PRIA Logo™
Take the PRIA Score
Title 50 — War and National DefenseRelease 119-73

§4108 Fee limitation for representing claimants; penalties

Title 50 › Chapter CHAPTER 51— - WAR CLAIMS › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER I— - TITLE I OF WAR CLAIMS ACT OF 1948 › § 4108

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

Fees for helping someone file a claim under this law may not be more than 10% of the amount the agency allows for that claim. The agency that handles the claims can set a smaller percent for certain kinds of claims. Any contract that tries to charge more is illegal and has no effect. Anyone, in the United States or anywhere else, who pays, offers, promises, or gets more than the allowed fee is guilty of a misdemeanor. If convicted, they can be fined up to $5,000, jailed up to 12 months, or both. The agency must recover any overpayment, and the claimant loses all rights under this subchapter.

Full Legal Text

Title 50, §4108

War and National Defense — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

No remuneration on account of services rendered or to be rendered to or on behalf of any claimant in connection with any claim filed with the administering agency under this subchapter shall exceed 10 per centum (or such lesser per centum as may be fixed by the administering agency with respect to any class of claims) of the amount allowed by the administering agency on account of such claim. Any agreement to the contrary shall be unlawful and void. Whoever, in the United States or elsewhere, pays or offers to pay, or promises, to pay, or receives, on account of services rendered or to be rendered in connection with any such claim, any remuneration in excess of the maximum permitted by this section, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $5,000 or imprisoned not more than twelve months, or both, and, if any such payment shall have been made or granted, the administering agency shall take such action as may be necessary to recover the same, and, in addition thereto any such claimant shall forfeit all rights under this subchapter.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

This subchapter, referred to in text, was in the original “this title”, meaning title I of act July 3, 1948, ch. 826, 62 Stat. 1240, which is classified principally to this subchapter. For complete classification of title I to the Code, see Tables. Codification Section was formerly classified to section 2009 of the former Appendix to this title prior to editorial reclassification and renumbering as this section.

Amendments

1962—Pub. L. 87–846 made technical amendment to reference in original act which appears in text in two places as reference to this subchapter.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Transfer of Functions

For provisions transferring Foreign Claims Settlement Commission of the United States to Department of Justice, as a separate agency, see section 1622a et seq. of Title 22, Foreign Relations and Intercourse.

Executive Documents

Transfer of Functions

War Claims Commission, including offices of its members, abolished and functions transferred to Foreign Claims Settlement Commission of the United States by Reorg. Plan No. 1 of 1954, §§ 2, 4, eff. July 1, 1954, 19 F.R. 3985, 68 Stat. 1279, set out in the Appendix to Title 5, Government Organization and Employees. See, also, section 4101 of this title and notes thereunder.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

50 U.S.C. § 4108

Title 50 — War and National Defense

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73