United States v. William D. Pedersen

Pedersen’s orders releasing him from active duty as a major in the United States Marine Corps and assigning him to the Marine Corps Reserve said nothing about “severance” from the service on disability.

If one is severed for disability, one is out of the service. If one goes from active duty to a reserve unit, it may be said one is half in and half out. On certain conditions, one in the reserves is subject to recall. One “severed” is not.

Normally severance pay is much greater than the readjustment pay, which one receives on a transfer out to the reserves. If Pedersen was “readjusted out,” he should have received $3,155.00. If he was severed, he was entitled to $12,465.17 ($13,220 less deductions of $754.83). The paymaster contemporaneously with the effective date of the release gave him a government check for $12,465.17 which Pedersen cashed. Four months later, the disbursing officer of the Marine Corps notified Pedersen that he was overpaid and requested repayment of the difference between the two amounts. Ped-ersen refused.

In this suit for the alleged overpayment, after a trial, the district court ruled for Pedersen.

Obviously, one’s pay follows one’s status. Here status…