Department of Water & Power v. United States

The question presented in the instant case is whether the plaintiff, a municipal corporation, can recover certain allocated indirect expenses purportedly incurred by it when it repaired its own electrical system following tort damage by an instrumentality of the defendant. United States of America.

The parties by stipulation agreed that:

(1) On March 2, 1953 a power pole owned by the plaintiff and located at or near Radford Avenue and Van Owen Street in the City of Los Angeles, State of California, was struck by a post office truck owned by the defendant United States of America;

(2) that the plaintiff’s electric system was damaged and that the defendant United States was liable to the plaintiff for the damage sustained thereby;

(3) that the proper measure of damages was the reasonable cost of restoring the plaintiff’s electric system to the condition it was in immediately prior to the accident;

(4) that the direct charges in the following amounts were true and correct: (a) Labor $130.16, (b) Material $41.74;

(5) that a 1-ton truck was used in executing the repairs for eight hours and that a 6-ton truck was used in executing the repairs for six hours;

(6) that the following…