In view of the foregoing, the Department of Justice recommends that the provisions for the payment of interest and the payment of court costs be removed from the bill. If thus amended, this Department would have no objection to the enactment of the bill. The Director of the Bureau of the Budget has advised this Department that there would be no objection to the submission of the report. MRS. OTEEIN FOXWORTH MAY 5, 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. 703] The Committee on the Judiciary, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 703) to confer jurisdiction upon the United States District Court for the Eastern District of South Carolina, to hear, determine, and render judgment upon the claim of Mrs. Oteein Foxworth, having considered the same, report favorably thereon with amendment and recommend that the bill do pass. The amendment is as follows: Page 2, line 5, after the period insert Provided, That the United States shall be entitled to the benefits of all exemptions and all limitations of liability accorded by law to private parties. The purpose of the proposed legislation is to confer jurisdiction upon the United States District Court for the Eastern District of South Carolina to hear, determine, and render judgment upon, notwithstanding the lapse of time or any provision of law to the contrary, the claim of Mrs. Oteein Foxworth, of Marion, S. C., against the United States for damages arising from the alleged death of her husband, Cecil Foxworth, on April 10, 1944, sustained as a result of personal injuries on September 11, 1936, while in performance of his duties as an employee of the Bureau of Internal Revenue. Such suit shall be instituted within 1 year from the date of enactment of this act. STATEMENT OF FACTS It appears that on September 11, 1936, in the Guordian section of Williamsburg County, S. C., Investigator Cecil M. Foxworth, of the Alcohol Tax Unit of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, operating out of Florence, S. C., suffered severe gunshot wounds at the hands of an assailant who was one of three persons the officers were attempt ing to arrest for suspected violation of the Federal liquor laws. Investigator Foxworth was taken to the Kelley Sanitorium at Kingstree, S. C., where it was found necessary to amputate his left arm at the shoulder and two fingers of his right hand. He was dropped from the rolls of this Department, without prejudice, effective at the close of business December 12, 1936, on account of total disability incurred in the line of duty. Mr. Foxworth received a compensation from Bureau of Employees' Compensation until his death. He moved to, and undertook the management of his mother's farm near Marion, S. C., and in that capacity occasionally performed a few manual tasks. On April 10, 1944, with the assistance of one of the farm hands, Mr. Foxworth attempted to place a hog, which was loose in a small lot, in a pen from which it had escaped and while so engaged was suddenly stricken ill, following 5 or 10 minutes of such effort; his symptoms at the time were those of complete exhaustion, his face was flushed and he suffered acute abdominal distress and requested an enema. Foxworth was assisted to the house a short distance away, where he relaxed. Mrs. Foxworth, it appears, hurried to a neighbor's house to borrow necessary equipment and upon her return found her husband dead. Dr. J. A. Johnson of Marion, S. C., who was called at this time upon arrival found Mr. Foxworth dead; he made a diagnosis of coronary embolism as the cause of death. Dr. E. T. Kelly of the Kelly Memorial Hospital, Kingstree, S. C., who performed the amputation stated that Mr. he was in much shock and having to do multiple blood transfusions on admission, during surgery, and after surgery. Left arm was amputated through shoulder joint, index and middle fingers of right hand amputated at second and third joints, respectively. He did not have a smooth convalesence as his vascular system gave evidence of an acute myocarditis. This latter condition, I am sure could have originated directly from his injury. The Bureau of Employees' Compensation has disallowed the death claim in that the evidence did not show that it was a direct result from the injuries received. Your committee is of the opinion that evidence is so conflicting that it should be referred to the district court to be considered on its merits and therefore recommends favorable consideration of the bill. Hon. EARL C. MICHENER, Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary, FEDERAL SECURITY AGENCY, House of Representatives, Washington 25, D. C. DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: This letter is in reply to your request of November 20, 1947, for a report on H. R. 4522, a bill for the relief of Mrs. Oteein Foxworth. The bill would authorize and direct the Bureau of Employees' Compensation to pay to Mrs. Oteein Foxworth, of Marion, S. C., compensation at the monthly rate which she would have been entitled to receive under paragraph (C) of section 10 of the act of September 7, 1916, as amended, if the Bureau of Employees' Compensation had found that the death of her husband, Cecil Foxworth, on April 10, 1944, had been the direct result of the severe personal injuries which were sustained by him on September 11, 1936, while in the performance of his duties as an employee of the Bureau of Internal Revenue. It is assumed that the references to "Mrs." Foxworth and her "husband" in the bill are intended merely as identifying the recipient of the relief and the particular case to which the bill refers. Should the bill be enacted, the quoted terms will, therefore, be so con strued. This is mentioned because it is sometimes contended that such identifying language is used as a legislative determination of marital status. It appears from the Bureau's records in this case that Mr. Cecil M. Foxworth died on April 10, 1944, allegedly as the result of injuries (gunshot wounds) sustained by him on September 11, 1936, which was officially reported as having occurred "while trying to effect the arrest of persons on whom Inspector Foxworth had information were violating the internal-revenue laws." The facts in this case, as disclosed by the evidence and as supported by reasonable inferences to be drawn therefrom, are as follows: Mr. Foxworth was at the time of injury 27 years of age and was in the employ of the Treasury Department (Alcohol Tax Unit) at Columbia, S. C. The shooting occurred in the Gourdian section of Williamsburg County, S. C., while the employee and other. officers were attempting to effect the arrest of persons suspected of having in their possession non-tax-paid whisky. The injuries which the employee sustained in this encounter were described as gunshot wounds in the left shoulder, middle and index finger of the right hand. Mr. Foxworth was removed from the scene of the accident to Kelley Memorial Hospital, Kingstree, S. C., where he was admitted with much shock and loss of blood. His wounds were such that it was necessary to amputate his left arm through the shoulder joint and to amputate the index and middle fingers of the right hand at the second and third joints, respectively. The employee's condition made it necessary to "do multiple blood transfusions on admission, during surgery, and after surgery. "" Mr. Foxworth's convalescence was not smooth "as his vascular system gave evidence of an acute myocarditis." Mr. Foxworth was hospitalized from September 11, 1936, to September 29, 1936, and was discharged from medical treatment by Dr. E. T. Kelley of Kingstree, S. C., on October 11, 1936, as totally disabled "for life"; he was not under medical care after discharge. Mr. Foxworth was dropped from the pay roll of the Treasury Department upon the expiration of his leave with pay on December 12, 1936, and was not again employed for wages. Compensation for total disability began on December 16, 1936 (the Compensation Act provides "that during the first 3 days of disability the employee shall not be entitled to compensation * * *") and continued thereafter until his death. The total amount of compensation paid in this case (excluding leave pay) was $10,246.64; the sum of $505.70 was also paid for medical expenses. The aggregate of the amount of payments made in this case is $10,752.34. Following convalescence, Mr. Foxworth moved to, and undertook the management of his mother's farm near Marion, S. C., and in that capacity occasionally performed a few manual tasks. On April 10, 1944, with the assistance of one of the farm hands, Mr. Foxworth attempted to place a hog, which was loose in a small lot, in a pen from which it had escaped and while so engaged was suddenly stricken ill, following 5 or 10 minutes of such effort; his symptoms at the time were those of complete exhaustion, his face was flushed and he suffered acute abdominal distress and requested an enema. Mr. Foxworth was assisted to the house a short distance away where he relaxed. Mrs. Foxworth, it appears, hurried to a neighbor's house to borrow necessary equipment and upon her return found her husband dead. Dr. J. A. Johnson of Marion, S. C., who was called at this time upon arrival found Mr. Foxworth dead: he made a diagnosis of coronary embolism as the cause of death. There was no autopsy performed to confirm such finding. At the time in question, sections 10 and 11 of the Federal Employees' Compensation Act precluded compensation for death and the payment of funeral expenses unless death occurred within 6 years after the injury. These limitations (as well as other time limitations), however, were waived for this case by Private Law 656, Seventy-ninth Congress, second session, approved June 14, 1946. (These substantive limitations were eliminated generally by an amendment of secs. 10 and 11, dated July 28, 1945, 59 Stat. 503. Where the injury occurred before that date, the amendment applied only if the employee was receiving or entitled to receive compensation for injury on or after such date.) The widow filed her claim on July 22, 1946, and the case was considered by the Bureau on its merits. Prior to sustaining injuries on September 11, 1936, the employee to all appearances was a strong, robust young man with considerable physical endurance. Subsequent thereto no immediate change was noted in the state of his health, but a gradual decline was noted, which was evidenced particularly by reduced physical t endurance in activities involving exertion and a depressed state apparently due to the physical handicaps resulting from the injury, which left the employee dependent upon others for assistance in even such personal acts as dressing and eating. |