E. I. Dupont De Nemours & Co. v. Davis

Background

Davis, appointed as an agent to wind up matters after federal railroad control, sued to recover demurrage charges on shipments of cotton linters that accrued at Little Rock in 1918. The private defendant demurred, arguing the suit was time-barred by a three-year limit added to the Interstate Commerce Act and that Davis lacked authority to bring the case.

Reasoning

The Court examined the Transportation Act’s structure and concluded that Congress placed winding-up matters in a different part of the law than the Interstate Commerce amendments that impose the three-year rule. The Director General (and the Government acting through him) was treated as the sovereign operator during federal control, not as an ordinary carrier covered by the three-year limitation. Because money from operations during federal control was the property of the United States, suits by the Government’s agent are government actions and are not barred by §424 unless Congress clearly says so. The Court therefore rejected the defendant’s time-limit defense and allowed the recovery claim to proceed.

Real world impact

The decision lets the Government, acting through its agent for wartime railroad operations, pursue unpaid charges that arose during federal control even after three years. It draws a clear line between ordinary carrier claims and actions by the United States, and signals that time limits barring government claims must be plainly written by Congress.