Congressional Settlement of Tort Claims against the United States
![handle is hein.journals/clr55 and id is 55 raw text is: COLUMBIA LAW REVIEW
Vol. 55 JANUARY, 1955 No. I
CONGRESSIONAL SETTLEMENT OF TORT CLAIMS
AGAINST THE UNITED STATES
WALTER GELLHORN* AND LOUIS LAUERt
Congress, as the Supreme Court recently had occasion to remind us, can
dispose of the national wealth and resources as it deems best. In the exercise
of that power, Congress can and does enact private laws to settle claims
against the United States. Hope of monetary relief is thus given individuals
who, having suffered injury to their persons or property through the ac-
tivities of public employees, might otherwise be remediless.
That much is familiar learning. Less familiar are the procedures, pol-
icies, and problems involved in Congressional consideration of private.
claims bills.
I. CONGRESSIONAL PROCEDURE FOR SETTLING CLAIMS
Initiating the proceedings. A private bill, like any other, must have a
Congressional sponsor. Hence a petitioner for legislative relief must request
a Representative or Senator to introduce a bill to satisfy his claim.2 If the-
claim is on the surface a reasonable one-and, indeed, iven if it is not-this:
sort of request is readily granted, perhaps as an affirmative support of the.
individual's right to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.3;
Then the bill is automatically referred to the Judiciary Committee of the-
House or the Senate, as the case may be. Thus, the claim achieves its place
on the legislative docket.
At this point, gestures of purely formal courtesy cease. The bill will lie
tProfessor of Law, Columbia University, and a member of the New York Bar.
t Formerly Associate in Law, Columbia University, and a member of the New York
Bar.
1. Alabama v. Texas, 347 U.S. 272 (1954) (submerged lands conveyed to the states).
See United States v. Midwest Oil Co., 236 U.S. 459, 474 (1915) (the Congressional power of
disposition is unlimited); United States v. Realty Co., 163 U.S. 427, 441 (1896) (recognition,
of claims depends solely upon Congress [and] must be left to the discretion of that body).
2. Reflecting the greater accessibility of Representatives, many more claims bills are-
introduced in the House than in the Senate. In the 79th Congress, for example, 2,849 private-
bills of all sorts were offered in the House and only 923 in the Senate. In the 80th Congress,
the totals shrank but the disproportion was even more marked: 2,152 private bills in the-
House, only 380 in the Senate. The figures are derived from Galloway, Reform of Privat7
Bill Procedure, 95 CONG. REc. A 2901, 2902 (1949).
3. U.S. CoNsT. AmEND. I.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/clr55&div=10&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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