WINFRED ALEXANDER FEBRUARY 9, 1945.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House and ordered to be printed Mr. McGEHEE, from the Committee on Claims, submitted the fol lowing REPORT [To accompany H. R. 938] The Committee on Claims, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 938) for the relief of Winfred Alexander, 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 "7,000" and insert in lieu thereof the figures "$5,000". Line 13, after the period, add: SEC. 2. Before payment is made under this Act, Winfred Alexander is required to cancel judgment, together with cost of court rendered against the driver of the Government truck, Hobart Wilson, in the Hamilton County Circuit Court, of the State of Tennessee, on February 22, 1940. 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. A similar bill was favorably reported by this committee and passed the House in the Seventy-eighth Congress, but no action taken in the Senate before final adjournment of Congress. The facts will be found fully set forth in House Report No. 1129, Seventy-eighth Congress, which is appended hereto and made a part of this report. [H. Rept. No. 1129, 78th Cong., 2d sess.] The purpose of the proposed legislation is to appropriate the sum of $5,000 to Winfred Alexander, of Graysville, Tenn., in full settlement of all claims against the United States for personal injuries sustained by him on September 16, 1938, H. Repts., 79-1, vol. 1-22 when the motorcycle he was driving was struck by a truck in the service of the Civilian Conservation Corps, on United States Highway No. 27, near the intersection of such highway and Liggett Road in Sale Creek, Tenn. STATEMENT OF FACTS It appears that an enrollee of the Civilian Conservation Corps, driving a Government truck, engaged in transporting a piece of heavy road equipment weighing 3,600 pounds from Wartburg, Tenn., to Sewanee, Tenn., via United States Highway No. 27, entered the town of Sale Creek at approximately 11:45 a. m., traveling south. While proceeding through the town, and as he approached a road connecting with the highway from the west, the driver states he saw claimant astride a motorcycle in a stationary position in the side road apparently waiting for the truck to pass before entering the highway. When the truck had reached a point approximately opposite the side road the motorcycle started forward into the highway at a distance estimated by the truck Idriver to be 10 feet in front of the truck. The truck driver swerved to the left and applied brakes as quickly as possible but was unable to avoid striking the motorcycle almost broadside. The truck continued forward on the pavement pushing the motorcycle and rider before it, being brought to a stop a distance of 107 feet from the point of impact. Mr. Alexander was found to have sustained a broken and lacerated left leg and was taken to a hospital in Dayton, Tenn., where later in the day the leg was amputat d 6 inches below the knee. At the time of the accident, Mr. Alexander was 30 years of age, having as dependents his wife, daughter age 6, and son age 8. He was employed part time as a machinist at a wage of $3 per day. The following expenses were incurred by him as a result of the accident: Medical, hospital, and ambulance expense, $128.80; artificial leg, $125; loss of motorcycle damaged in aceiden, $60, making a total of $313.80. The Department of Agriculture is opposed to this proposed legislation, denying liability and negligence on the part of the enrollee; however, in a statement of September 28, 1938, signed by M. T. Maxwell, Jr., Civilian Conservation Corps inspector, he states: "It is recommended that Enrollee Driver Hobart Wilson be grounded for a period of 30 days. Driver Wilson states that he had reduced his speed to 20 miles per hour, which is the posted limit, through Sale Creek. There is a minor degree of negligence on the part of Enrollee Wilson in not reducing his speed to 10 or 15 miles per hour, because of the congested area through which he was passing and because of the load of his truck." A statement signed by Dr. Albert C. Broyles, dated September 18, 1938, says: "Mr. Alexander received a compound comminuted fracture of lower third of left tibia and fibula with the extensive injury to surrounding soft structures. There were numerous superficial abrasions on both forearms and shoulders and across the lower part of his back. Amputation of left leg about 6 inches below knee joint was performed about 6 p. m. on same date of injury." On February 22, 1940, the claimant, Winfred Alexander, entered suit against the driver of the Government truck, Hobart Wilson, for $7,500 in the Circuit Court of Hamilton County, Tenn., case No. 57635. A jury of 12 citizens was impaneled, examined, accepted, and sworn in to try this case. After all evidence had been produced the jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff, Winfred Alexander, in the sum of $7,500. Transcript of the evidence submitted at this trial is on file with the committee and due to the expense of printing, is not included in this report. Therefore, it is the opinion of your committee that Mr. Alexander should be compensated for these injuries. The committee recommend favorable consideration to the proposed legislation, as amended. Appended hereto is the report of the Department of Agriculture, together with other pertinent evidence. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, Hon. DAN R. McGEHEE, Chairman, Committee on Claims, House of Representatives. DEAR MR. MCGEHEE: Reference is made to Department letter, dated May 7, acknowledging your request for report on H. R. 3556 for the relief of Winfred Alexander, Graysville, Tenn., in the amount of $7,500 on account of personal injuries sustained by him on September 16, 1938, in Sale Creek, Tenn., when the motorcycle he was riding was struck by a Civilian Conservation Corps truck operated under supervision of the Forest Service. The facts and circumstances of the accident are briefly as follows: The enrollee driver of the Government truck, engaged in transporting a piece of heavy road equipment weighing 3,600 pounds from Wartburg, Tenn., to Sewanee, Tenn., via United States Highway No. 27, entered the town of Sale Creek at approximately 11:45 a. m., traveling south. While proceeding through the town, and as he approached a road connecting with the highway from the west, the driver states he saw claimant astride a motorcycle in a stationary position in the side road apparently waiting for the truck to pass before entering the highway. When the truck had reached a point approximately opposite the side road the motorcycle started forward into the highway at a distance estimated by the truck driver to be 10 feet in front of the truck. The truck driver swerved to the left and applied brakes as quickly as possible but was unable to avoid striking the motorcycle almost broadside. The truck continued forward on the pavement pushing the motorcycle and rider before it, being brought to a stop a distance of 107 feet from point of impact. Mr. Alexander was found to have sustained a broken and lacerated left leg and was taken to a hospital in Dayton, Tenn., where later in the day the leg was amputated 6 inches below the knee. The truck driver states that upon entering the town he reduced the speed of his truck to 20 miles per hour. Witnesses Willard and Shipley estimate the speed of the truck at 30 and 35 to 40 miles per hour as it passed them at a point 300 feet north of the scene of the accident. While these statements are in conflict it is shown that during the 3 hours prior to the accident, the truck had traveled a distance of 80 miles over good concrete roads, or an average of 26.6 miles per hour. Considering that the truck was heavily loaded, the stopping distance of 107 feet, as evidenced by the marks on the pavement, appears to indicate that the Government vehicle was moving at a moderate and normally safe rate of speed. Claimant, approaching the highway in the side road, stopped his motorcycle approximately 12 feet from the edge of the highway pavement to permit his brother, who was riding with him, to alight. While statements of his companions indicate that claimant looked for traffic before entering the highway it is nevertheless a fact that he proceeded forward and into the highway so closely in front of the approaching truck that the truck driver was unable to avoid the collision. The record shows that a large delivery truck parked 26 feet from the northwest corner of the intersection materially obstructed claimant's view of the highway to the north and it is apparent that he failed to exercise the degree of care imposed upon him by the presence of this obstruction in entering upon a heavily traveled highway from a side road clearly posted with a stop sign. In the opinion of the Department the facts appear to impose upon the claimant responsibility for the accident and resu'ting personal injuries to himself. Immediate after the accident the enrollee driver was arrested on the charge of assault with a truck and the trial before a justice of the peace resulted in dismissal of the charge. Mr. Alexander later entered a civil suit against the driver, the trial, in the absence of defendant, resulting in entry of a judgment in the amount of $7,500, the amount of the instant bill. At the time of the accident, Mr. Alexander was 30 years of age, having as dependents his wife, daughter aged 6, and son aged 8; he was employed part time as machinist by the Graysville Hosiery Mill, Dayton, Tenn., at a wage of $3 per day. Mr. Alexander is employed in the same capacity at the present time, receiving the same daily wage as he formerly did. The following expenses were incurred by claimant as result of the accident: Medical, hospital, and ambulance expense. Artificial leg Loss of motorcycle damaged in accident.. Total... $128. 80 125.00 60.00 313. 80 Since the accident appears to have been the result of negligence on the part of claimant, compensation for the injuries sustained by him does not seem to be a proper obligation for assumption by the Government. It is accordingly recommended that H. R. 3556 be reported upon adversely by your committee. Copies of the more important documents in the case are enclosed for your information and file. Sincerely, GROVER B. HILL, CHATTANOOGA, TENN., September 16, 1938. STATEMENT OF WOODROW ALEXANDER On September 16, 1938, about noon I was riding on my motorcycle as a passenger on behind my brother Winford Alexander on Legget Street, Sale Creek. I got off the motorcycle at the corner of Legget Street and United States Highway No. 27 when my brother Winford stopped the motorcycle. I was going to wait at a filling station for a man to pick me up and take me to my work at Chickamauga Dam. My brother Winford and Clifford Helton were going to ride their motorcycles about one-half mile and leave them while they took a young heifer to a neighbor's farm. When I got off the motorcycle, I looked up and down the United States Highway No. 27. The road was clear to the south for several hundred feet and was clear to the north as far as I could see. I couldn't see very far to the north as there was a truck sitting in front of Coppinger's store about 40 or 50 feet north of Legget Street. I turned back to see my brother take off and just as he got on the United States Highway No. 27 good, the Civilian Conservation Corps truck hit him and the motorcycle. It dragged the motorcycle 120 feet, and my brother Winford landed on the pavement outside about when the Civilian Conservation Corps truck stopped. WOODROW ALEXANDER, Sale Creek, Tenn. CHATTANOOGA, TENN., September 16, 1988. STATEMENT OF PAUL A. DELFFS On September 16, 1938, about noon, I was riding in Civilian Conservation Corps truck No. 48298 with Hobart Wilson, truck driver, and Newport Tucker, passenger in cab. We were driving south on United States Highway No. 27 at Sale Creek, Tenn., at a speed I would estimate at 20 miles per hour. I was standing up in the right-hand corner of the front of the truck. I was standing up in the truck alongside a road ripper that was loaded on the truck. I noticed a truck sitting in front of a store on the right side of the highway about 50 or 60 feet from where our truck hit the man and motorcycle. When I first saw the man on the motorcycle, he was about 15 feet from United States Highway No. 27 on Legget Street, and we were about 30 or 40 feet from where we hit the man and motorcycle. He came upon the United States highway doing, I would estimate, between 5 and 10 miles per hour, and I would guess we were about 10 or 15 feet away from him. When we hit the man on the motorcycle, our truck pulled to right some and we were about in the middle of the road. The impact threw the man back over the bumper and dragged the motorcycle about 75 to 100 feet. When the truck stopped, the man fell off the bumper to the road. I have a Red Cross first-aid card. I jumped out of the truck and went to the injured man as quickly as I could. I administered first aid to the injured man until he was put in an ambulance and then got in the ambulance and went with the injured man to the hospital at Dayton. PAUL A. DELFFS, Enrollee, Company 1463, Wartburg, Tenn. CHATTANOOGA, TENN., September 16, 1938. STATEMENT OF CLIFFORD HELTON On September 16, 1938. about noon I was riding on my motorcycle on Legget Street, Sale Creek, Tenn. I was riding immediately behind Winfred Alexander, driver of the motorcycle, and Woodrow Alexander, a passenger on behind the same motorcycle. I came to a stop immediately behind Winfred Alexander, who had stopped at the corner of Legget Street and United States Highway No. 27 to let his brother, Woodrow Alexander, get off the motorcycle. I saw Winfred Alexander turn his head as if he were looking up and down the highway. I saw Winfred Alexander drive out on the highway and saw the Civilian Conservation Corps truck hit him and motorcycle this side of the middle of the highway and drag him and the motorcycle about 120 feet. CLIFFORD HELTON, CHATTANOOGA, TENN., September 16, 1938. STATEMENT OF M. F. WILLARD On September 16, 1938, about noon I stepped out of Coulter's Restaurant in Sale Creek on the porch. I saw a Civilian Conservation Corps truck go by at a good rate of speed that I would estimate about 30 miles per hour. It looked like it had a piece of heavy farm machinery loaded on it which may have weighed I was walking north on the shoulder of the highway US 27 when I heard a crash. I guess I had gone about 20 or 25 feet from the restaurant. I ran back down the highway U S 27 and saw that the Civilian Conservation Corps truck had hit a man on a motorcycle. I must have been about 300 feet or more from the scene of the accident. a ton or more. M. F. WILLARD, Sale Creek, Tenn. CHATTANOOGA, TENN., September 16, 1938. STATEMENT Of Walter SHIPLEY I was standing in front of my filling station in Sale Creek about 300 feet from where the accident happened about 12 noon September 16. I saw the Civilian Conservation Corps truck go by at a rapid rate of speed about 35 to 40 miles per hour, I would estimate. I heard the truck brakes screak and guess it was about 30 feet from where the truck driver applied his brakes to where the truck hit the motorcycle. I saw the truck hit the motorcycle and slide about 100 feet before the truck was brought to a stop. I ran to the accident and saw Winford Alexander, the motorcycle rider, lying in the road, with broken bones in left leg sticking through the skin, at a point about where the truck stopped. I went to get my car to take Alexander to the hospital, but by the time I returned with it, he had been loaded into another car, then into an ambulance, and sent on to the hospital WALTER SHIPLEY, Sale Creek, Tenn. |