United States v. State of California

On May 20, 1973, the federal government fought a fire in the Stanislaus National Forest in the State of California. This fire was allegedly caused by employees of the California Ecology Corps when they built and failed to properly extinguish a campfire. The fire burned 179 acres of national forest land and 56 acres of private land before it was extinguished.

The earliest claim submitted to the State of California for the costs of suppressing the fire was filed by the federal government on June 14, 1974. Three months later the government estimated the amount of its claim at $150,000. Finally, on February 21, 1975, a bill of actual costs in the amount of $101,043.71 was submitted to the state. The claim was rejected by way of telephone conversation in August 1975.

On April 9, 1976, the government filed suit in federal district court under the jurisdictional grant of 28 U.S.C. § 1345 for recovery of the fire suppression costs. The district court found that the federal government failed to file its claim within the time allowed under the applicable California claim filing statute and dismissed the government’s action. The government appeals from this dismissal, contending that the…