White House Press Release, Message of President Harry S. Truman to the United States House of Representatives

96 1546 HOLD FOR RELEASE HOLD FOR RELEASE HOLD FOR RELEASE MARCH 22, 1948 CONFIDENTIAL: To be held in STRICT CONFIDENCE and no portion, synopsis or intimation to be given out or published until the READING of the President's Message has begun in the House of Representatives. Extreme care must therefore be exercised to avoid premature publication. CHARLES G. ROSS Secretary to the President TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: I return herewith, without my approval, H. R. 1152, a bill "For the relief of Mrs. Inga Patterson, widow of F. X. Patterson" It is the purpose of the bill to pay the sum of $1,375 to Mrs. Inga Patterson, widow of F. X. Patterson, of Washington, District of Columbia, in settlement of all claims against the United States for expenses incurred as a result of condemnation proceedings involving property of said F. X. Patterson, located at Anacostia Road, Southeast, Washington, District of Columbia. It appears that the District Government, in 1944, initiated con- demnation proceedings to acquire certain property then owned by the deceased, as a site for a junior high school in the vicinity of Thirty-fourth Street and Minnesota Avenue Southeast; that the case was tried on October 23, 1944 and the jury returned a verdict on November 21, 1944; that the award of the court appeared to the District Government to be excessive; and that, upon the recommendation of the District of Columbia Real Estate Committee, the case was dismissed. The law then in effect with respect to such con- demnation proceedings provided that the Commissioner's would have the option of abiding by the verdict of the jury and occurying the land appraised by them, or, within a reasonable time to be fixed by the court, of abandoning the same without being liable to damage therefor. The proceedings were abandoned in this case, and in a letter NARA dated November 28, 1944, to the District Commissioners, Mr. Patterson advised that he and his wife had decided that they preferred to have. the condemnation proceedings dismissed. The Congress enacted, and the President approved, on July 11, 1947, a measure (Public 177 of the 80th Congress) which amended the law controlling condemnation proceedings in the District of Columbia, by pro- viding that if a condemnation proceeding is abandoned the court shall award the owner of the property such amount as will in the opinion of the court reimburse the owner for all his reasonable costs and expenses, including reasonable counsel fees incurred in such proceeding, and that the sum so awarded shall constitute a judgment or judgments against the District of Columbia. This measure provides, however, that no such owner shall be entitled to reimbursement in any case where the proceeding is abandoned at the request or with the consent of the owner of such property. Since the condemnation proceeding in this case was for the purpose of acquiring a site for a school building for expansion of the public school system of the District of Columbia, there would appear to be no justification for reimbursing the owner of the property out of funds of the Federal Treasury. If such reimbursement is to be made it should be made out of the funds of the District of Columbia Government. The purchase of such sites has been uniformly a charge against District revenues in the past, and the Act of July 11, 1947, specifically provides, as stated above, that reimbursements of this character shall be a charge against the District revenues. (OVER)