Union Timber Products Co. v. United States Shipping Bd. Emergency Fleet Corp.

• Decision Date: 19 July 1918
• Docket Number: 4102.
• Citation: 252 F. 320
• Parties: UNION TIMBER PRODUCTS CO. v. UNITED STATES SHIPPING BOARD EMERGENCY FLEET CORPORATION.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Washington

252 F. 320

UNION TIMBER PRODUCTS CO. v. UNITED STATES SHIPPING BOARD EMERGENCY FLEET CORPORATION.

No. 4102.

United States District Court, W.D. Washington, Northern Division.

July 19, 1918

Wm. E Humphrey, Kerr & McCord, Hadley & Hadley, and Wm. D. Totten all of Seattle, Wash., for plaintiff.

Howard G. Cosgrove, of Seattle, Wash., for defendant.

CUSHMAN District Judge.

The plaintiff sues the defendant, the United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation, upon an alleged contract for the building of ships, which, it is alleged, it was not allowed to build. Plaintiff now moves the remanding of the cause to the state court.

The defendant was incorporated under the laws of Congress enacted for the District of Columbia (Act March 3, 1901, c. 854, 31 Stat. 1189, c. 18, subc. 4, Sec. 605 et seq., pp. 1284 1285), the incorporation thereunder being pursuant to the law commonly called the United States Shipbuilding Act, which act, after creating a board of five commissioners, provides among other things:

'The board, if in its judgment such action is necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act, may form under the laws of the District of Columbia one or more corporations for the purchase, construction, equipment, lease, charter, maintenance, and operation of merchant vessels in the commerce of the United States. The total capital stock thereof shall not exceed $50,000,000. The board may, for and on behalf of the United States, subscribe to, purchase, and vote not less than a majority of the capital stock of any such corporation, and do all other things in regard thereto necessary to protect the interests of the United States and to carry out the purposes of this act. The board, with the approval of the President, may sell any or all of the stock of the United States in such corporation, but at no time shall it be a minority stockholder therein: Provided, that no corporation in which the United States is a stockholder, formed under the authority of this section, shall engage in the operation of any vessel constructed, purchased, leased, chartered, or transferred under the authority of this Act unless the board shall be unable, after a bona fide effort, to contract with any person a citizen of the United States for the purchase, lease, or charter of such vessel under such terms and conditions as may be prescribed by the board.

'The board shall give public notice of the fact that vessels are offered and the terms and conditions upon which a contract will be made, and shall invite competitive offerings. In the event the board shall, after full compliance with the terms of this proviso, determine that it is unable to enter into a contract with such private parties for the purchase, lease or charter of such vessel, it shall make a full report to the President, who shall examine such report, and if he shall approve the same he shall make an order declaring that the...