104
close consideration of these matters and we anxiously await your
solution to these problems.
[The statement of Mr. Beale follows:]
PREPARED STATEMENT OF ALMER W. BEALE II, TOOLE, TAYLOR, MOSELEY & JOYNER,
REPRESENTING THE MARITIME LAw ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES
Initially, I would like to thank the Subcommittee for this opportunity to appear
and make known the sentiments of the Maritime Law Association of the United
States on the need for an amendment to the Panama Canal Act of 1979 addressing
vessel accident claims. My full-time devotion is the practice of admiralty law in
Jacksonville, Florida, as a partner in the firm of Toole, Taylor, Moseley & Joyner. I
also serve as a member of the Committee on Maritime Legislation of the Maritime
Law Association of the United States. Particularly, I have the pleasure of being the
chairman of the subcommittee therein appointed to study the need for a change in
procedure in handling vessel accident claims involving the Panama Canal Commis-
slon.
The Maritime Law Association of the United States is a national bar association
founded in 1899. The Association has a nationwide membership of more than 3,000
practicing admiralty attorneys, federal judges, professors of admiralty law and
others interested in the development and improvement of maritime law. The Associ-
ation's attorney members represent the full range of maritime interest: Shipowners,
cargo owners, seamen, passengers, stevedores, shipbuilders and repairers, insurance
underwriters, the United States Government and a number of state and local gov-
ernments.
Furthermore, because the Association is a constituent member of the Comite
Maritime International, which is the international organization of national
maritime law associations, it has a direct interest in the need for certainty in inter-
national shipping and commerce. The objectives of the Association as set out in Ar-
ticles and By-Laws are:
"To advance reforms in the Maritime Law of the United States, to facilitate jus-
tice in its administration and consideration of problems affecting the Maritime Law
and its administration, to act with foreign and other Associations in an effort to
bring about greater harmony in the Shipping Laws, regulations and practices of
different nations.1
With that preface, may I say that the president of our Association has designated
me to have the honor of expressing to you our support for a vessel accident claims
amendment to the 1979 Panama Canal Act. The general membership of The
Maritime Law Association of the United States, at its Fall Meeting on November 5,
1982, unanimously adopted the following Resolution:
"Resolved, That The Maritime Law Association of the United States supports the
enactment of Legislation 1) to vest the Panama Canal Commission with authority to
compromise all claims against it arising from casualties occurring outside the locks
of the Panama Canal; 2) to grant jurisdiction to a district court of the United States
to hear and determine such claims; and 3) to restore the liability of the Commission
for detention of vessels by the Commission during the time necessary for investiga-
tion of marine accidents for which the Commission is liable; and the President of
this Association is authorized to designate a representative of the Association to
make this resolution known to and facilitate its implementation by the appropriate
committees of the Congress."
As this Subcommittee knows, as a result of the 1977 Panama Canal Treaty, Con-
gress enacted legislation which provides that until the Republic of Panama assumes
full jurisdiction on January 1, 2000, the Canal will be operated by the Panama
Canal Commission.2
Although it is not totally clear from the legislative history of the present Act, ap-
parently someone believed that an appropriate model for handling vessel accident
claims by the new Commission was the procedure followed by the old quasi-autono-
mous Panama Canal [Agency] prior to 1951.3
In 1951, the Congress created the Panama Canal Company to run the Canal.4 In
the earliest days when the Panama Canal [Agency] made the decisions about claims
1 Article II, Articles of Association and By-Laws, Maritime Law Association of the United
States; Adopted December 13, 1935, with Amendments to November 6, 1981.
2 22 U.S.C. 3601-3871 (1979).
3 Act of Sept. 27, 1979, Pub. L. No. 96-70, 1979 U.S. Code Cong. & Ad. News (93 Stat.) 1034,
1067-70 [hereinafter cited as Legislative History].
4 Panama Canal Act, ch. 1049, 5, 64 Stat. 1038, 1041 (1950) [hereinafter cited as 1950 Act].