Southeastern Oil Delaware, Inc. v. United States

The plaintiff companies purchased Liberty ship tanker vessels from the United States Maritime Commission, pursuant to the Merchant Ship Sales Act of 1946, 60 Stat. 41. The vessels, as delivered to them, were not in a condition which entitled them to be certified by the United States Coast Guard for operation as oil carrying tankers. Without that certification, they could not be lawfully operated as tankers. The plaintiffs claim that the Maritime Commission, in determining the sales price of the vessels, should have granted them allowances, i. e. reductions in price, of the amounts which they…