CONGRESSIONAL RECORD - HOUSE October 21, 1965

United States from the President of the

United States, received in the Clerk's office

at 11:30 -p.m., October 20, 1965, and said to

contain H.R. 1384, an act for the relief of

Theodore Zissu, and a veto message thereon.

Respectfully yours,

RALPH R. RoBERTS,

Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives.

THEODORE ZISSU-VETO MESSAGE

FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE

UNITED STATES (H. DOC. NO. 308)

The SPEAKER laid before the House

the following veto message from the

President of the United States:

To the House of Representatives:

I return herewith, without my approval, H.R. 1384, "For the relief of Theodore Zissu."

This bill would waive the applicable

statute of limitations and permit Theodore Zissu to seek administrative and

judicial return of his interest in certain

property of a Rumanian corporation

which was vested by the United States

in 1942 under the Trading With the Enemy Act.

I recognize that the legislative history

in this case makes it clear that H.R. 1384

is not designed to affect substantive law,

that Mr. Zissu's claim is to be considered

under the law as it now exists. Notwithstanding this, I do not consider that its

approval is justified from a procedural

point of view.

According to the reports of the Judiciary Committees, representatives of the

Office of Alien Property advised Mr.

Zissu in 1943 that, as a minority shareholder in an enemy corporation, he was

ineligible for return of his interest in the

property of that corporation which had

been vested. This information was correct, then and now, and I am advised

that a number of timely claims have been

denied on the grounds of ineligible minority stock ownerships. However, this

information is said to have dissuaded

Mr. Zissu from pursuing his claim administratively and through the courts,

even though the Government representatives could not have prevented him

from doing so had he desired to press it.

Subsequent court decisions-including

one by the Supreme Court in 1952 reversing the denial of a return claim by

the Office of Alien Property-have interpreted the Trading With the Enemy Act

in a way which proponents of H.R. 1384

think might lead to a favorable ruling on

behalf of Mr. Zissu. I am unable to perceive why such decisions occurring many

years after Mr. Zissu failed to press his

claim should now form the basis for

granting him preferential treatment over

other shareholders who either had

timely claims considered and rejected or

failed to file such claims for the same

reason as Mr. Zissu.

Further, by providing for revival of a

lapsed claim on the basis of subsequent

judicial rulings which appear more favorable to the claimant's cause, H.R. 1384

runs counter to the spirit of one of the

fundamental tenets of our legal system.

This tenet seeks finality of judgment and

stability in the law by a refusal of the

courts to reopen settled cases simply because new judicial decisions may be more

favorable to disappointed litigants.

There is another finality aspect to this

bill, too. The program in connection

with which Mr. Zissu seeks redress has

ended and the property with which he is

concerned has long since been sold and its

proceeds, along with the proceeds from

the sale of other vested property, have

been -transferred to a statutorily established fund for the payment of war

claims against Germany and Japan. We

should not, at this late date, reopen this

program without the most compelling

reasons, especially in view of the precedent that this bill could establish for

what is potentially a very large group of

claimants. I do not consider that such

compelling reasons exist in this case.

LYNDON B. JOHNSON.

THE WHITE HOUSE, October 20, 1965.

The SPEAKER. The objections of the

President will be spread at large upon

the Journal.

Without objection, the bill and message will be referred to the Committee

on the Judiciary and ordered to be

printed.

CREATION OF A BOARD FOR THE

CONDEMNATION OF INSANITARY

BUILDINGS IN THE DISTRICT OF

COLUMBIA

Mr. McMILLAN. Mr. Speaker, I ask

unanimous consent to take from the

Speaker's desk the bill (H.R. 1778) to

amend the act entitled "An act to create

a Board for the Condemnation. of Insanitary Buildings in the District of

Columbia, and for other purposes," approved May 1, 1906, as amended, with

Senate amendment thereto, and concur

in the Senate amendment.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

The Clerk read the Senate amendment, as follows:

Page 5, strike out lines 4 to 20, inclusive.

Mr. McMILLAN. Mr. Speaker, the

purpose of the bill is to amend the act

of May 1, 1906, as amended by the act

of August 28, 1954-Public Law 681, 83d

Congress-so as to correct what has

proved to be certain administrative deficiencies in such act. The bill would

bring the provisions of the act of May

1, 1906, relating to assessment and collection of taxes, into conformity with

the provisions for assessment and collection of taxes applicable to special assessments levied for public improvements

under the act of July 25, 1935-section

47-1103(b), District of Columbia Code.

The Senate deleted from the bill section 4, which had been added to the floor

of the House without prior hearings or

committee consideration.

The effect of this section would have

been to reduce by 5 years the period of

time that the District of Columbia would

have had to remove substandard housing

where the District receives Federal assistance in the development of low-rent

housing projects.

The Senate, in deleting the section,

was of the view that the District should

not be treated. differently than the other

cities of the United States in qualifying for public housing projects funds,

and that in the event a special problem

does exist with regard to the District

of Columbia in the removal of substandard housing, then the matter should be

gone into by the appropriate legislative

committees of the Congress that have

jurisdiction of public, housing projects

financed under the Federal Housing Act.

The House Committee on the District

of Columbia concurs in the deletion of

section 4, thus restoring the bill to its

original form as reported by the committee.

The SPEAKER. Is there objection to

the request of the gentleman from South

Carolina?

Mr. GROSS. Mr. Speaker, reserving

the right to object, I should like to ask

the gentleman from South Carolina if

the amendments to the bills that he proposes to call up are all amendments gerr

mane to the bills?

Mr. McMILLAN. That is correct.

The amendments to all bills which I.shall

ask today to take from the Speaker's

desk are germane to the bills.

Mr. GROSS. I thank the gentleman

from South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I

withdraw my reservation of objection.

There was no objection.

The Senate amendment was agreed to.

A motion to reconsider was laid on the

table.

TO RELIEVE PHYSICIANS OF LIABILITY FOR NEGLIGENT MEDICAL TREATMENT AT THE SCENE

OF AN ACCIDENT IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Mr. McMILLAN. Mr. Speaker, I ask

unanimous consent to take from the

Speaker's'desk the bill (H.R. 5597) to

relieve physicians of liability for negligent medical treatment at the scene of

an accident in the District of Columbia,

with Senate amendment thereto, and

concur in the Senate amendment.

The Clerk read the title of the bill:

The Clerk read the Senate amendment,

as follows:

Page 1, strike out all after line 2 down to

and including "rendering" in line 6 and insert: "That no physician licensed to practice

medicine or osteopathy. in the District of

Columbia or in any State, and no registered nurse licensed in the District of Columbia

or in any State, shall be liable in civil damages for any act or omission, not constituting

gross negligence, in the course of such physician or nurse rendering".

Mr. McMILLAN. Mr. Speaker, the

purpose of the bill is to relieve physicians licensed to practice medicine or

osteopathy in the District of Columbia,

or in any State, and registered nurses

licensed in the District, or in any State,

from liability for civil damages for any

act or omission, not constituting gross

negligence, upon the occasion of their

rendering free and voluntary medical

treatment at the scene of an accident or

other medical emergency outside of a

hospital, in the District of Columbia.

The Senate added to the House bill

provisions to include physicians licensed

to practice osteopathy and also included

registered nurses licensed in the District,

so that they, too, may be protected when

rendering aid in these so-called "Good

Samaritan" cases.

"Good Samaritan" laws have already

been enacted in 32 States.

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