United States v. City of Brookhaven
Opinion of the Court
The United States sued the City of Brookhaven, Mississippi, and Roland B. Wall, who was its mayor in 1935 and 1936, to recover $40,272, with interest, alleged to have been paid out and disbursed to the City on the faith of a proposal for federal aid under the Emergency Relief Act, which proposal was on Sept. 2, 1935, made by Wall as Mayor of the City and approved by him as Local Director of Works Progress Administration, and contained the statement, known to be false, that “The Sponsor, (City of Brookhaven), proposes
The case was tried by the judge without a jury, the facts being partly stipulated and there being no conflict in the evidence. It appears that early in 1935 the manager of the New Industries Division of Mississippi Power Company went to Washington with a plan to introduce industries into the State, the State being practically without any industrial development, and its farmers rapidly losing their farms. He saw Mr. Harry Hopkins, Administrator of Works Progress Administration, and explained fully to him his ideas about the rehabilitation of small farms, and especially his plan for training some of the farm workers industrially, pointing out that the temporary work projects then being carried on by W. P. A. had no permanent effect, but if the same money 'and labor could be put into buildings to be used for industrial training schools, the trained persons and the buildings would show for it in the future, and after enough people had been trained to man a factory the buildings could be used as factories and the trained persons would be taken from the W. P. A. relief rolls and made permanently self-sustaining. Mr. Hopkins said the plan was the best that had been presented to him, and asked if the manager had any influence with the State W. P. A. Administrator in Mississippi, and said: “Go down there and make your wants known to him on that, and we will OK them just as fast as they get to Washington.” Several applications for such projects in Mississippi were made and approved and entered upon, described as vocational training schools, and with one exception, designed for ultimate use as factories. With these as precedents, Wall, as Mayor of Brookhaven, but without any formal authorization by the City Council, addressed .to the local W. P. A. office in Mississippi, on a form furnished by W. P. A., a sponsor’s proposal which requested that a formal application be made for an allotment of funds for this project under the rules and regulations of the Works Progress Administration in a sum of $45,466 “for the erection and completion of an industrial training school for the City of Brookhaven” as set forth therein. It stated that “a development of this type will greatly expedite the industrial expansion of Brookhaven and vicinity as well as stimulate industry by the introduction of qualified craftsmen.” The money was to be paid out only on pay rolls and vouchers certified by the Works Progress Administration. Plans were attached for a single story factory building of a usual type 202 feet wide and 322 feet long. Wall approved the project as Local Director, and forwarded it to the W. P. A. State Engineer, with a letter stating that the building would be occupied and used for “a training school and manufacturing purposes”. The engineer approved the application and turned it over to the State Administrator, who approved it Sept. 4, 1935. The proposal, it is stipulated, was on Sept. 16, 1935, approved in the office of the Administrator in Washington, but by whom does not appear. The City, by action of its Council, acquired a site early in November, and construction by the W. P. A. began November 25, 1935. On Nov. 29 the City Council authorized the execution of a lease to a corporation of Indiana for ten years beginning April 1, 1936, renewable for another ten years, for a dollar per year rent, for clothing manufacturing operations, using employees residing in and about Brookhaven and paying them wages above an average of $75,000 per year, the purpose being to give men and women of the community employment as well as the successful operation of the
The Court held that the City could speak only through its minutes and was not responsible for any deceit; that Wall and the other City officers were guilty of no fraud, but were of the honest belief, and justified in it, that the actual project was an eligible one; that it was in fact in a substantial sense a vocational training school; and the State Administrator knew all the details and approved it, and would now approve it. A formal judgment for the defendants was entered Dec. 17, 1941. On Jan. 12, 1942, a motion was made to amend the pleadings and for a different relief, particularly that an equitable lien be impressed on the factory. This motion was overruled, and formal findings of fact and conclusions of law were formulated on Feb. 7. Appeal was taken both from the judgment of Dec. 17 and that of Feb. 7.
The original complaint was one at law for damages done by fraud and deceit. It was not necessary to its success that either the City or Wall should have gotten the money laid out by the United States. James-Dickinson Farm Mortgage Co. v. Harry, 273 U.S. 119, 123, 47 S.Ct. 308, 71 L.Ed. 569. The elements of such a tort are stated in Southern Development Co. v. Silva, 125 U.S. 247, at page 250, 8 S.Ct. 881, at page 882, 31 L.Ed. 678: “In order to establish a charge of this character the complainant must show, by clear and decisive proof — First, that the defendant has made a representation in regard to a material fact; secondly, that such representation is false; thirdly, that such representation was not actually believed by the defendant, on reasonable grounds, to be true; fourthly, that it was made with intent that it should be acted on; fifthly, that it was acted on by complainant to his damage; and, sixthly, that in so acting on it the complainant was ignorant of its falsity, and reasonably believed it to be true.” If we assume, without so deciding, that the first four necessary elements of the case are made out, the fifth and sixth are not
The project, at the time it was proposed and carried out, was eligible for W. P. A. aid though involving ultimately a factory use. Aid to factories was expressly prohibited later by Section 1 of the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1939, 53 Stats. 507, 15 U.S.C.A. §§ 721-728, but that was held by Attorney General Murphy not to be retroactive. 39 Op. Atty. Gen., 254. The money appropriated by Congress in Section 1 of the Emergency Relief Act of 1935, 49 Stats. 115, 15 U.S.C.A. §§ 721-728, was “to provide relief, work relief and to increase employment by providing for useful projects”, and this was done in making this building. The State Administrator says it was a good project, and for aught that appears the National Administrator would say the same. There is no- very apparent perversion of the Congressional bounty.
The motion, long after final judgment, to amend the suit into one in equity, not for damages, but for restitution and a lien because of money invested in the factory building in consequence of fraud or mistake, was rightly denied. Not only was it too late thus to add a new cause of complaint, but other parties would seem to be necessary, such as the corporation which holds a lease, and others who, like the United States, have contributed to the building. We express no opinion as to the merit of the new claim for relief. The provision of Rule of Civil Procedure 15(b), 28 U.S.C.A. following section 723c as to amendment of pleadings after judgment looks to. supporting the judgment by the amendment, or to making the record show more perfectly what was really tried and decided. It does not authorize an amendment to nullify the judgment and begin a new contest.
The judgment is affirmed.
070rehearing
On Petition for Rehearing.
The references in the opinion to a conference of the representative of Mississippi Power Company with the National Administrator are based on a deposition of the former which was certified by the clerk of the district court as a part of the record on appeal. The motion for rehearing makes the point that the stipulation under which the deposition was taken provided that the testimony “may be used upon the trial of the case and introduced in evidence by any party thereto, subject only to such objections as might be made if the deponent were present and testifying in open court,” and that the transcript
This conclusion does not affect our decision. The burden was on the United States to prove that its representative relied on the misrepresentation and was deceived by it. The appellee did not have to show the contrary. By the evidence introduced, this burden was not carried.
Rehearing denied.
Reference
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- UNITED STATES v. CITY OF BROOKHAVEN Et Al.
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