United States v. Frerichs

• Decision Date: 23 January 1888
• Citation: United States v. Frerichs, 124 U.S. 315, 8 S.Ct. 514, 31 L.Ed. 470 (1888)
• Parties: UNITED STATES v. FRERICHS
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

124 U.S. 315

8 S.Ct. 514

31 L.Ed. 470

UNITED STATES v. FRERICHS.

January 23, 1888.

Atty. Gen. Garland and Asst. Atty. Gen. Howard, for appellant.

Edward Solomon, for appellee.

BLATCHFORD, J.

This is an appeal by the United States from a judgment of the court of claims, awarding to Frederick Frerichs a recovery of the sum of $10,130.31. The case was decided by that court on a demurrer to the petition, alleging that sufficient facts were not set forth to constitute a cause of action. The demurrer was overruled, and the defendants declined to plead further.

The facts set forth in the petition are, in substance, as follows: On the twenty-third of January, 1878, Frerichs commenced an action in the superior court of the city of New York against one Charles R. Coster, a collector of internal revenue, to recover damages for the wrongful seizure of the property of Frerichs made by Coster on May 22, 1876, for alleged violations of the internal revenue laws. The action was removed by Coster into the circuit court of the United States for the Southern district of New York. Issue was joined, and at a trial before the court and a jury there was a verdict for the plaintiff, and a judgment against Coster, on the twenty-first of January, 1885, for $10,130.31 and costs. On the twenty-fourth of January, 1885, Coster appealed to the commissioner of internal revenue, under section 3220, Rev. St., for the payment of the judgment. On the twenty-seventh of January, 1885, the commissioner of internal revenue addressed a letter to the secretary of the treasury, setting forth the history of the case. By this letter it appeared that the original seizure of the property of Frerichs was made under the direction of a revenue agent connected with the office of the supervisor of internal revenue, and was, on the same day, reported to the district attorney of the United States and the commissioner of internal revenue; that a suit for the forfeiture of the property was immediately brought in the district court of the United States; and that in June, 1876, the treasury department instructed the district attorney to dismiss the proceeding for forfeiture, and to receive a certificate of probable cause of seizure, and a waiver of any claim for damages. The district attorney, as a condition of releasing the property, required that Frerichs should sign a certificate of probable cause. Frerichs' counsel replied that, while he was willing to waive damages, he was not willing to sign a paper which would confess that the officers of the government had a right to seize the property. Nothing being done, the seizure case proceeded to trial, and resulted in a judgment in favor of Frerichs, on the fourteenth of May, 1877, and an award of a return to him of the seized property. The district court, on December 18, 1887, denied a motion made on the part of the United States for a certificate that there was reasonable cause of seizure. On the thirty-first of July, 1879, on a writ of error taken by the United States, the circuit court affirmed the judgment dismissing the information, and the order denying the motion for a certificate of reasonable cause of seizure. The United States sued out a writ of error from this court to review the proceedings in the circuit court, and raised the question here, (U. S. v. Abatoir Place, 106 U. S. 160, 1 Sup. Ct. Rep. 169,) that there was error in refusing to grant a certificate of reasonable cause of seizure. This court held that the action of the district court on the motion could not be reviewed, either by the circuit court or by this court. In the suit brought by Frerichs against Coster, the circuit court was asked to grant a certificate of probable cause of seizure, but refused to do so. After reviewing the various proceedings, the commissioner of internal revenue stated to the secretary of the treasury that he proposed to allow the claim for $10,130.31, 'to be paid to Frederick Frerichs upon due entry of satisfaction of the said judgment.' On the twenty-ninth of January, 1885, the treasury department decided that under section 3220, Rev. St., the commissioner of internal revenue had authority, with the approval of the secretary of the treasury, to make the proposed payment without any certificate from the court of probable cause of seizure, inasmuch as that section provided as follows:

'Sec. 3220. The commissioner of internal revenue, subject to...