Ellis Roberts v. United States Marie Valentine

• Decision Date: 05 February 1900
• Docket Number: No. 86,86
• Citation: 20 S.Ct. 376,176 U.S. 221,44 L.Ed. 443
• Parties: ELLIS H. ROBERTS, Treasurer of the United States, Petitioner , v. UNITED STATES ex rel. MARIE A. VALENTINE
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

176 U.S. 221

20 S.Ct. 376

44 L.Ed. 443

ELLIS H. ROBERTS, Treasurer of the United States, Petitioner,

v UNITED STATES ex rel. MARIE A. VALENTINE.

No. 86.

Argued December 15, 1899.

Decided February 5, 1900.

Mr. Robert A. Howard and Solicitor General Richards for petitioner.

Mr. B. E. Valentine for respondent.

Mr. Justice Peckham delivered the opinion of the court:

A writ of certiorari was issued in this case to the court of appeals of the District of Columbia, for the purpose of reviewing a judgment of that court affirming a judgment of the supreme court of the District, which awarded to the relator, Marie A. Valentine, a writ of mandamus to compel the petitioner, who is the Treasurer of the United States, to pay her, as assignee, a residue of 2.35 per centum interest upon certain certificates issued by the board of audit of the District of Columbia pursuant to the provisions of § 6 of the act approved June 20, 1874, entitled 'An Act for the Government of the District of Columbia, and for Other Purposes.' 18 Stat. at L. 116, 118, chap. 337.

The facts upon which the controversy arises are uncontradicted, and are as follows: One Charles E. Evans, who, previous to 1874, had done a large amoune of work for the District in laying concrete and brick pavements in the city of Washington, duly presented his claims on that account to the board of audit constituted under the act above mentioned, which board, after an examination of such claims, executed on the 1st of August, 1874, the two certificates which form the basis of the claim of the relator, each certificate being dated on that day, one of which acknowledged an indebtedness to him on the part of the District of Columbia of $19,616.25 and the other $909.40. They were not, however, delivered to Evanas, because at the time they were made a claim had been set up by the authorities of the District that Evans was liable for the expense of repairs which were needed on pavements laid by him (which claim, however, as it afterwards appeared, was not well founded), and the board of audit, instead of delivering the certificates to Evans, withheld them from him, and at or about their date delivered them to the commissioners of the District, who held them as collateral security for the payment of any liability of Evans for the repairs mentioned. They remained from August, 1874, until June 9, 1890, in a tin box in the office of the Treasurer of the United States, who held it and its contents subject to the control of the commissioners of the District.

By reason of this refusal to deliver the certificates and their retention in the hands of the Treasurer, Evans was unable to avail himself of the right given by the act of 1874 to exchange such certificates for the 3.65 bonds mentioned in that act, and for the same reason he was unable to avail himself of the provisions of § 9 of the act approved June 16, 1880 (21 Stat. at L. 284, chap. 243), providing for the redemption of the certificates created by the act of 1874. An action was therefore commenced in December, 1880, in the court of claims by the assignee of Evans to recover judgment against the District of Columbia upon those certificates, under the provisions of § 1 of the above act of 1880. In this action, in addition to the claims upon the certificates already mentioned, Fisher, the assignee, included a large amount of other claims against the District, which had also been assigned to him by Evans.

In 1884, Congress passed an act, approved July 5, 1884 (23 Stat. at L. 123, 131, chap. 227), providing that no payment should be made of any certificate issued under the act of 1874 that should not be presented for payment within one year from the date of the approval of the act of 1884.

After its commencement (the certificates still remaining in the custody of the Treasurer) the action above mentioned continued pending until some time during the December term, 1889, of the court of claims, when the executors of the will of Fisher, the assignee, were substituted as parties plaintiff in the action upon the suggestion of the death of Fisher having been duly made upon the record, and the action was revived in the names of the executors of Fisher's will.

In June, 1890, a settlement of that action was agreed upon, by the terms of which the two certificates were to be delivered to the plaintiffs, and the other matters in dispute therein were to be withdrawn from the court by the discontinuance of the action. Pursuant to that settlement and on June 9, 1890, under the advice of the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the case, the certificates were delivered to the plaintiff's attorney, who thereupon presented them to the Treasurer and requested him, in his capacity as ex officio commissioner of the sinking fund of the District of Columbia, to issue in exchange for them the 3.65 bonds authorized by the act of Congress of 1874. The Treasurer refused to redeem the certificates or to issue bonds for the payment thereof, or in any way to pay the same, until the parties had obtained a judgment in the court of claims in the action already mentioned, which should provide for their payment. Accordingly the plaintiffs in that action asked and obtained leave to amend their petition by striking out all reference to any other causes of action than those upon these two certificates. The amendment was consented to by the Assistant Attorney General, and on June 12, 1890, a judgment was duly obtained in favor of plaintiffs and against the District of Columbia for the recovery, 'in the manner provided by the act of June 16, 1880, chapter 243,' of the sums mentioned in the certificates. The judgment roll in the case contained the petition in which these particular certificates were set out in full, and it showed that the judgment entered by the court of claims was recovered on those certificates and on them alone. There was thus evidence on record which showed the cause of action on which the judgment was based. On September 12, 1890, the Treasurer paid these certificates with interest from their date, August 1, 1874, to September 11, 1890, at 3.65 per centum, by paying the judgment entered by the court of claims. Subsequently to that time the executors of Fisher, the assignee of Evans, assigned to one Robinson all interest in the claims and demands against the District, and Robinson subsequently assigned the same to the relator. Thus, some sixteen years after the certificates had been duly made under the authority of the act of 1874 they were finally redeeded, the delay having been caused by their retention as above section of which reads as follows: deliver them to their owner.

On August 13, 1894, Congress passed an act (28 Stat. at L. 277, chap. 279), the first scction of which reads as follows:

'That the Treasurer of the United States is hereby directed to pay to the owners, holders, or assignees of all board of audit certificates redeemed by him under the act approved June 16, 1880, the residue of two and thirty-five hundredths per centum per annum of unpaid legal rate interest due upon said certificates from their date up to the date of approval of said act providing for their redemption.'

The relator as assignee, by her attorney, made demand upon the Treasurer for the payment of the balance of the interest as provided for in the above act, and on November 3, 1897, the Treasurer refused such demand, and wrote the following letter to the attorney:

Sir: Your letter of the 27th ultimo, inclosing a petition for the payment of interest on certain board of audit certificates, under the act of Congress approved August 13, 1894, is received.

You will note that the act referred to provides for additional interest to be paid only upon board of audit certificates redeemed by the Treasurer under the act of June 16, 1880. Neither of the certificates recited in your petition was redeemed by the Treasurer, and they are not in his possession.

You state that certain judgments of the court of claims were issued in lieu of these certificates. These judgments were paid by this office in the manner prescribed by law, but neither of them states that they were issued in lieu of or upon debts of the District of Columbia represented by board of audit certificates.

The Treasurer has therefore no authority to pay the additional interest you demand.

The foregoing facts were set forth in the petition of the relator to the supreme court of the District of Columbia asking for a mandamus to compel the Treasurer to make the payment demanded.

In answer to the petition the Treasurer alleged 'that the certain board of audit certificates, so called, in the said petition mentioned, namely, the certificates numbered 8879 and 19,429, were not redeemed by him or any person holding the office of Treasurer of the United States at any time, and that the only moneys paid by any Treasurer of the United States on account of any of the matters or things in the said petition mentioned as having relation to the said certificates, or either of them, were paid upon certain judgments of the court of claims of the United States, as appears by the transcript from the frcords of the Treasury Department of the United States, hereto annexed and made part hereof, and that the defendant has no official knowledge, nor has he any...