CHARLIE HALES JUNE 9, 1949.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House and ordered to be printed Mr. BYRNE of New York, from the Committee on the Judiciary, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany H. R. 2456) The Committee on the Judiciary, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 2456) for the relief of Charlie Hales, having considered the same, report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend that the bill do pass. The purpose of the proposed legislation is to pay the sum of $3,011.45 to Charlie Hales, of Hattiesburg, Miss. Such sum represents reimbursement for the levy of execution made against him pursuant to a default judgment entered without his knowledge in favor of Hattie Warren (case No. 3722, Forrest County, Miss.) for the loss of an arm caused to said Hattie Warren when the bus owned by the said Charlie Hales collided with an Army truck at Camp Shelby, Miss., on November 18, 1942. STATEMENT OF FACTS It appears that on November 18, 1942, at about 3:45 p. m., a bus owned by Charlie Hales and operated by Percy Dedrick, of Hattiesburg, Miss., was being employed in transporting workers at the Camp Shelby laundry. Mrs. Hattie L. Warren, an employee of said laundry, was riding as a passenger in the bus at the time. The bus was proceeding west on First Avenue within the Camp Shelby Military Reservation and, as it was passing a group of Army trucks, which were parked diagonally off the right side of the road on a parking lot, one of the Army trucks, operated by an enlisted man on official business, suddenly started to back out of its parking place. and the rear end of the truck crashed against the right side of the bus. It appears that at the moment the Army truck was backing toward the claimant's bus a third vehicle was passing to the left to avoid being hit by the CHARLIE HALES JUNE 9, 1949.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House and ordered to be printed Mr. BYRNE of New York, from the Committee on the Judiciary, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany H. R. 2456 The Committee on the Judiciary, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 2456) for the relief of Charlie Hales, having considered the same, report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend that the bill do pass. pay the sum of Such sum repre The purpose of the proposed legislation is to $3,011.45 to Charlie Hales, of Hattiesburg, Miss. sents reimbursement for the levy of execution made against him pursuant to a default judgment entered without his knowledge in favor of Hattie Warren (case No. 3722, Forrest County, Miss.) for the loss of an arm caused to said Hattie Warren when the bus owned by the said Charlie Hales collided with an Army truck at Camp Shelby, Miss., on November 18, 1942. STATEMENT OF FACTS It appears that on November 18, 1942, at about 3:45 p. m., a bus owned by Charlie Hales and operated by Percy Dedrick, of Hattiesburg, Miss., was being employed in transporting workers at the Camp Shelby laundry. Mrs. Hattie L. Warren, an employee of said laundry, was riding as a passenger in the bus at the time. The bus was proceeding west on First Avenue within the Camp Shelby Military Reservation and, as it was passing a group of Army trucks, which were parked diagonally off the right side of the road on a parking lot, one of the Army trucks, operated by an enlisted man on official business, suddenly started to back out of its parking place. and the rear end of the truck crashed against the right side of the bus. It appears that at the moment the Army truck was backing toward the claimant's bus a third vehicle was passing to the left to avoid being hit by the truck. As a result of the accident Mrs. Warren's right arm was so badly crushed that it had to be amputated near the shoulder. The Army officer who investigated this accident submitted his official report on March 13, 1943, in which he found that The injury of Hattie L. Warren was due to the negligence of Pvt. Francis M. Vroman, while acting within the scope of his employment as a soldier in the Army of the United States, which negligence was the proximate and sole cause of the accident and, therefore, the Government should accept pecuniary liability based upon the injury. The staff judge advocate, Camp Shelby, Miss., after a careful review of all of the available evidence relating to this accident. submitted a report, dated March 17, 1943, in which he stated: From the consideration of all evidence in the file, it is concluded that the Government driver was guilty of negligence in backing out of his parking space without properly ascertaining whether the road was clear at that time. This negligence of the Government driver while acting within the scope of his employment as a soldier in the Army of the United States, was the proximate and sole cause of the accident, and therefore the Government should accept pecuniary liability for the claim of Hattie L. Warren based upon the injury. It appears that on June 26, 1946, Mrs. Warren filed a suit in the circuit court of Forest County, Miss., against Charlie Hales, in which she demanded a judgment for damages against the defendant in the amount of $3,000, together with court costs, on account of the loss of her right arm in the accident of November 18, 1942, the case being entitled Hattie Warren v. Charlie Hales, No. 3722 (recorded in book 5, p. 59, office of the circuit clerk, of Forest County, Miss.). A certified copy of the proceedings in this case shows that on June 27, 1946, the sheriff of Forest County, Miss., served a summons on Charlie Hales, directing him to appear in said case before the county court at Hattiesburg, Miss., on the second Monday in July 1946; that on July 2, 1946, the sheriff of Forest County served another summons on Mr. Hales, directing him to appear in this case before the circuit court of Forest County on November 4, 1946; that the case came on for trial before the circuit court of Forest County on May 5, 1947, at which time the defendant, Charlie Hales, did not appear, and no answer or other pleading having been filed in the case on his behalf, the court granted the motion of the plaintiff for a default judgment; and that the court then granted a motion presented by the plaintiff for a writ of inquiry, whereupon a jury was sworn and empaneled for the consideration of evidence with respect to the amount of the damages sustained by the plaintiff. After hearing the evidence presented the jury returned a verdict in favor of Mrs. Warren in the sum of $3,000. The court thereupon and on the same date entered a judgment in the case in which it was ordered and adjudged by the court that the plaintiff, Hattie Warren, do have and recover of the defendant, Charlie Hales, the sum of $3,000, with legal interest thereon from this date, and also all costs of court whatsoever, for which let execution be done. On August 2, 1947, the sheriff of Forest County, Miss., filed with the circuit clerk of that county his final report of the execution of the judgment in this case in which he stated: I have this day executed the within writ personally by delivering to the within named Charlie Hales, and collecting the within amount $3,011.45 The principle involved in the present bill is similar to that involved. in H. R. 3089, Eightieth Congress, a bill for the relief of Mississippi Central Railroad Co., which was enacted by the Congress, and was approved by the President on May 12, 1948, becoming Private Law 289, Eightieth Congress. In that case the Mississippi Central Railroad Co. was reimbursed by the United States in the sum of $10,750, the amount of the settlement made by it in compliance with a court order with the estate of a railroad brakeman who had been killed by reason of the negligent location by the Army authorities of a spur track within the Camp Shelby Military Reservation with relation to the overhanging eaves of a warehouse. Therefore, your committee concurs in the recommendation of the Department of the Army and recommends favorable consideration to the bill. Hon. EMANUEL CELLER, Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary, DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY, House of Representatives. DEAR MR. CELLER: The Department of the Army has no objection to the enactment of H. R. 2456, Eighty-first Congress, a bill for the relief of Charlie Hales. 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 Charlie Hales, Hattiesburg, Mississippi, the sum of $3,011.45. Such sum represents compensation to the said Charlie Hales for the levy of execution made against him pursuant to a default judgment entered without his knowledge in favor of Hattie Warren (case numbered 3722, Forest [Forrest] County, Mississippi) for the loss of an arm caused to said Hattie Warren when the bus owned by the said Charlie Hales collided with an Army truck at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, on November 18, 1942." The records of the Department of the Army show that on November 18, 1942, at about 3:45 p. m., a bus owned by Charlie Hales and operated by Percy Dedrick, of Hattiesburg, Miss., was being employed in transporting workers at the Camp Shelby laundry. Mrs. Hattie L. Warren, an employee of said laundry, was riding as a passenger in the bus at the time." The bus was proceeding west on First Avenue within the Camp Shelby Military Reservation and, as it was passing a group of Army trucks, which were parked diagonally off the right side of the road on a parking lot, one of the Army trucks, operated by an enlisted man on official business, suddenly started to back out of its parking place, and the rear end of the truck crashed against the right side of the bus. It appears that at the moment the Army truck was backing toward the claimant's bus a third vehicle was passing to the left of the bus, thereby preventing the driver of the bus from swerving to the left to avoid being hit by the truck. As a result of the accident Mrs. Warren's right arm was so badly crushed that it had to be amputated near the shoulder. The Army officer who investigated this accident submitted his official report on March 13, 1943, in which he found that "The injury [of Hattie L. Warren] was due to the negligence of Pvt. Francis M. Vroman, while acting within the scope of his employment as a soldier in the Army of the United States, which negligence was the proximate and sole cause of the accident, and, therefore the Government should accept pecuniary liability based upon the injury." The staff judge advocate, Camp Shelby, Miss., after a careful review of all of the available evidence relating to this accident, submitted a report, dated March 17, 1943, in which he stated: "From the consideration of all evidence in the file, it is concluded that the Government driver was guilty of negligence in backing out of his parking space without properly ascertaining whether the road was clear at that time. This negligence of the Government driver while acting within the scope of his employment as a soldier in the Army of the United States, was the proximate and sole cause of the accident, and therefore the Government should accept pecuniary liability for the claim (of Hattie L. Warren] based upon the injury.' |