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sions of the BLI and claims branch and were of great benefit in
protecting the rights of the users of the Panama Canal.
Mr. HUBBARD. Thank you very much, Raymond Burke and Bob
Phillips.
Any other comments?
Mr. CORRADO. I have yet to see a shy lawyer, Mr. Chairman.
I would like to make one request, if I may, Mr. Chairman. In the
questioning of the Commission witnesses, the issue of a statute of
limitations arose. If you really seriously entertain that idea, I wish
that we might have input into that, because it is not so simple, and
it is not clear from the record the way it is right now whether the
statute of limitations would run from the time of the incident or
from the time of filing the claim or how it would relate to the pro-
duction of documents after filing the claim or now it would relate
to judical review, if it imposed for outside-the-locks claims. So if, in
fact, you should seriously entertain the idea of the imposition of a
statute of limitations, we would like to be able to discuss it with
the members of the staff, or whomever appropriate, to make sure
that we are adequately protected. I know the period of 2 years was
mentioned, but I think we would like something a little longer. The
statute of limitations in the Canal Zone Code was 3 years, for
example.
Mr. HUBBARD. Three years from the date of the incident?
Mr. CORRADO. My recollection is 3 years from the date of the inci-
dent. I would also like to mention the personal injury legislation
which came out of this committee several years ago. That had a 3-
year statute of limitations.
Mr. HUBBARD. Why that long a time? Why is that needed?
Thinking back on tort claims in my home State, where 1 year was
the statute of limitations, why 3 years for these types of accidents?
Mr. CORRADO. For personal injury or for the--
Mr. HUBBARD. Either.
Mr. CORRADO. By the time that the claim is filed and the docu-
mentation comes in there is a substantial lag-the documentation
is slow coming in.
Mr. HUBBARD. That slow?
Mr. CORRADO. I think it is.
We have claims right now on damages that are a couple years
old and additional information is still being requested and re-
quired. The processing of these claims is inordinately long, person-
al injury or property damage.
I think it takes quite a bit of time.
Mr. GOTIMER. Mr. Chairman, may I address that issue? I do
think I can speak to it.
With respect to a vessel that is damaged substantially so that it
has to be repaired immediately, repairs can take as long as 3 or 4
months. After that, finalizing the shipyard repair cost is often a
matter of negotiation and the first bill given by the shipyard is not
necessarily the final bill taken. It is quite conceivable a time of
almost a year will elapse before the repair costs of the vessel is
known. In addition to that, or casualties which do not require that
the vessel be taken out of service such as accident in the side or a
bow that is damaged, the ship may still be in service for the next
14 or 15 or 16 months before it goes in the shipyard for repairs.
The reason for that is if the ship were put in the shipyard immedi-