Skelly v. United States
United States Court of Claims
The Reporters’ statement of tlie case: The following are the facts of the case as found by the court: Richard D. Skelly was employed as a letter carrier at the city of Chicago, from March 11, 1889, up to and including April 1,1890. Such number of hours in excess of eight hours per day as at the pro rata compensation which he was by law receiving amounted to tlie sum of $85.39. He has not received payment under the provision of the act of May 24,1888, for said work in excess…
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The Reporters’ statement of tlie case: The following are the facts of the case as found by the court: Richard D. Skelly was employed as a letter carrier at the city of Chicago, from March 11, 1889, up to and including April 1,1890. Such number of hours in excess of eight hours per day as at the pro rata compensation which he was by law receiving amounted to tlie sum of $85.39. He has not received payment under the provision of the act of May 24,1888, for said work in excess of eight hours per day. He died intestate prior to the 26th day of July, 1894. No administration of his estate was had…
1Opinion of the Court
Nott, Ch. J.,
delivered the opinion of the court:
The inconvenience of requiring a widow to bear the costand expense of perhaps uselessly taking out letters.of administration upon her husband’s estate as a prerequisite to bringing a suit upon a trivial demand against the Government is one *229which should not be insisted upon by the court unless' the law and the circumstances of the case make it an imperative necessity.
Moreover, in this particular case the defendants raised no objection to the party claimant by plea or demurrer (but pleaded to the merits) until after the statute of limitation would…
2Cases cited3 opinions
- United States v. LippittSupreme Court of the United States · 1880
- Woodruff v. United StatesUnited States Court of Claims · 1871
- Pelfrey v. Adjutant GeneralWest Virginia Court of Claims · 1950