---
kind: "section"
citation: "46 U.S.C. § 56304"
title: "46"
title_heading: "Shipping"
number: "56304"
heading: "Disputed compensation"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/46/56304"
units:
  - "Subtitle V — Merchant Marine"
  - "Part E — Control of Merchant Marine Capabilities"
  - "Chapter 563 — Emergency Acquisition of Vessels"
---

# §56304. Disputed compensation


If the [person](/usc/46/53101.md?p=6) entitled to compensation disputes the amount of just compensation determined by the [Secretary](/usc/46/53101.md?p=8) of Transportation under this chapter, the [Secretary](/usc/46/53101.md?p=8) shall pay the [person](/usc/46/53101.md?p=6), as a tentative advance, 75 percent of the amount determined. The [person](/usc/46/53101.md?p=6) may bring a civil action against the [United States](/usc/46/53101.md?p=10) to recover just compensation. If the tentative advance paid under this section is greater than the amount of the court’s judgment, the [person](/usc/46/53101.md?p=6) shall refund the difference.


## Source credit

(Pub. L. 109–304, § 8(c), Oct. 6, 2006, 120 Stat. 1655.)

## Notes

| Historical and Revision Notes |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Revised<br>Section | Source (U.S. Code) | Source (Statutes at Large) |
| 56304 | 46 App.:1242(c) (2d sentence), (d) (1st par. words after 2d comma). | June 29, 1936, ch. 858, title IX, § 902(c) (2d sentence), (d) (1st par. words after 2d comma); as added Aug. 7, 1939, ch. 555, § 3, 53 Stat. 1256; Aug. 3, 1956, ch. 929, §§ 2, 3, 70 Stat. 985; Pub. L. 97–31, § 12(131), Aug. 6, 1981, 95 Stat. 165. |

This section is substituted for the source provisions to eliminate unnecessary words.