Robert Hooe v. United States 25, 26 19109

• Decision Date: 28 November 1910
• Docket Number: No. 13,13
• Citation: 218 U.S. 322,54 L.Ed. 1055,31 S.Ct. 85
• Parties: ROBERT A. HOOE and Arthur Herbert, Appts., v. UNITED STATES. Augued October 25, 26, 19109
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

218 U.S. 322

31 S.Ct. 85

54 L.Ed. 1055

ROBERT A. HOOE and Arthur Herbert, Appts.,

v UNITED STATES.

No. 13.

Augued October 25, 26, 19109

Decided November 28, 1910.

Messrs. L. T. Michener, W. W. Dudley, and P. G. Michener for appellants.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 323-325 intentionally omitted] Assistant Attorney General John Q. Thompson and Mr. Charles F. Kincheloe for appellee.

[Argument of Counsel from page 325 intentionally omitted] Mr. Justice Harlan delivered the opinion of the court:

The appellants, plaintiffs below, seek to recover from the United States the sum of $9,000, the amount which they allege is due them on account of the occupation and use, by the Civil Service Commission, of certain premises in the city of Washington, District of Columbia.

The finding of fact by the court of claims—using largely the words of the finding—may be summarized as follows:

On the 10th day of July, 1900, the Secretary of the Interior, proceeding under the appropriation act for the legislative, executive, and judicial expenses of the government for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 1901 (31 Stat. at L. 125, chap. 192), made a written agreement with plaintiffs for the leasing and renting to the government for the use of the Civil Service Commission of a certain building on E. and Eighth streets, in Washington, 'except the basement thereof,' for the period commencing August 1st, 1900, and ending June 30th, 1901, at the rate of $333,33 1/3 per month, or $4,000 for the year,—the right being reserved to the government to terminate the lease after thirty days' written notice at the end of any calendar month.

The commission, on August 1st, 1900, took possession and remained in exclusive possession of the building, including its basement, until the bringing of this suit. The amount appropriated by Congress for the rent of offices for the commission for the year ending June 30th, 1901, was $4,000, one twelfth of which was expended for such rent for July, 1900.

On the 3d of March, 1901, Congress appropriated for the rent of quarters for the commission the sum of $4,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 1902. 31 Stat. at L. 1000, 100-1, chap. 830, U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 283. The Secretary of the Interior, shortly after the beginning of that year, proposed to the plaintiffs a renewal of the lease for that year. But the plaintiffs expressed their unwillingness 'to rent the said building for another year at the rate of $4,000 per annum,' or to rent the entire building, including the basement, then occupied by the commission at a rental less than $6,000 per annum. Without further action on either side, 'the defendants continued in possession of said building and basement during said year, paying,' however, to the plaintiffs, $4,000, the rent specified in the lease for the first year; to wit, $4,000.

In his estimates submitted for appropriations by Congress for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 1903, the Secretary named $6,000 'for rent of quarters for the Civil Service Commission.' As the general legislative, executive, and judicial appropriation bill for that year did not, as it passed the House of Representatives, include that sum, the plaintiffs' agent, in writing, informed the chief clerk of the Interior Department that unless the Senate fixed the rent at $6,000, the plaintiffs would ask possession of the property at the earliest convenient time. Of this attitude of the plaintiffs the Senate was informed by plaintiffs' agent. He appeared before the House Committee on Appropriations, and by the Secretary of the Interior transmitted the letter of plaintiffs to the Senate Committee on Appropriations. Congress, however, refused to increase the appropriation to $6,000, and for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 1903, appropriated 'for rent of buildings for the Department of the Interior, namely, for . . . Civil Service Commission, four thousand dollars.' 32 Stat. at L. 162, chap. 594. No further action was taken by either party in relation to an increase of rent or the demanding of possession, and the United States continued in possession of the property, including the basement, for that fiscal year, paying rent at the rate of $4,000 per year. Although the Secretary of the Interior estimated an increase of $2,000 for quarters of the Civil Service Commission for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 1904, Congress appropriated only $4,500, 32 Stat. at L. 854, chap. 755. In consequence of this increase the Secretary sought to rent from the plaintiffs all the build- ing and premises for the use of the Civil Service Commission for the sum of $4,500, appropriated,' but plaintiffs refused to do that. The Secretary finally, August 18th, 1903, made a lease from claimants for all of said building, 'except the basement,' for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 1904, at the rate of $4,500 per year.

For the fiscal year ending June 30th, 1905, Congress, March 18th, 1904, appropriated $4,500 for the rent of quarters for the commission. 33 Stat. at L. 85, chap. 716. In accordance with that appropriation, the Secretary proposed to the plaintiffs, in writing, to renew the lease of August 18th, 1903, for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 1905, at the rate of $4,500 per annum. The plaintiffs took no action on this proposal, except to write to the Secretary, requesting that the basement of the building, which had not been included in either of the leases to the government, be included 'in the lease at the rate of 30 cents per square foot for its floor space.' Neither party took any further steps in reference to the renewal of the lease, or for an increase of rental for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 1905, and the claimants were paid rent for that year at the rate of $4,500, as provided by the appropriation, and as specified in the lease for the preceding year. A like appropriation of $4,500 was amde for rent of quarters for the commission for the fiscal year 1906, and that body, without any express renewal of the lease for that year, continued in occupation of the entire building up to August 1st, 1905, for which the claimants have been paid at the rate of $4,500 per year.

The court of claims further found: 'Although the claimants never rented to the government for the use of the Civil Service Commission, or for any other purpose, that part of the basement of said building not occupied by heating and ventilating plants and equipments thereof, yet the Civil Service Commission took possession of this portion of said basement, and continuously OCCUPIED AND USED THE SAME FROM THE 1ST Day of august, 1900, until the bringing of this action, August 1, 1905; and in a letter to the Acting Secretary of the Interior, dated November 28, 1904, relative to the matter of a renewal of the government's lease for the building for that fiscal year, the claimants, among other things, called attention to the fact that the basement of the building was then fully occupied by the Civil Service Commission. The fair rental value of that portion of the basement occupied and used as aforesaid was $400 per year, and the rental value of the entire building, including the basement, was not less then $6,000 per year. During the time that the defendants have occupied and used said building and basement belonging to the claimants, the claimants have receipted for rent for the same in full, except for the basement, which has been specially excluded from each of said receipts given by the claimants. With the exception of this exclusion of the basement from said receipts, it does not appear that any other protest was ever made by the claimants that said payments were not in full for the rent legally due to them for said building. The claimants, however, repeatedly insisted that the defendants were not paying enough rent for said building, and on one occasion asked for extra rent for said basement, as heretofore found.'

The court below directed the petition to be dismissed and judgment to be entered for the government. That was accordingly done.

The pleadings and facts indicate that the claim of the appellants is divided into two parts; one, arising out of the occupancy and use by the Civil Service Commission of the building above the basement; the other, for the occupancy and use by that body of the basement.

Let us, at the outset, inquire as to the circumstance under which an officer of the United States, whether the head of a department or a subordinate, may or may not, by his acts, impose liability upon the government, in the absence of authority from Congress. The conclusion we have reached upon that inquiry is controlling.

Looking at the statutes in force at the time the transactions here in question occurred, we find that by §...