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Herbert Brownell, Jr. v. Chase National Bank
Citations: 1 L. Ed. 2d 99; 77 S. Ct. 116; 352 U.S. 36; 1956 U.S. LEXIS 173Docket: 24
Court: Supreme Court of the United States; November 19, 1956; Federal Supreme Court; Federal Appellate Court
The case involves Herbert Brownell, Jr., as Attorney General of the United States, seeking rights to a trust established in 1928 for the descendants of Bruno Reinicke, after a vesting order was issued under the Trading with the Enemy Act. The trust had been administered by Chase National Bank, with the Alien Property Custodian vesting all interests of the trust's beneficiaries, declared to be German nationals, in 1945. The Attorney General intervened in state court proceedings, requesting that trust income be paid to him and claiming the settlor's powers had transferred due to the vesting order. Both the New York Supreme Court and Appellate Division denied his claims, affirming that the powers remained with the trustee as long as the settlor was barred from asserting them. In 1953, the Attorney General amended the vesting order to appropriate all property under the trustee's control but was again denied relief by the New York courts. The Supreme Court, while not addressing the details of the Trading with the Enemy Act, noted that principles of res judicata barred the Attorney General from relitigating claims regarding the trust's equitable interests and the settlor's powers, which had already been denied in the previous litigation. The Court affirmed the lower court's decision, emphasizing that the Attorney General must have sought certiorari if he wished to challenge the earlier ruling. The state of war with Germany officially ended in 1951, but a proviso allowed previous property seizures to remain effective. The case was affirmed, with Justices Clark and Harlan not participating in the decision.