recoupment
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 295 U.S. 247 - Bull v. United States · 1935Most cited · 2,166 citing opinions
recoupment is in the nature of a defense arising out of some feature of the transaction upon which the plaintiff's action is grounded. Such a defense is never barred by the statute of limitations so long as the main action itself is timely.
How the Supreme Court has restated “recoupment”
Each Supreme Court definition of “recoupment,” sized by how often later courts cited it. “Change” is measured by wording overlap with earlier definitions — a rough signal, not a semantic judgment.
How often courts cite the cases defining “recoupment”
Court decisions citing the 5 opinions that defined “recoupment” — 3,328 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining cases as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.
All 5 definitions, chronological · 1850–1946
- ORIGINAL
whenever compensation or an equivalent is claimed by a party in return for the performance of conditions for which such compensation or equivalent has been stipulated, the person so claiming is bound to show a fulfilment in good faith of those conditions; and the party against whom the claim shall be made shall be permitted to repel it by proof of an entire failure to perform, or of an imperfect or unfaithful performance; or by proof of injurious consequences resulting from either of these delinquencies; and shall not be driven exclusively to his cross action.
defective work
the defendant is entitled to recoup for the damages he may have sustained by the plaintiff's deviations from the contract, not induced by himself, both as to the manner and time of the performance
the relief is by way of recoupment-that is, that the amount of defendant's damage can be allowed only in abatement or diminution of plaintiff's claim-and that defendant cannot, at least in that action, recover any excess
Recoupment is in the nature of a defense arising out of some feature of the transaction upon which the plaintiff's action is grounded. It has never been thought to allow one transaction to be offset against another, but only to permit a transaction which is made subject of suit by a plaintiff to be examined in all its aspects, and judgment to be rendered that does justice in view of the one transaction as a whole.