Case: NEW YORK, NEW HAVEN & HARTFORD RAILROAD COMPANY v. THE UNITED STATES
Abbreviation: New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad v. United States
Decision Date: 1919-12-08
Docket Number: 
Citation: 55 Ct. Cl. 506
Volume: 55
Reporter: United States Court of Claims Reports
Court: Supreme Court of the United States
Jurisdiction: United States
Parties: NEW YORK, NEW HAVEN & HARTFORD RAILROAD COMPANY v. THE UNITED STATES.
Judges: 
Pages: 506–506

Head Matter:
NEW YORK, NEW HAVEN & HARTFORD RAILROAD COMPANY v. THE UNITED STATES.
[53 C. Cls., 222; 251 U. S., 123.]
Judgment was rendered in favor of the defendants in tbe court below. On appeal tbe judgment was affirmed, and tbe Supreme Court decided:
Semble, that under Rev. Stats., see. 4002, as amended, the Postmaster General may fix the sums payable to a railroad company for transporting- the mails upon the basis of weights taken immediately before the beginning of the four-year term of the contract, and that annual weighings are not required.
A railroad company which knowingly contracts and receives on this basis less than it would have received on the basis of annual weighings has no implied contract right to be paid the difference by the United States.
Prior to the act of July 28, 1916, c. 261, 39 Stat., 429, a non-land-grant railroad was not required to carry the mails; and when it voluntarily accepted and performed the service with knowledge of what the United States intended to pay, it can not claim more upon the ground that its property was taken.

Opinion:
Mr. Justice McReyNolds
delivered tbe opinion of tbe
Supreme Court December 8, 1919.