B-199073 July 1, 1980

Daniel: This is in reply to your letter of May 19. You state that current practice is to obtain consent judgments for all such settlements. It may have been because the permanent judgment appropriation (31 U.S.C. Was applicable only to judgments and not to compromise settlements. Unless one were to question the basic authority of the Justice Department to compromise a suit. We see no reason why it should make any difference whether the operating document for payment purposes is a stipulation of compromise or a consent judgment. We have no objection to your proposal to use compromise stipulations instead of consent judgments in cases under the Suits in Admiralty Act and Public Vessels Act.