Reconstruction Finance Corp. v. McCarthy Bros., 32695.

• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of California
• Writing for the Court: Lloyd H. Burke, U. S. Atty., William B. Spohn, Asst. U. S. Atty., San Francisco, Cal., for plaintiff
• Citation: Reconstruction Finance Corp. v. McCarthy Bros., 117 F.Supp. 345 (N.D. Cal. 1953)
• Decision Date: 24 November 1953
• Docket Number: No. 32695.,32695.
• Parties: RECONSTRUCTION FINANCE CORP. v. McCARTHY BROS.

117 F. Supp. 345

RECONSTRUCTION FINANCE CORP. v. McCARTHY BROS.

No. 32695.

United States District Court, N. D. California, S. D.

November 24, 1953.

Lloyd H. Burke, U. S. Atty., William B. Spohn, Asst. U. S. Atty., San Francisco, Cal., for plaintiff.

Joseph C. Haughey, San Francisco, Cal., for defendant.

GOODMAN, District Judge.

On November 23, 1945 the Stabilization Administrator of the Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion announced his finding that "in order to obtain adequate supplies of green coffee without increasing coffee prices to the consumer or resuming coffee rationing, it is necessary to provide a temporary program for subsidizing imports of green coffee as an emergency measure to avoid a critical shortage of coffee for domestic civilian consumption." To implement his finding, the Administrator authorized the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, a corporation chartered and wholly owned by the United States, to establish such a program. Directive 87, 10 F.R. 14450.

Pursuant to the program which it initiated, R.F.C. entered into a contract with defendant McCarthy Bros. for the importation of green coffee in return for a subsidy of three cents a pound. The contract provided that R.F.C. should be reimbursed for any subsidy paid to defendant to the extent that defendant's coffee inventory might thereafter increase in value as a result of the removal or increase in the OPA ceiling prices on coffee.

OPA ceiling prices on coffee were removed from July 1, 1946 to July 25, 1946, when they were re-instated. Accordingly, on December 3, 1946, R.F.C. made a formal demand upon defendant for the repayment to R.F.C. of $2,076.09 in subsidies, the amount by which the value of defendant's inventory had allegedly increased in value as a result of the removal of the ceiling price on coffee. Thereafter, on several occasions, the most recent being March 11, 1947, defendant disclaimed, both orally and in writing, any liability to R.F.C. under the subsidy contract.

On April 9, 1953, R.F.C. filed this action against defendant to recover the $2,076.09 allegedly owing under the subsidy contract. During the preceding six years, defendant corporation had received no communication whatsoever from plaintiff R.F.C. and had terminated its business and dissolved. Consequently, defendant now moves for summary judgment upon the ground that R.F.C.'s action is barred by laches and the California statute of limitations.

It appears from the affidavits supporting the motion and the exhibits attached thereto, that there was an honest difference of opinion between R.F.C. and defendant concerning the existence of any liability on the part of defendant under the subsidy contract. Under the circumstances, it was the duty of the proper officials of government to have diligently prosecuted R.F.C.'s claim, if they considered it to be meritorious....