Toma

Plaintiff, United States of America, brings this action to recover amounts paid to defendant by plaintiff in alleged contravention of the dual compensation provisions of the Economy Act of 1932, 5 U.S.C.A. § 59a. Plaintiff alleges that there is due the United States from defendant the sum of $2,-757.58 for compensation paid to him as an employee of the Veterans’ Administration Hospital at Fort Howard, Maryland, at the rate of $3,000 per annum from July 1, 1951 to March 29, 1952 in the sum of $2,249.90 and at the rate of $3,300 per annum from March 30, 1952 to May 24, 1952 in the sum of $507.68, making a total sum of $2,757.58 as principal, while also receiving Army retirement pay for disability in the monthly amount of $276.72 as a Reserve Officer from the United States Army, and that defendant elected to receive the retired pay. In other words, the government seeks to recover compensation paid to the plaintiff for services rendered and received by it for approximately eleven months. This case does not call for a strained interpretation to permit the government to gain unfair advantage. The government can always afford to be fair. Technicalities under such circumstances do not…