Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Co. v. United States

This is a suit under the Dent Act, March 2, 1919, c. 94, 40 Stat. 1272, to recover upon a contract said to be implied in fact, to pay the cost of installing a very large telephone switchboard for the War Department during the late war, less the amounts realized from the parts when the switchboard was removed. The Court of Claims dismissed the petition, and a writ of certiorari was granted by this Court.

The decision of the Court of Claims went upon the ground that the installation was covered by a written contract between the plaintiff and the Secretary of the Treasury, (Act of June 17, 1910,…