Abrikossoff v. Brownell
Abrikossoff v. Brownell
Opinion of the Court
Plaintiffs seek to recover certain property vested by the Alien Property Custodian under the Trading with the Enemy Act, as amended,
Our Court of Appeals has held that this Court is without jurisdiction to review decisions of the Director of the Office of Alien Property pursuant to Section 32(a), holding that Section 7(c) limits the means of reclaiming seized property to.that provided by the Act itself, and that Section 9(a) provides the only judicial remedy for reclaiming vested property. McGrath v. Zander, 85 U.S. App.D.C. 334, 177 F.2d 649; Tiedemann v. Brownell, 96 U.S.App.D.C. 9, 222 F.2d 802. Defendants’ motion to dismiss Count I of the complaint will, therefore, be granted.
Section 2 of the Act defines an enemy as “Any individual * * * of any nationality, resident within the territory * * * of any nation with which the United States is at war * * * .”
Plaintiff’s testator testified before the Hearing Examiner of the Office of Alien Property (transcript of which hearing is filed as an exhibit in this proceeding) that he went to Japan as an officer of the Czarist Embassy in Tokyo in 1916, remaining there in the Russian diplomatic service until 1925, when Japan recognized the Soviet regime. He then became stateless, but continued to remain in Tokyo as a private individual unofficially helping the White Russian refugees in their problems with the Japanese Government. He unquestionably was imbued with the idea that he alone could furnish the necessary assistance and consolation to his compatriots, and that it was his duty to remain in Japan, though he had formed the intention of some day making the United States his home, which intention he had expressed to a number of his friends in the diplomatic service of allied countries. In 1925 he rented a house in Tokyo, and from that date received no compensation for his services, living solely on his savings. Although he testified that there was surveillance of him by the Japanese political police and other inconveniences before, and to a greater extent during, the war, such acts fall short of persecution. In the late prewar days, it seems he wished to leave Japan before a war might commence, but he also seems to have misjudged the imminence of such circumstance.
Under the interpretation of the term “resident within” by the Supreme Court in Guessefeldt v. McGrath, 342 U.S. 308, 72 S.Ct. 338, 96 L.Ed. 342, I think plaintiffs’ testator had been resident within Japan for sometime prior to Pearl Harbor, and that, although he intended to change his residence to that of the United States, he did not do so until his arrival here in 1946, thus making him an “enemy” within the meaning of the Act during the period in question. In these circumstances, defendants’ motion for summary judgment as to Count II of the complaint will be granted.
Counsel will prepare appropriate order carrying this decision into effect.
. 50 U.S.O.A.Appendix, § 1 et seq.
. “(a) * * * The President, or such officer or agency as he may designate, may return any property or interest vested in or transferred to the Alien Property Custodian ■ * * * whenever the President or such officer or agency shall determine— * * $ * *
“(2) that such' owner * * * are not—
“(G) an individual voluntarily resident át any time since December 7, 1941, with
. 9(a) “Any person not an enemy or ally of enemy claiming any interest, right, or title in any money or other property which may have been conveyed, transferred, assigned, delivered, or paid to the Alien Propei'ty Custodian or seized by him hereunder * * * may institute a suit in equity in the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia * * * to establish the interest, right, title * * * so claimed * *
. The following is an excerpt from the testimony of Dmitry Abrikossow (Pl.Ex. 13, Tr. 126):
“Q. Did you apply for a visa to enter the United States? A. I asked for general information, but as I say it was my desire I should remain, I was needed by my Russians, because to apply for a visa you must decide absolutely, for there is a term for the visa. You can’t put it off.
“Q. You never reached the position*21 where you decided, “I want to go in six months,” or, “I want to go in one year,” so that you could apply definitely for it? A. I reached this decision when it was too late.
“Q. After the war started? A. Xes. 1 was putting off all the time.”
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Paul ABRIKOSSOFF and Lilian Abrikossoff v. Herbert BROWNELL, Jr., Attorney General of the United States, as Successor to the Alien Property Custodian, and Ivy Baker PRIEST, as Treasurer of the United States
- Status
- Published