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SUBCOMMITTEE ON S. 290, S. 2426, S. 571, S. 935, S. 1194, AND H. R. 2759

CLYDE M. REED, Kansas, Chairman

ALBERT W. HAWKES, New Jersey

FRANCIS J. MYERS, Pennsylvania

II

CONTENTS

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161

47

19

82, 153

Teichner, Harry, attorney at law, representing the Public Service
Traffic Bureau, Inc., the Merca Traffic Service Bureau, and the
American Freight Bureau, New York, N. Y..................

Thompson, Chester, president, American Waterways Operators, Inc.,

Washington, D. Ć.

53

Wilson, H. K., chief, Freight Subdivision, Claims Division, General
Accounting Office, Washington, D. C..

28

Schwietert, A. H., traffic director, the Chicago Association of Com-
merce and Industry, Chicago, Ill.

105

Letter and memorandum from-

Durkin, Helen C., executive assistant, Bronx Chamber of Commerce,
Inc., New York, N. Y.............

108

TO AMEND THE INTERSTATE COMMERCE ACT

UNDERCHARGES AND OVERCHARGES

TUESDAY, MARCH 30, 1948

UNITED STATES SENATE,

SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON
INTERSTATE AND FOREIGN COMMERCE,
Washington, D. C.

The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:40 a. m., in the committee room of the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, Senator Clyde M. Reed, chairman of the subcommittee, presiding. Present: Senators Reed, Hawkes, and Myers.

Senator REED. The hearing will come to order.

We have set this hearing for the purpose of taking testimony on a number of bills dealing with the same or related subjects. These bills include S. 571, S. 935, S. 1194, and H. R. 2759. We will not undertake to keep the testimony separate. The witnesses may testify as to any one of them or all of them, as they appear.

(The bills referred to follow :)

[S. 1194, 80th Cong., 1st sess.]

A BILL To amend the Interstate Commerce Act with respect to the liability of common carriers by motor vehicle, common carriers by water, and freight forwarders for payment of damages to persons injured by them through violations of such Act

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That part II of the Interstate Commerce Act, as amended, is amended by inserting after section 204 thereof a new section as follows:

"SEC. 204a. (1) In case any common carrier by motor vehicle subject to the provisions of this part shall do, cause to be done, or permit to be done any act, matter, or thing in this part prohibited or declared to be unlawful, or shall omit to do any act, matter, or thing in this part required to be done, such carrier shall be liable to the person or persons injured thereby for the full amount of damages sustained in consenquence of any such violation of the provisions of this part, together with a reasonable counsel or attorney's fee, to be fixed by the court in every case of recovery, which attorney's fee shall be taxed and collected as part of the costs in the case.

"(2) Any person or persons claiming to be damaged by any common carrier by motor vehicle, subject to the provisions of this part, may either make complaint to the Commission or may bring suit in his or their own behalf for the recovery of the damages for which such carrier may be liable under the provisions of this part, in any district court of the United States of competent Jurisdiction; but such person or persons shall not have the right to pursue both of said remedies.

"(3) If after hearing on a complaint, the Commission shall determine that any party complainant is entitled to an award of damages under the provisions of this part for a violation thereof, the Commission shall make an order directing the common carrier by motor vehicle to pay to the complainant the sum to which he is entitled on or before a day named.

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