I a bill conferring jurisdiction upon the United States District Court for the District of Oregon to hear, determine, and render judgment upon the claims of J. N. Jones and others, be transmitted directly to your Department. We believe that the bill should not be enacted. S. 2103 would confer jurisdiction upon the United States District Court for the District of Oregon to hear, determine, and render judgment upon the claims of J. N. Jones and others, for damages alleged to have resulted from release of stored water from the agency valley reservoir, due to failure of the spillway gates of the dam. The bill would, in effect, authorize the court to consider these tort claims against the United States, although they are now not cognizable under the Federal Tort Claims Act. At the time of the accident the Secretary of the Interior was authorized to consider, ascertain, adjust, and determine any claims, not exceeding $1,000, on account of damages to or loss of privately owned property caused by the negligence of any officer or employee of the Government acting within the scope of his employment. The damages, as disclosed by our project superintendent's investigation, were within this limitation However, no claim was presented to this Department by any of the claimants. If such claims had been filed, and it had been determined that the damage was not caused by the negligence of any officer or employee of the Government, the claims could have been considered under the provision of the annual Interior Department appropriation act which provides for the payment, without monetary limitation, of damages caused to the owners of lands or other private property of any kind by reason of the operations of the United States, its officers or employees, in the survey, construction, operation, or maintenance of irrigation works. Instead of filing claims with the Department for the alleged damages to their property, the claimants elected to file suit (J. N. Jones, Individually, and as assignee of others v. the Vale-Oregon Irrigation District) in the Circuit Court of the State of Oregon for the County of Malheur against the Vale-Oregon irrigation district. The court dismissed the action on the grounds that the United States was in the sole and exclusive control, operation, maintenance, and conduct of the Vale-Oregon project and that the negligence alleged could not be imputed to the defendants. The claimants should not be granted special legislative consideration when no effort has been made by them to present their claims to this Department as authorized by law. If the Congress believes that S. 2103 should be enacted, section 2 of the bill should, in any event, be stricken. That section would remove all distinctions provided in the Federal Tort Claims Act between the United States and a private citizen. In view of our understanding that the Department of Justice will transmit this report along with its report to the Bureau of the Budget, we have not obtained the advice of that Bureau as to the relationship of the views expressed herein to the program of the President. Sincerely yours. OSCAR L. CHAPMAN, Acting Secretary of the Interior. O H. LAWRENCE HULL MAY 18, 1949.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House and ordered to be printed Mr. DENTON, from the Committee on the Judiciary, submitted the following REPORT (To accompary S. 1471 The Committee on the Judiciary to whom was referred the bill (S. 147) for the relief of H. Lawrence Hull, having considered the same, report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend that the bill do pass. The facts will be found fully set forth in Senate Report No. 162, Eighty-first Congress, which is appended hereto and made a part of this report. Your committee concur in the recommendation of the Senate. 18. Rept. No. 162, 81st Cong., 1st sess. The purpose of the proposed legislation is to provide for the payment of the sum of $551.66 to Mr. Hull in settlement of all claims against the United States for the property damage sustained by him when a United States Army vehicle struck and destroyed two gasoline pumps. STATEMENT It appears that on December 1, 1943, an enlisted man took an Army vehicle without authority from the bivouac area of his organization, on a purely personal mission. During the course of the evening, after having had several drinks of beer and while driving the vehicle, the enlisted man failed to make a left turn and ran into the gasoline pumps owned by Mr. Hull, destroying two of them and starting a fire. While it is clear that the driver of the Government vehicle was not acting on official business and in fact had taken the truck without permission, it appears that there is a moral obligation to compensate Mr. Hull in the light of the obligation of the Army to prevent the operation of its vehicles by unauthorized, intoxicated, and incompetent persons. Attached hereto and made a part of this report are letters received from the Attorney General and the Department of the Army in connection with an identical bill of the Eightieth Congress. H. Repts., 81-1, vol. 3-80 OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY General, Hon. ALEXANDER WILEY, Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. MY DEAR SENATOR: This is in response to your request for a report on the bill (S. 578) for the relief of H. Lawrence Hull. The bill would provide for the payment of the sum of $551.66 to Mr. Hull, in full settlement of all claims against the United States for property damage sustained by him when a United States Army vehicle struck and destroyed two gasoline pumps. In compliance with your instructions, I requested the War Department to report on this measure. The War Department's report, which is enclosed, sets forth the details concerning this accident. It appears that on December 1, 1943, an enlisted man took an Army vehicle without authority from the bivouac area of his organization and drove it with a woman passenger into Newport, Oreg., on a purely personal mission. At about 1:50 a. m. the next morning, after having had several drinks of beer, the enlisted man, while driving the Army vehicle, failed to negotiate a left turn and ran into the gasoline pumps, destroyed two of them and started a fire. The report of the War Department points out that while there is no legal liability on the part of the United States to pay compensation for the damage, the amount contained in the bill is fair and reasonable. The War Department makes no recommendation either for or against the enactment of the bill. While it is clear that the driver of the Government vehicle was not acting on official business or within the scope of his employment when the accident occurred, and that there is probably no legal liability on the part of the Government to compensate the claimants in this case, nevertheless there would appear to be a moral obligation to make such compensation. It would seem that the Army has a duty to the public to prevent the operation of its vehicles by unauthorized, intoxicated, or incompetent personnel. Similar bills have been enacted involving cases where persons have lost their lives or sustained personal injuries in actions involving Army vehicles being operated by soldiers acting beyond the scope of their employment (act of November 29, 1944, Private, 410, 78th Cong.; act of December 23, 1944, Private, 568, 78th Cong.; act of December 23, 1944, Private, 560, 78th Cong.; and Private, 495, 79th Cong.). I have been advised by the Director of the Bureau of the Budget that there is no objection to the submission of this report. Sincerely yours, The honorable the ATTORNEY GENERAL, DOUGLAS W. MCGREGOR, The Assistant to the Attorney General. DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY, Washington, D. C. March 20, 1947. DEAR MR. ATTORNEY GENERAL: Reference is made to your letter of February 20, 1947, with which you enclosed a copy of S. 578, Eightieth Congress, a bill for the relief of H. Lawrence Hull. You state that the Senate Committee on the Judiciary has requested the Department of Justice to submit a report on this bill and has advised that if reports are necessary from other sources they will be secured by your Department and submitted along with your report to the committee. You, therefore, request the comments of the War Department on S. 578. This bill provides as follows: "That the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized and directed to pay, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to H. Lawrence Hull, of Newport, Oregon, the sum of $551.66, in full settlement of all claims against the United States on account of property damages sustained by him when a United States Army vehicle struck and destroyed two gasoline pumps owned by him on December 2, 1943, at Newport, Oregon.' On the evening of December 1, 1943, Sgt. John W. Johnson, who was on duty with the One Hundred and Fourth Cavalry which was then stationed near Newport, Oreg., took an Army reconnaissance car without authority from the bivouac area of his organization and drove it with a woman passenger into Newport on a purely personal mission. He had several drinks of beer during the course of the H. LAWRENCE HULL evening. At about 1:50 a. m. on December 2, 1943, Sergeant Johnson, while driving the Army car in Newport, failed properly to negotiate a left turn at the corner of Cape and Olive Streets and said car ran into the filling station of H. Lawrence Hull and crashed into the gasoline pumps, destroying two of them As a result of the accident Mr. Hull sustained property and starting a fire. damages in the amount of $551.66. On December 15, 1943, Mr. Hull filed a claim in the amount of $551.66 for the On July 4, 1944, the claim property damages sustained by him in this accident. was disapproved by an officer on the staff of the commanding general, Ninth Service Command, Fort Douglas, Salt Lake City, Utah, acting under appropriate delegated authority, on the ground that there was no statute available to the War Department under which the claim might be paid for the reason that the driver of From the decision disapprovthe Army vehicle involved in this accident was not acting within the scope of his employment as a soldier at the time of the accident. ing his claim Mr. Hull appealed to the Secretary of War, and on August 14, 1944, the Secretary of War sustained the previous action of disapproval and denied the appeal therefrom on the same ground upon which the claim was originally disapproved. In this connection attention is invited to the fact that the only statute under which a claim of this character may be considered for administrative settlement is the act of July 3, 1943 (57 Stat. 372; 31 U. S. C. 223b), which provides that a claim thereunder for property damage may not be approved unless the damages in question were "caused by military personnel or civilian employees of the War Department or of the Army while acting within the scope of their employment, or otherwise incident to noncombat activities of the War Department or of the Army." Since the evidence in this case shows that the driver of the Army car involved in this accident had taken said car without authority and was It using it for his own pleasure at the time of the accident he was clearly not acting within the scope of his employment as a soldier at the time of the accident. is likewise clear that this accident did not result from noncombat activities of the War Department or of the Army. Mr. Hull cannot recover damages from the United States under the provisions of the Federal Tort Claims Act of July 2, 1946 (Public Law 601, 79th Cong.), since that act limits the settlement of claims thereunder to cases "accruing on and after January 1, 1945, on account of damage to or loss of property caused by the negligent or wrongful act or omission of any employee of the Government while acting within the scope of his office or employment." * * Inasmuch as the evidence in this case establishes that the Army car involved in this accident had been taken by a soldier without authority and on a trip which was entirely outside the scope of his employment and not in the furtherance of any Government business, it is clear, as hereinbefore shown, that there is no legal responsibility on the part of the United States in its soverign capacity to pay compensation for the property damages resulting from this accident. If, however, in the light of the circumstances in this case the Congress should, nevertheless, conclude to grant relief for the property damages sustained by Mr. Hull, it is the view of the War Department that the proposed award of $551.66 The War Department, in accordance with its established is fair and reasonable. policy in cases of this character, makes no recommendation either for or against the enactment of this bill, but leaves the matter of whether relief should be granted to this claimant to the equitable determination of the Congress. Sincerely yours, ROBERT P. PATTERSON, |