Union Petroleum S. S. Co. v. United States

(after stating the facts as above). It cannot be successfully maintained that the defendant’s payment to Jones was payment of a debt owing to him by the United States. In Omnia Commercial Co. v. United States, 261 U. S. 502, 43 S. Ct. 437, 67 L. Ed. 773, it was held that the requisition of the entire output of a steel company, thereby depriving it of the means to perform its contract to deliver steel plate to the Omnia Company, gave the promisee no right to compensation from the government. In Berg v. United States, 59 Ct. Cl. 462, affirmed, 269 U. S. 535, 46 S. Ct. 100, 70 L. Ed. 399, it was…