Richfield Oil Corporation, a Corporation v. United States

Appellant filed its amended libel in the court below seeking recovery from the United States under the provisions of the Suits in Admiralty Act ( 46 U.S.C.A. § 741 et seq.), of a sum alleged to have been improperly exacted from the appellant and unjustly received by the United States.

The early history of the controversy between Richfield and the United States, and the circumstances out of which this suit arose, is related at some length in the earlier case of Richfield Oil Corp. v. United States, 9 Cir., 207 F.2d 864 . This court affirmed the decision of the district court dismissing that former action, in part upon the ground that it was prematurely brought.

A familiarity with the facts of that case will be assumed and they will not be restated here. However, following this former decision, the parties continued negotiations for a settlement of the controversy between them. In dispute was the amount properly due Richfield under the terms of time charters of seven steamships owned by Richfield and hired by the United States during the Second World War. This depended upon which party was required to pay the cost of extra compensation and overtime owing to crew members.

On…