Court Opinion

ID: 9443891
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-03 19:33:22.035785+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:29:38.300279
License: Public Domain

PICKETT, Circuit Judge
(dissenting in part).
I agree with what the majority opinion says relative to the finality of the order of the District Court from which this appeal was taken. I disagree with the conclusion as to the allowance of interest.
The action is one which arises solely under the laws of the United States. Therefore, the right to interest is to be determined by the federal courts and is not governed by state statutes or state court decisions. Royal Indemnity Co. v. United States, 313 U.S. 289, 61 S.Ct. 995, 85 L.Ed. 1361. In the absence of a federal statute controlling the right to interest, the federal courts have developed a rule that interest shall be allowed as damages, “according to their concept of the demands of justice and practicality.” Phillips Petroleum Co. v. Oldland, 10 Cir., 187 F.2d 780, 783, certiorari denied 342 U.S. 816, 72 S.Ct. 30, 96 L.Ed. 617. In Rodgers v. United States, 332 U.S. 371, at page 373, 68 S.Ct. 5, 7, 92 L.Ed. 3, it was said, “As our prior cases show, a persuasive consideration in determining whether such obligations shall bear interest is the relative equities between the beneficiaries of the obligation and those upon whom it has been imposed.” In United States v. Star Construction Co., Inc., 10 Cir., 186 F.2d 666, 669, we said: “If the net amount due on determination had been a liquidated amount, or if it was susceptible of being arrived at by computation, then the court in the exercise of its discretion could have awarded interest from the date payment was demanded.
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“Finally, interest was not allowable as of right, but the allowance or disallowance thereof rested in the discretion of the trial court.” Cf. Board of Commissioners of Jackson County v. United States, 308 U.S. 343, 60 S.Ct. 285, 84 L.Ed. 313; Chisholm v. House, 10 Cir., 183 F.2d 698; Continental Oil Co. v. United States, 9 Cir., 184 F.2d 802.
Under the Emergency Price Control Act of 1942, to stimulate the production of oil in the United States, it was determined that the United States would pay a subsidy on crude oil produced from what is known as *819“stripper wells”. The purchaser of this oil paid the producer the posted price to which was added the subsidy. Upon application, the amount of the subsidies was refunded. It is conceded that the oil produced qualified for the subsidy payments and ordinarily the purchaser would have been entitled to the refund. A dispute arose because the defendant used a quantity of crude oil from the pipe line stream as fuel in its pumping stations. The stripper oil in question was used to replace the oil used for fuel and other line losses. Oil used as fuel oil was not eligible to receive the subsidy. (Revised Maximum Price Regulation No. 436) No contention is made that stripper oil purchased was actually used as fuel oil. So far as is known, substantially all of it was transported to a refinery for processing. Its identity as a replacement for fuel oil was merely a bookkeeping entry.
The case was tried in the District Court as an action for money had and received where a judgment was entered for the defendant. On appeal, it was contended for the first time that a letter demanding repayment of the sum received by the defendant was an order of the R.F.C., and that its validity could be questioned only in the Emergency Court of Appeals under the procedure provided for in the Emergency Price Control Act of 1942, 50 U.S.C.A.Appendix, § 924(e). The contention was sustained and the case was remanded with instructions to enter judgment for the plaintiff as prayed for, subject to the defendant’s right to proceed in the Emergency Court of Appeals. 198 F.2d 775. The judgment is for an amount over and above the posted field price for oil. The purchaser received no benefit from the increased price and if it is not refunded as contemplated by the regulations it becomes a total loss. The claim of the R.F.C. is based upon exceedingly technical grounds which could not have been anticipated by. a pipe line company purchasing subsidy oil. I am of the view that the plaintiff does not have an absolute right to interest and under all the circumstances the District Court acted according to equitable principles and well within the hounds of its discretion in disallowing interest.