MINA KEIL

JUNE 27, 1939.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House and ordered to be printed

Mr. WINTER, from the Committee on Claims, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 5266]

The Committee on Claims, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 5266), for the relief of Mina Keil, having considered the same, report favorably thereon with amendments and recommend that the bill as amended do pass.

The amendments are as follows:

Line 6, strike out the sign and figures "$643.50" and insert in lieu thereof "$500".

At the end of the bill add:

: Provided, That no part of the amount appropriated in this Act in excess of 10 per centum thereof shall be paid or delivered to or received by any agent or attorney on account of services rendered in connection with this claim, and the same shall be unlawful, any contract to the contrary notwithstanding. Any person violating the provisions of this Act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be fined in any sum not exceeding $1,000.

The purpose of the proposed legislation is to pay to Mina Keil, of Muncie, Ind., the sum of $500 in full settlement of all claims against the United States on account of personal injuries sustained by the said Mina Keil when the automobile in which she was a passenger was struck, on October 13, 1936, near Stanford, Ind., by a truck owned by the Civilian Conservation Corps and operated by an employee of the corps.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

The accident occurred on October 13, 1936, at about 12:15 p. m., when Mrs. Corabell Wuensch was driving her husband's car, with Mrs. Mina Keil and others as passengers, along Indiana State Highway No. 45, near Stanford, Ind., in a southerly direction, at approximately 25 miles per hour. Approaching in the opposite direction was a Chevrolet truck No. U. S. CCC 35785, on official business, and

traveling at a speed of approximately 30 miles per hour, according to the report of the War Department.

Upon rounding a sharp curve, the driver of the Government vehicle proceeded over the center onto the wrong side of the road, and collided with the car in which Mrs. Keil was a passenger. The driver of the private automobile, upon observing the Government vehicle rounding the curve in a reckless and careless manner, and on the wrong side of the road, attempted to avoid being struck by turning her car to the left, but could not clear the truck.

As a result of this accident, Mrs. Keil suffered a cut 3 inches long on the left parietal region of her head, with a number of bruises and abrasions on the head and extremeties. The cut on her head was closed with metal clips. Her left arm and left breast were also injured, as a result of which she has to wear a specially made brassiere. As a consequence of this accident, Mrs. Keil incurred actual expenses in the amount of $128 as will be noted from notarized statement hereafter appended.

The War Department admits liability, and they have settled a claim for property damage to Mr. Wuensch's car.

The War Department has no objection to the enactment of legislation to compensate Mrs. Keil for the injuries she received, it being the opinion of the Department that the accident was not due wholly or in part to fault or negligence of the claimant or her agents, but was due wholly to the fault and negligence of the driver of the Government vehicle acting within the scope of his employment.

Your committee concur in this opinion and recommend passage of the proposed bill, as amended, in the amount of $500.

Appended hereto is the report of the War Department, together with other pertinent evidence.

Hon. AMBROSE J. KENNEDY,

WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, April 2, 1938.

Chairman, Committee on Claims, House of Representatives.

DEAR MR. KENNEDY: Careful consideration has been given to the bill H. R. 9372 (75th Cong., 3d sess.), for the relief of Mina Keil, which you transmitted to the War Department under date of March 19, 1938, with request for information and the views of the Department relative thereto.

The purpose of the proposed legislation is to pay to Mina Keil, of rural route No. 2, Greenwood, Ind., the sum of $643.50 in full settlement of all claims against the United States on account of personal injuries sustained by her when the automobile in which she was a passenger was struck, on October 13, 1936, near Stanford, Ind., by a truck owned by the Civilian Conservation Corps and operated by an employee of the corps.

The records of the War Department show that on October 13, 1936, at about 12:15 p. m., Chevrolet truck No. U. S. CCC 35785 was proceeding on official business in a northerly direction around a sharp right (for Government driver) curve on Indiana State Highway No. 45, near Stanford, Ind., at a speed of approximately 30 miles per hour; that a car owned by Mr. Anthony Wuensch, rural route No. 2, Martinsville, Ind., and driven by his wife, Mrs. Corabell Wuensch, in which Mrs. Mina Keil, rural route No. 2, Greenwood, Ind., was a passenger, was proceeding in the opposite direction at a speed of approximately 25 miles per hour; that the Government driver's visibility around the curve was limited to approximately 30 feet; that in rounding the curve the driver of the Government vehicle allowed his vehicle to proceed over the center or unto the wrong side of the road; that Mr. Wuensch, upon observing the Government vehicle proceeding over the center line of the roadway into the right-of-way of her car, turned her car to the left in an attempt to avoid the Government vehicle; but that the vehicles met in collision, thereby causing the personal injuries to Mrs. Keil which

are the subject of this claim. It is further established by the evidence of record that a car driven by Mr. J. L. Swarthout was following the car driven by Mrs. Wuensch at a distance of approximately 200 feet and that in order to avoid striking the wrecked vehicles ahead, Mr. Swarthout drove his vehicle into the ditch alongside the road, thereby damaging his vehicle. The claim of Mrs. Swarthout for this damage was approved by the War Department and was included in the First Deficiency Appropriation Act, fiscal year 1938, approved March 5, 1938 (Public, No. 440, 75th Cong., 3d sess).

The claim of Mr. Anthony Wuensch for property damage has been approved by the Secretary of War for certification to Congress under the provisions of the act of December 28, 1922 (42 Stat. 1066), for inclusion in the next deficiency bill to come before the Congress.

Mrs. Keil presented a claim to the War Department for personal injuries in the amount of $643.50. With this claim there were submitted doctors' bills in

the amount of $9.50.

As a result of this accident, Mrs. Keil suffered a cut 3 inches long on left parietal region of head, with a number of bruises and abrasions on the head and extremities. The cut on the head was closed with metal clips.

This accident was investigated by a board of officers and from the record, the War Department has deduced that the damage was not due wholly or in part to fault or negligence of the claimant or her agents; that the damage was due wholly to fault or negligence of the driver of the Government vehicle acting within the scope of his employment; that the damage was not covered by insurance; that the claimant suffered no permanent injury as a result of the accident; and that the medical treatments which she has received since the accident have been not so much because of any real need of treatment but more because of fear of development of cancer. However, regardless of the person or persons responsible for this accident, the claim was disapproved by the War Department for the reason that prior to July 1, 1937, there was no authority of law or appropriation available to the Department for the settlement of claims of this nature.

It appears from the above that Mrs. Keil has sustained some loss as a result of this accident and through the negligence of the Government driver, and the War Department will interpose no objection to the enactment of legislation to compensate her for the injuries sustained, in such amount as the Congress in its discretion may deem proper to allow.

Sincerely yours,

LOUIS JOHNSON, Acting Secretary of War.

AFFIDAVIT OF ORVILL MCINTIRE

This is to certify that I, Orvill McIntire, heard Mr. Ralph Williams, of Washington, Ind., Civilian Conservation Corps Camp No. 559, make the following statement to Sylvester L. Minerd: "The truck I was driving was out of control and was the cause of the accident." Said accident occurred on State road No. 45, about 8 miles southwest of Bloomington, Ind., near Stanford, Ind., shortly after noon on October 13, 1936.

Witness:

ALVA PARHAM.

ORVILL MCINTIRE.

Personally appeared before me, a notary public, in the county of Monroe, State of Indiana, this 7th day of May 1938, Orvill McIntire, who declares the above statement to be true.

On October 13, 1936, while driving west on State Highway No. 45, about 9 miles west of Bloomington I was following an automobile in which Mrs. Anthony Wuensch, Jackie Wuensch, Mrs. Lee Rainbolt, and Mrs. Rudolph Keil were riding.

On approaching the curve at about from 35 to 40 miles an hour there came in the opposite direction, around the curve a Government truck, operated in connection with the Civilian Conservation Corps. This truck, on the wrong side of the road, the car and the truck hitting head on.

The time was about 12:30 p. m., the driver, at that time, acknowledging the accident as his fault. J. L. SWARTHOUT.

Subscribed and sworn to this 10th day of May 1938. (SEAL

My commission expires March 23, 1939.

R. C. WEINLAND, Notary Public.

AFFIDAVIT OF S. L. MINERD

BLOOMINGTON, IND., May 14, 1938.

To Whom It May Concern:

On October 13, 1936, about 1 p. m., I was called to investigate an automobile accident. At that time I was deputy sheriff of Monroe County.

The cars involved were a Civilian Conservation Corps truck and an automobile driven by Mrs. Anthony Wuensch.

The driver of the Civilian Conservation Corps truck admitted he was on the wrong side of the road with the car out of control thereby causing the two cars to hit head on.

In Mrs. Anthony Wuensch's car were riding her son Jackie Wuensch, Mrs. Rudolph Keil, and Mrs. Lee Rainbolt, all of whom were injured.

Subscribed and sworn to this 14th day of May 1938. [SEAL

My commission expires February 14, 1940.

S. L. MINERD.

EDITH MERCER, Notary Public.

MUNCIE, IND., April 5, 1939.

Hon. RAYMOND S. SPRINGER,

House of Representatives, Washington, D. C.

DEAR MR. SPRINGER: I am sending you a notarized and itemized list of costs and damages which I incurred because of the accident. You will notice some items have been added because the original list was made out not long after the accident and did not include expenditures I was forced to make since then. I know very little about the proper handling of such matters and only included the actual cost of gasoline and oil on two trips to Bloomington. Time spent by my husband, wear and tear on our car, postage, affidavits, typing, living expenses away from home, etc., were not included-all expenditures directly attributable to the accident. I have included these in the present list. I haven't any doctor bills except the one from Dr. S. A. Smith which I am sending.

Doctor bills from Dr. Portens and Dr. Moser were sent in about a year and a half to two years ago.

Dr. Moser died about a year ago. He gave first aid at the Bloomington Hospital.

The War Department has recognized the responsibility and paid Mr. Wuensch the value of his car which was wrecked in the accident and sold for junk.

One reason the doctor bills are comparatively small is due to the fact Dr. Portens charged but 75 cents and $1 for office calls. I was also attended at my sister's home. Dr. Portens attended both me and my sister on two different occasions, combining the calls.

Sincerely yours,

Received of Mrs. Rudolph Keil, $2 (consultation).

MINA KEIL.

APRIL 29, 1937.

L. A. SMITH, M. D.