United States v. De Back

The Alaska Railroad is owned and operated by the United States. 1 Appellee sustained personal injuries about July 3’, 1931, while a passenger for hire aboard one of its trains. In 1935, by private act No. 107, 49 Stat.L. 2089, Congress conferred upon the District Court for the Northern District of California jurisdiction to hear, determine, and render judgment upon the claim of appellee against the Alaska Railroad for general and special damages. The act provided that the proceedings should be “in the same manner as in the case of claims over which such court has jurisdiction under the first paragraph of paragraph 20 of section 24 of the Judicial Code, as amended.”

In supposed compliance with that act appellee filed suit against the United States seeking damages in the amount of $55,000. The government moved to dismiss on the ground that the act authorized suit against the Alaska Railroad only, and on the further ground that the amount of the claim was in excess of the $10,000 limit prescribed in the Tucker Act (Judicial Code, § 24(20), 28 U.S.C.A. § 41 (20), to which the private act referred. While the motion was pending Congress passed private act No. 384, 50 Stat.L. 1094, 2…