In re the District of Columbia, Petitioner . In re the District of Columbia, Petitioner . & 14, Original

• Citation: 21 S.Ct. 357,45 L.Ed. 516,180 U.S. 250
• Decision Date: 11 February 1901
• Docket Number: Nos. 13,s. 13
• Parties: In re THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, Petitioner . In re THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, Petitioner . & 14, Original
• Court: United States Supreme Court

180 U.S. 250

21 S.Ct. 357

45 L.Ed. 516

In re THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, Petitioner. In re THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, Petitioner.

Nos. 13 & 14, Original.

Argued January 21, 1901, and leave granted to submit brief on behalf of interested parties.

Decided February 11, 1901.

Messrs. Robert A. Howard and L. A. Pradt, Assistant Attorney General, for petitioner.

Mr. A. A. Hoehling, Jr., was granted leave to submit brief on behalf of interested parties.

Mr. Chief Justice Fuller delivered the opinion of the court:

These are petitions for mandamus. The petition in No. 13 sets forth in substance that the court of claims rendered judgment in favor of Thomas Kirby and against the District, June 10, 1895, due and payable as of January 1, 1876, under the provisions of two acts of Congress, of June 16, 1880 (21 Stat. at L. 284, chap. 243), and of February 13, 1895 (28 Stat. at L. 664, chap. 87). No motion for new trial was made, and no appeal was taken, and the judgment, principal and interest, was paid.

From the petition in No. 14, it appears that Henry L. Cranford and Lindley M. Hoffman obtained judgment November 15, 1895, under the aforesaid acts, payable as of January 1, 1876, which, principal and interest, was paid. No new trial was asked for, but an application for an appeal was made and withdrawn.

February 15, 1897, on an appeal by the District of Columbia from similar judgments in favor of other claimants, this court decided that no interest was recoverable on the amounts claimed until from the passage of the act of February 3, 1895. District of Columbia v. Johnson, 165 U. S. 330, 41 L. ed. 734, 17 Sup. Ct. Rep. 362. Thereupon on February 25, 1897, the District filed motions for new trial in the cases involved here under § 1088 of the Revised Statutes, brought forward from the act of June 25, 1868 (15 Stat. at L. 75, chap. 71), which provides: 'The court of claims, at any time while any claim is pending before it, or on appeal from it, or within two years next after the final disposition of such claim, may, on motion on behalf of the United States, grant a new trial and stay the payment of any judgment therein, upon such evidence, cumulative or otherwise, as shall satisfy the court that any fraud, wrong, or injustice in the premises has been done to the United States; but until an order is made staying the payment of the judgment, the same shall be payable and paid as now provided by law.'

The ground of these motions was error in the allowance on interest from January 1, 1876, or except from the date of the judgments. The motions were denied for want of jurisdiction.

The act of June 16, 1880, provided for the settlement of all outstanding claims against the District of Columbia, including claims arising out of contracts made by the board of public works, and conferred jurisdiction on the court of claims to hear the same, applying all laws then in force felating to the prosecution of claims against the United States, and giving the District of Columbia the same right to interpose counterclaims and defenses, and a like power of appeal, as in cases against the United States tried in said court, and containing the express proviso that 'motions for new trials shall be made by either party within twenty days after the rendition of any judgment.' The jurisdiction...