to enforce. 7 On November 30, 1995, this court issued an order to the trustee of the Riders' Fund to solicit, on behalf of the Riders' Fund and the Bebchick Fund, ... recommendations of the plaintiffs, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Commission [WMATA], the District of Columbia Government, and existing organizations representing users of mass transit services in the D.C. area as to the best disposition of these assets. In response to the trustee's solicitation, the court received sixteen recommendations.