C. F. Harms Co. v. Erie R. Co.

The Erie Railroad appears to assume that an implied contract of indemnity was entered into between itself and the United States which included interest and costs. That assumption we cannot accept. Had the railroad owned the barge, clearly it could not have recovered interest, for the implied contract did not expressly provide for interest; and it could not have recovered costs against the United States anyway. All recoveries from the United States must be upon contracts “implied in fact”; hence we must suppose: (1) that whoever acted for the United States in this instance, knew that the barge…