Senate amendment likewise provided for one additional permanent judge and one additional temporary judge for the southern district of Texas shall reside in the southern half of such district. The Senate receded and adopted the language of the House bill.

The House bill amended sections 44 (a) and 133, title 28, United States Code, by providing numerical designations for each of the judicial circuits and judicial districts respectively listed therein, in order to facilitate reference to the specific circuits and districts enumerated in those sections. The Senate amendment contained no such provision. The House receded and the provision is omitted.

EMANUEL CEller,
WILLIAM T. BYRNE,

THOMAS J. LANE,

Managers on the Part of the House.

1st Session

No. 1125

CONFERRING JURISDICTION UPON THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE CENTRAL DIVISION OF THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA, TO HEAR, DETERMINE, AND RENDER JUDGMENT UPON THE CLAIM OF MABEL COLLIVER

JULY 26, 1949.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House and ordered to be printed

Mr. KEATING, from the Committee on the Judiciary, submitted the

following

REPORT

To accompany H. R. 3499

The Committee on the Judiciary, to which was referred the bill (H. R. 3499) to confer jurisdiction upon the United States District Court for the Central Division of the Southern District of California, to hear, determine, and render judgment upon the claim of Mabel Colliver, having considered the same, report favorably thereon with amendments and recommend that the bill do pass.

The amendments are as follows:

Strike out all after the enacting clause, and insert in lieu thereof: That jurisdiction is hereby conferred upon the United States District Court for the Central Division of the Southern District of California, to hear, determine, and render judgment upon the claim of Mabel Colliver, of Long Beach, California for damages allegedly sustained as the result of an accident involving an ambulance owned by the United States Veterans' Administration at or near the intersection of West Twenty-fourth Street and Blaisdell Avenue. South, Minneapolis, Minnesota, on March 25, 1944.

SEC. 2. Suit upon such claim may be instituted at any time within one year from the enactment of this Act, notwithstanding the lapse of time or any statute of limitations. Proceedings for the determination of such claim, appeals therefrom, and payment of any judgment thereon, shall be in the same manner as in cases over which such court has jurisdiction under the provisions of paragraph twentieth of section 24 of the Judicial Code, as amended.

Amend title so as to read:

A bill to confer jurisdiction upon the United States District Court for the Central Division of the Southern District of California, to hear, determine, and render judgment upon the claim of Mabel Colliver

The purpose of the proposed legislation is to confer jurisdiction upon the United States District Court for the Central Division of the Southern District of California, to hear, determine, and render judgment upon the claim of Mabel Colliver.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

This bill was introduced for an appropriation of $3,000 to Mrs. Colliver for injuries sustained in an ambulance owned by Veterans' Administration, Minneapolis, Minn., on March 25, 1944.

The evidence in connection with this claim is very conflicting as to the liability, and your committee is of the opinion that jurisdiction should be conferred upon the court to consider the claim and, therefore, amends the bill accordingly and recommends favorable consideration to the bill, as amended.

Hon. DAN R. McGEHEE,

Chairman, Committee on Claims,

VETERANS ADMINISTRATION, Washington 25, D. C., December 17, 1945.

House of Representatives, Washington, D. C.

MY DEAR MR. MCGEHEE: This has further reference to your letter of November 1, 1945 requesting a report on H. R. 4523, Seventy-ninth Congress. "A bill for the relief of Mabel Colliver."

This bill provides that $3,000 shall be paid to Mabel Colliver by the Secretary of the Treasury out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated in full satisfaction of her claim against the United States for personal injuries and expenses, incurred as the result of an accident involving an ambulance owned by the Veterans' Administration and being operated by Ben Bjerknes, an employee of the Veterans' Administration. The bill states that the accident occurred at noon, March 25, 1944 at or near the intersection of West Twenty-fourth Street and Blaisdell Avenue South, Minneapolis, Minn. There is included in the bill a penal provision pertaining to fees of an attorney or agent

The records of the Veterans' Administration show that on March 25, 1944, Veterans' Administration ambulance No. 667 was sent to 2204 Grand Avenue, Minneapolis, Minn., to pick up Mr. Columbus W. Stewart to be brought to the Veterans' Administration facility at Minneapolis. The ambulance was driven by Ben F. Bjerknes with William Heyer as attendant. The patient was placed in the ambulance by the driver and the attendant. Mabel Colliver, whom the driver at that time assumed was the wife of the patient, requested permission to accompany the patient to the hospital, which was granted and she occupied the front seat to the right of the driver, while the attendant rode in the back of the ambulance with the patient. Upon leaving 2204 Grand Avenue the driver proceeded south on Grand Avenue to Twenty-fourth Street, and then east on Twentyfourth to Blaisdell Avenue, which is a through street with stop signs. The driver stopped the ambulance and looked in both directions and as the intersection seemed to be clear, the driver started across when he observed a car approaching which would not let him through, so he stopped the ambulance again. At the second stop Mabel Colliver, who was sitting sideways on the front seat and not sitting on the seat in the proper manner, slipped over and bumped her head on the dashboard. When the ambulance arrived at the hospital, the driver and the attendant took the patient into the hospital and the driver immediately reported to the medical authorities the incident of Mabel Colliver slipping and bumping her head. Drs. O. L. Nelson and H. E. Bundy immediately examined her but they could find no evidence of any bruise.

An attorney, some time later, informed the Veterans Administration at Minneapolis that this lady had been treated by Dr. Russell R. Heim, 12 West Lake Street, Minneapolis, Minn. Dr. Heim submitted two reports of his services rendered to Mrs. Colliver. His reports show that she called at his office on March 25, 1944, at which time she gave a history of riding in an ambulance on that date when the ambulance came to a sudden stop throwing her forward, causing her to strike her head against the front of the car. She complained of headaches soreness in the muscles of the neck, soreness in the left shoulder and stated that she vomited after returning to her home. She also called at his office on March 27, 29,