§4702 Insurance awards by War Shipping Administrators; findings and actions as conclusive

Summary

The War Shipping Administrator can decide that deaths, injuries, detentions, or other losses that happened on or after October 1, 1941 and before thirty days after March 24, 1943 are covered by War Shipping Administration insurance. This can apply to masters, officers, crew, and people carried on ships owned, chartered, or operated for the Maritime Commission, the War Shipping Administration, or the War Department. The Administrator may only do this when it is needed to be fair for war-related losses not otherwise covered. Payments cannot be larger than what similar cases get under the insurance rules in Title II of the Merchant Marine Act, 1936. Any insurance money paid reduces that person’s claim against the United States. The Administrator may not force repayment from a person he finds was not at fault if getting repayment would defeat the purpose of the benefits or be unfair. The Administrator’s decisions are final. The Administrator can also pay, using the rates in the United States Employees’ Compensation Act, for permanent total or partial disability related to the war effort for the same people. Those payments begin if and when War Shipping insurance benefits for that person are used up, and continue while the disability exists. The War Shipping Administration has the right to intervene, place a lien, and recover payments made under this rule or under the insurance part of Title II, in the manner described by the Act approved December 2, 1942 (as amended December 23, 1943). Money recovered must go into the Marine and War‑risk insurance fund of the War Shipping Administration.