United States v. Edgerton & Sons
| Citation | 178 F.2d 763 |
| Decision Date | 28 December 1949 |
| Docket Number | No. 7,Docket 21231.,7 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES v. EDGERTON & SONS, Inc. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
David R. Lessler, of Bridgeport, Conn., Attorney for appellant.
Adrian W. Maher, United States Attorney, Hartford, Conn., for appellee; Edward J. Lonergan, Assistant United States Attorney, Hartford, Conn., of counsel.
Before L. HAND, SWAN and FRANK, Circuit Judges.
This is an action in replevin brought by the United States to obtain possession of a large quantity of powdered eggs which were in storage in the defendant's warehouse. The defendant asserted a ware-houseman's lien and refused delivery unless its storage charges were paid. After the pleadings were at issue the plaintiff moved for summary judgment on the ground that no lien can be created against government-owned property without the consent of the United States. This motion was granted but the resulting judgment was thereafter reopened so that the defendant might amend its answer and counterclaim to plead that the eggs were owned by the Commodity Credit Corporation, a Delaware corporation, and that a government inspector named Quinn had authority to obtain storage of the eggs and had requested the defendant to store them. Upon the amended pleadings the district court again awarded the plaintiff summary judgment, being of opinion that the reasons of public policy protecting government-owned property from lien "apply with equal strength where the property is held by the government through a wholly-owned or controlled corporation."
With this conclusion we are unable to agree. When the United States conducts business transactions through a corporation, the tendency of recent decisions is to hold that such corporation does not possess sovereign immunity unless expressly endowed with it. Reconstruction Finance Corp. v. J. G. Menihan Corp., 312 U.S. 81, 61 S.Ct. 485, 85 L.Ed. 595; Federal Housing Administration, Region No. 4, v. Burr, 309 U.S. 242, 60 S. Ct. 488, 84 L.Ed. 724; Keifer & Keifer v. Reconstruction Finance Corp., 306 U.S. 381, 59 S.Ct. 516, 83 L.Ed. 784; Sloan Shipyards Corp. v. U. S. Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corp., 258 U.S. 549, 567, 42 S.Ct. 386, 66 L.Ed. 762. Commodity Credit Corporation was created in 1933 pursuant to Executive Order 6340, Oct. 16, 1933. 6 C. F. R. §§ 200.1-200.8; see also 15 U.S.C.A. § 713. Its charter, which appears in the Congressional Record, Vol. 79, Part 2, Page 1552, gave it the broadest possible powers to acquire and dispose of property, including the power "to pledge all or any of its property" and "to authorize and cause to be executed mortgages and liens upon the real and personal property of the corporation." Immunity from federal and state taxation was expressly conferred by the Act of March 8, 1938, 15 U.S.C.A. § 713a-5. Thus the implication arises that the corporation possessed no other immunity, and this is fortified by the fact that in 1948 when it was succeeded by a corporation of the same name under a federal charter, immunity from liens was expressly reserved to the federal corporation. Sec....
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...117 F.2d 996, 998 (9th Cir.1941); De Scala v. Panama Canal Co., 222 F.Supp. 931, 932 (S.D.N.Y.1963). 16 See United States v. Edgerton & Sons, 178 F.2d 763, 764 (2d Cir.1949); United States Department of Agriculture v. Hunter, 171 F.2d 793, 795 (5th Cir. 1949); De Scala v. Panama Canal Co., ......
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