Court Opinion

ID: 9419920
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 22:52:09.798858+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:22:21.178583
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Reed and Mr. Justice Douglas,
dissenting.
“The stipulation merely had the effect of relieving the Government from having to make proof as to what was just compensation and of running the risk of having an amount fixed which might be unsatisfactory.” United States v. Baugh, 149 F. 2d 190, 192. The landowners’ “right to have interest is found in the Constitution and is neither found nor lost in the contract.” Id., p. 193. The justness of the claim for interest in these cases is underlined by the fact that the land was taken over four years before full payment was made. The United States renounced these contracts and retained possession of the properties by the Declaration of Taking Act, which by its terms, 46 Stat. 1421, 40 U. S. C. § 258a, entitled the condemnee to interest on the value from the date of taking except as to sums paid into court. After the decision in Muschany v. United States, 324 U. S. 49, the Government carried out its condemnation suits and obtained titles to these properties by condemnation.
In these condemnation actions the agreed price, stated in the contracts, became the “just compensation” of the Declaration of Taking Act and by that Act interest was due for such amount as had not been deposited with the trial court when the declaration was filed. Interest for the period between the declaration and the payment of the value into the trial court should be allowed on the amount by which the sum fixed in the final decree exceeded the sum deposited with the declaration of taking.