Office of Personnel Management v. Richmond
United States Supreme Court
496 U.S. 414 (1990)
Charles Richmond (plaintiff) relied on erroneous advice from a Navy employee about the earnings limit governing his disability annuity eligibility, causing him to earn more than the statute allowed and leading the Office of Personnel Management (defendant) to deny him six months of benefits; Richmond argued the erroneous, unauthorized advice should equitably estop the government from denying the benefits, and an intermediate appellate court agreed, awarding him the benefits despite the statutory bar.
Whether erroneous advice given by a federal employee can equitably estop the government from denying benefits that a federal statute does not authorize, effectively producing an unauthorized payment from the Treasury.