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day there, visited a night club, and started the return trip at about 2:30 a. m., on October 10, 1943. The accident occurred on the return trip while the Army driver was still a substantial distance from either Goffes or Camp Young.

As a result of the accident, the automobile belonging to Mrs. Clay was extensively damaged. None of the Clay family received personal injuries in the accident. The Clay car was repaired by the Al Hartness Body and Fender Garage, Fontana, Calif. The records indicate that the amount of $353.25 was incurred in repairing the car.

Mrs. Clay filed a claim with the War Department for damages caused to her car in this accident. The claim was disapproved on the ground that the Army driver was not, at the time of the accident, acting within the scope of his employment, or engaged in an authorized mission for the Government. Your committee is of the opinion that Mrs. Clay should not be made to suffer because of the negligence of an Army driver who was acting outside the scope of his employment.

As the evidence clearly establishes that the accident and resulting damage to the civilian car were not caused by any fault or negligence on the part of the operator, but were caused by the negligence of a member of the United States Army, who was driving an Army vehicle on a personal mission, your committee feels that the claimant should be compensated for the damages sustained. Therefore, your committee recommends favorable consideration to the proposed legislation.

Appended hereto is the report of the War Department.

Hon. DAN R. McGEHEE,

Chairman, Committee on Claims,

WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, D. C., November 27, 1944.

House of Representatives, Washington, D. C.

DEAR MR. MCGEREE: Reference is made to your letter of September 14, 1944, inclosing a copy of H. R. 5307, Seventy-eighth Congress, a bill for the relief of Mrs. Bessie I. Clay, and requesting a report on the merits of the bill.

This bill would authorize and direct the Secretary of the Treasury to pay "to Mrs. Bessie I. Clay, of Pueblo, Colo., the sum of $353, in full settlement of all claims against the United States for damages sustained to her automobile as a result of a collision between her car and an Army jeep from Goffes, an Army post near Needles, Calif., in the service of the United States, on October 10, 1943, near Fontana Junction in the vicinity of San Bernardino, Calif."

The facts relating to this accident are not in dispute. On October 10, 1943, at about 5:30 a. m., a 1941 Pontiac coupe owned by Mrs. Bessie I. Clay and operated by her husband, Samuel O. Clay, was proceeding eastward in the outer right-hand lane of traffic on Highway 99, a four-lane highway, near Fontana Junction, Calif., at a speed of approximately 30 miles per hour. Mrs. Clay and their two infant children were passengers in the car. Suddenly and without warning, the civilian car was struck from the rear by an Army reconnaissance car operated by Pvt. Lucellus W. Hammond, Company B, Two Hundred and Eighth Quartermaster Battalion (Gs), Goffes, Calif. At about 1 a. m., on October 9, 1943, Private Hammond had been ordered by another enlisted man, a noncommissioned officer, to drive him to Camp Young, Calif., for the purpose of obtaining a prisoner who was in confinement at the Camp Young stockade. The two enlisted men, up on arriving in the vicinity of Danby, Calif., decided to go to Los Angeles, Calif., on a purely personal mission. They arrived in Los Angeles at about 8 a. m., on October 9, 1943, spent the day there, visited a night club, and started the return trip at about 2:30 a. m. on October 10, 1943. The accident occurred on the return trip while the Army driver was still a substantial distance from either Goffes or Camp Young.

As a result of the accident, the automobile belonging to Mrs. Clay was extensively damaged. None of the Clay family received personal injuries in the accident. The Clay car was repaired by the Al Hartness Body and Fender Garage, Fontana, Calif., and the files of the War Department contain an itemized paid bill of that firm in the amount of $353.25, covering such repairs.

On February 26, 1944, a claim was filed with the War Department by Bessie I. Clay in the amount of $353.25 for damages caused to her car in this accident. The claim was disapproved by the War Department on the ground that the Army driver was not, at the time of the accident, acting within the scope of his employment, or engaged in an authorized mission for the Government.

The evidence clearly establishes that the accident and resulting damage to the automobile of Mrs. Clay were not caused by any fault or negligence on her part or on the part of Samuel O. Clay, the operator of her car, but were caused by the negligence of a member of the United States Army who was driving an Army vehicle on a personal mission and who had materially deviated from the original purpose for which the vehicle was taken. It is well established that the United States is not responsible for the acts of its officers, agents, or employees while acting outside the scope of their employment. Under the circumstances, however, the War Department prefers to make no recommendatoin in the premises and to leave the matter of whether relief should be granted in this case to the equitable determination of the Congress.

If, in view of the foregoing, the Congress should deem it advisable to grant relief to the claimant, the War Department will offer no objection to an award to Mrs. Clay in the amount of $353 (for property damage), the amount stated in the bill. The fiscal effect of the bill is manifest.

The Bureau of the Budget advises that there is no objection to the submission of this report.

Sincerely yours,

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FEBRUARY 22, 1945.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House and ordered to be printed

Mr. GRANAHAN, from the Committee on Claims, submitted the

following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 1602]

The Committee on Claims, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 1602) for the relief of Robert Lee Slade, 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 figures "$8,125.35" and insert in lieu thereof the figures "$3,625.35".

At the end of the bill, strike out the period and insert:

: 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 appropriate the sum of $3,625.35 to Robert Lee Slade, of Dendron, Va., in full settlement of all claims against the United States for personal injuries and property damage sustained on December 5, 1943, when the automobile owned and driven by him was struck by a United States Army truck at the intersection of State Route 31 and State Route 460, near Wakefield, Va.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

It appears that on December 5, 1943, at about 3:30 p. m., an Army 11⁄2-ton cargo truck was proceeding west, in convoy, on Route No. 460 approaching its intersection with Route No. 31, near Wakefield, Va., at a speed estimated at 35 miles per hour. At the same time a 1932

H. Repts., 79-1, vol. 1-78

Chevrolet sedan owned and operated by Robert Lee Slade, of Dendron, Va., in which an enlisted man was riding as a passenger, was traveling south on Route No. 31 approaching the same intersection, at an estimated speed of 15 miles per hour. The intersection in question was protected by an electric traffic signal light which, according to a preponderance of the evidence, was green for the civilian car and red for the Army truck when the two vehicles entered the intersection. The Army driver attempted to avoid the civilian car, but was unable to do so, and crashed into its left side. There were no road guards posted at the intersection at the time of the accident.

As a result of the collision the civilian automobile was demolished and Mr. Slade was severely injured. He was taken from the scene of the accident to the Petersburg Hospital, Petersburg, Va., where he remained until January 25, 1944. On February 28, 1944, he was readmitted to that hospital, and remained there until March 5, 1944. In a statement dated April 15, 1944, Dr. Philip Jacobson, of Petersburg, Va., described Mr. Slade's condition as follows:

This is to certify that I treated Robert Lee Slade, who was admitted to the Petersburg Hospital December 5, 1943, after an accident. He was considerably shocked, had many bruises, and there were fractures of the shaft of the left tibia and fibula. He was treated for shock, the fractures were set, and a cast applied. Upon removal of the cast the fractures were found to be partially united and there was a marked swelling of both the knee and ankle joints.

This leg, because of arthritis of the knee and ankle joints and pain and tenderness around the site of the fracture, is practically useless to him now and amputation around the knee joint may be necessary. For the present he is completely disabled and it is my impression that he will remain that way permanently.

On April 14, 1944, Dr. T. M. Raines, of Wakefield, Va., made the following statement:

I saw this patient on April 12. The entire left leg was terribly swollen, edematous, and very painful. The ankle was immovable and flexed inwardly. The left knee was very much larger than the right and immovable. There is some

arthritis of knee and ankle due to the immobility necessary for recovery of the fracture. All of which is a result of the accident. As he is, I consider him an invalid for life. I advise an amputation of the leg above the knee.

The records indicate that the value of Mr. Slade's car before the accident, less its salvage value after the accident, to be $185, and that the car was damaged beyond repair. As a result of his injuries Mr. Slade incurred medical and hospital expenses in the amount of $440.35. At the time of the accident Mr. Slade was 71 years of age. His wife, Gartrude James Slade, age 61 years, is his sole dependent.

As the evidence establishes that the collision and resulting personal injury of Mr. Slade and the destruction of his automobile were not caused by any fault or negligence on the part of Mr. Slade, but were due solely to the negligence of the Army driver in attempting to proceed through an intersection against a red traffic signal light, it is the view of the War Department that Mr. Slade should be reasonably compensated for the damages sustained by him. The War Department recommends the bill be amended to provide an award of $3,625.35 ($3,000 for personal injuries; $185 for property damage; and $440.35 for medical and hospital expenses actually incurred.) Your committee concurs in the recommendation of the War Department.

Therefore, your committee recommends that the bill be favorably considered, as amended. Appended hereto is the report of the War Department, together with other pertinent information.

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