John Marshall Harlan II

“ I had heard from others that many more persons had claims similar to mine and I understood that they were all being processed together. I saw in the Japanese newspaper that a court suit was or would be filed seeking to obtain for the yen claimants the proper amount for their claims. ”

“ The Government has no interest in the fund except to enforce the primary congressional mandate that bona fide creditors recover their due. Since the amount in the fund adequately covers a full settlement with all these claimants at the Abe rate, exhausting the surplus should not have played a part in the Government's decision to settle with the Abe claimants. ”

“ Claimants were told to submit their original certificates within 45 days. However, the letter continued, 'Payment of your claim * * * will not be made immediately.' The letter informed the claimant that a full schedule of claimants would be made, § 34 (f) , and that after its issuance aggrieved certificate holders might file suit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia for judicial review. 'Under the circumstances,' the letter continued, 'you may wish to utilize the funds in Japan rather than await settlement by this Office. ”

“ Petitioners are 4,100 United States citizens or residents of Japanese descent seeking to recover funds vested under the Trading with the Enemy Act, 40 Stat. 411, 50 U.S.C. App. § 1 et seq. The District Court dismissed their suit against the Attorney General [1] as barred by limitations, and the Court of Appeals affirmed by a divided vote. 123 U.S.App.D.C. 12, 356 F.2d 351. We granted certiorari because of the importance and unusual character of the questions involved, affecting the proper application of this wartime statute. ”

“ Claimants would clearly be better off getting repayment immediately from the Japanese bank itself. This recourse, suggested by the letter itself, was at the same time understandably advantageous to the Government as well: American citizens or residents would obtain relief, but from a foreign source, thus freeing more of the vested assets for distribution to remaining claimants. ”

“ The Alien Property Custodian feared that allowance of such suits might lead to inequitable results, in that creditors who brought suit immediately might exhaust the assets at the expense of other, equally valid, claims. The Custodian urged, and the Congress agreed, that an approach on the lines of the Bankruptcy Act was a fairer method of distributing such assets. ”

“ Sparling, 93 Cal.App.2d 768, 770-771, 209 P.2d 968, 969-970. Petitioners were among the approximately 7,500 depositors of the bank holding 'yen certificates,' [2] who submitted timely claims, many being filed as early as 1946, under § 34 of the Act seeking recovery of their deposits.
Section 34 of the Act was enacted in 1946 as a legislative response to this Court's decision in Markham v. Cabell, 326 U.S. 404, 66 S.Ct. 193, 90 L.Ed. 165 which allowed nonenemy creditors of former owners of vested property to bring suit under a World War I statute, [3] and recover directly out of vested assets. ”

“ Petitioners therefore filed this suit upon final disposition of the Abe litigation, and long before the dismissal of certiorari in Aratani, asking for similar treatment. [10] The Attorney General denied their claims because petitioners were not included in the class represented in the Abe suit and because they had not filed their suit within 60 days after mailing of the schedule as required by § 34 (f) . ”

“ Section 57n, 11 U.S.C. § 93 (n) , requires notification of claims within six months after the first date set for the first meeting of creditors. Those who fail to file timely claims do not, however, lose all their rights ”