Robert Merrick v. The United States

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• holding that a complaint alleging that an IRS agent fixed the amount of the reward, “by establishing how the IRS would calculate it” was “sufficient to state a contract claim against the United States”
• finding a contract because the plaintiff negotiated his award amount with Acting District Director of the IRS
• explaining that these provisions do not contractually bind the Government
• assuming jurisdiction and determining that the plaintiff stated a claim for relief where the regulation provided that the agency “may approve such reward as [it] deems suitable” and the parties negotiated and fixed the amount of the reward
• “The United States cannot be contractually bound merely by invoking the cited statute and regulation.” (citation omitted)
• “[A] contractual claim against the Government will arise ... only after the informant and the government negotiate and fix a specific amount as the reward.”

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).