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B-229329 1 (1989-01-30)

handle is hein.gao/gaobablef0001 and id is 1 raw text is: United States General Accounting Office Washington, D.C. 20548 Office of the General Counsel B-229329 January 30, 1989 J. Christopher Kohn, Director Commercial Litigation Branch Civil Division Department of Justice 550 llth Street, NW Washington, DC 20044 Dear Mr. Kohn: We recommend that you favorably consider a debtor's offer to compromise a claim of the United States. Since the amount of the claim is $63,749.83, the matter is being referred to the Department of Justice under the provisions of 31 U.S.C. § 3711 (1982) and 4 C.F.R. § 103.1 (1988). The matter was referred to this Office by the Department of the Air Force. The claim arose out of a contract of carriage which is evidenced by a Government Bill of Lading (Attachment 1) that the Air Force issued on August 24, 1983, to Ryder/PIE Nationwide, Inc. (now PIE Nationwide, Inc.). The record indicates that Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, tendered a shipment to PIE, consisting of one piece, an atomic clock, weighing 94 pounds, for delivery to Newark Air Force Station, Ohio. Newark AFS contends that PIE did not deliver the article. PIE agrees that it cannot prove delivery. (Attachment 2) The Air Force determined that the article's value was $63,749.83 (Attachment 3); the agency claimed that amount and when PIE failed to pay the claim the Air Force collected the full amount by deduction from other bills. (Attachment 4) Although the government recovered the amount claimed, it is our view that unilateral deduction does not constitute pay- ment; therefore, a claim of the United States remains. See 46 Comp. Gen. 801 (1967); United States v. Isthmian S.S. Co., 359 U.S. 314 (1959) and Grace Lines v. United States, 255 F.2d 810 (2nd Cir. 1958). Letters from PIE suggest that the carrier had considered settling the claim for $4,700 (Attachment 5) and possibly for the higher amount of $15,040. (Attachment 6) We

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