United States v. CERTAIN LAND IN CITY OF ST. LOUIS, ETC., 12548.

• Decision Date: 27 December 1944
• Docket Number: No. 12548.,12548.
• Citation: 58 F. Supp. 305
• Parties: UNITED STATES v. CERTAIN LAND IN CITY OF ST. LOUIS, MO., KNOWN AS CITY BLOCK 57 et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Missouri

58 F. Supp. 305

UNITED STATES v. CERTAIN LAND IN CITY OF ST. LOUIS, MO., KNOWN AS CITY BLOCK 57 et al.

No. 12548.

District Court, E. D. Missouri, E. D.

December 27, 1944.

Harry C. Blanton, of Sikeston, Mo., and M. W. Cooper, of St. Louis, Mo., for plaintiff.

Rassieur, Long & Yawitz, of St. Louis, Mo., for defendant Moser Paper Box Co.

DUNCAN, District Judge.

Defendant the Moser Paper Box Company, a corporation, filed an application for the allowance of interest on the amount of compensation agreed upon between the United States and said defendant for the taking of City Block 57 in the City of St. Louis, and referred to in the condemnation proceeding as Parcel No. 342.

Plaintiff filed Declaration of Taking on June 19, 1939 and simultaneously deposited in the registry of the court the sum of $52,000 as the estimated compensation for the taking of the above property. Following the depositing of the $52,000 it was by the court ordered distributed for the benefit of the defendant the Moser Paper Box Company.

Commissioners were duly appointed and made an award in excess of the amount paid into court as compensation for the taking of the land aforesaid, to which report of the Commissioners, both the plaintiff and the defendant the Moser Paper Box Company filed exceptions.

On February 23, 1944, while the exceptions to the report were pending, the defendant made an offer¹ in writing to the Secretary of the Interior, the Department of the Interior being the acquiring agency, to sell said parcel of land to the United States for the sum of $87,000 and stipulating that such offer might be accepted at any time within six months after the date thereof, and "thereafter until you are notified in writing by the undersigned that the offer is withdrawn." The offer in writing was approved and accepted by Oscar L. Chapman, Assistant Secretary of the Interior on March 11, 1944. Such offer provided that in the event of its acceptance, the United States, in its discretion might:

"* * * prosecute to a final determination the suit for the condemnation of said lands * * * and in that event, the consideration hereinabove set forth shall be the amount of the award to be decreed for all damages and compensation by reason of the taking of said land by such judicial proceedings and we hereby agree that this offer to sell, if accepted, shall, without more, constitute a stipulation which may be filed in said suit as final and binding evidence of the award to be made in such proceedings and paid into Court for the benefit of all persons entitled thereto; * * *."

Thereafter, and in accordance with the provisions of the stipulation, the Government offered evidence, including the written offer and acceptance, as to the fair market value of the tract, and on April 11, 1944, the court found the compensation and damages due to the defendant to be the sum of $87,000. In its judgment the court found the difference between the said sum of $87,000 and the sum of $52,000 tendered into the registry of the court at the time of the Declaration of Taking, and ordered the plaintiff to pay the difference, $35,000, into the registry of the court for the benefit of the persons entitled thereto.

Following the entry of Judgment on April 11, 1944, there was caused to be prepared and made up a transcript of the pleadings, files, records and proceedings had in the case for the use of the Attorney General of the United States incident to the preparation of a written opinion as to the validity of the title acquired by the United States in the condemnation suit.

After the Attorney General examined the transcript of the proceedings, he certified to the Department of the Interior his written opinion in favor of the validity of the title acquired, and on August 14, 1944, the Secretary of the Interior caused to be deposited into the registry of the court, the sum of $35,000 as provided in the judgment.

On August 16, 1944, the defendant the Moser Paper Box Company filed its application for the payment to it of the $35,000 deposited into the registry of the court, and in addition thereto, asked for an order requiring the plaintiff to pay to said defendant an additional sum of $717.49 interest on the said $35,000 between the date of the judgment, April 11, 1944, and the time of the tendering of said amount into the registry of the court.

As authority for its demand said defendant cites Section 258a, 40 U.S.C.A.:

"* * * Upon the filing said declaration of taking and of the deposit in the court, to the use of the persons entitled thereto, of the amount of the estimated compensation stated in said declaration, title * * * shall vest in the United States of America, * * * and said compensation shall be estimated and awarded in said proceeding and established by judgment therein, and the said judgment shall include, as part of the just compensation awarded, interest at the rate of 6 per centum per annum on the amount finally awarded as the value of the property as of the date of taking, from said date to the date of payment; but interest shall not be allowed on so much thereof as shall have been paid into the court." (Emphasis supplied)

Certainly if the amount of the award had been arrived at as a result of a trial of the issues on the exceptions to the Commissioners' Report, the amount of the award would have represented the value of the tract as of the date of the declaration of taking, and in entering such a judgment the law would require that there be included in the judgment an amount, in addition to the award, equal to 6% interest thereon from the date of the taking to the date of the payment of the award.

The provisions of the statute are clear—compensation shall be determined as of the date of taking—if the final award shall be in excess of the amount estimated and paid into court at the time of taking, the difference shall bear interest at the rate of 6% per annum from the date of taking until paid.

The difficulty with defendant's position is that by its own action it removed itself from the provisions of the statute. If this statute were applicable here, defendant would be entitled to interest on $35,000 from the date of taking on June 19, 1939, until the date of the payment, August 14, 1944, but defendant makes no such claim. On the contrary, it bases its claim upon the ground of unreasonable delay in the payment of the amount agreed upon, and for which judgment was entered. It could make no other claim in view of the clear, unambiguous statement in its offer that:

"* * * the amount of the award to be decreed for all damages and compensation by reason of the taking of said land * * *." (Emphasis supplied)

From this language it must...