Missouri Pacific Railway Company v. Larabee Flour Mills Company

Decision Date11 January 1909
Docket NumberNo. 16,16
PartiesMISSOURI PACIFIC RAILWAY COMPANY, Plff. in Err., v. LARABEE FLOUR MILLS COMPANY, a Partnership composed of F. D. and F. S. Larabee
CourtU.S. Supreme Court

On September 15, 1906, the Larabee Flour Mills Company (hereinafter called the mill company) filed its application in the supreme court of Kansas for an alternative writ of mandamus, compelling the Missouri Pacific Railway Company (hereinafter called the Missouri Pacific) to restore, resume, and make transfer of cars between the lines of the Atchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe Railway Company (hereinafter called the Santa Fe) and the mill and elevators of the plaintiff, situated in the town of Stafford. The following diagram shows the location of the mill and railroad tracks:

[NOTE: MATERIAL SET AT THIS POINT IS NOT DISPLAYABLE (GRAPHIC OR TABULAR MATERIAL)]

Line 'A' represents the main line of the Santa Fe Railway Company; line 'B,' the main line of the Missouri Pacific Railway Company; line 'C,' the transfer track owned by the Santa Fe Company; 'D,' the mill of the Larabee Company; 'E,' the spurtrack running from the main line of the Missouri Pacific Railway Company. The distance from 'F' to 'G' on the main line of the Missouri Pacific Railway Company is about 1 mile.

Upon the filing of this application and the answer and return of the Missouri Pacific the matter was referred to a commissioner who reported his findings of fact, which, so far as are material to the questions presented, are as follows: Stafford is a flourishing town of 1,600 people, situated in the midst of a wheat-growing district of the state. The mill company has, for more than four years, been operating a flouring mill of 1,000 barrels daily capacity. About three fifths of its product is shipped out of the state of Kansas into other states, and the remaining two fifths to points within the state. It receives a large portion of its grain in car-load lots over the two roads.

The Missouri Valley Car Service & Storage Association (hereinafter called the car service association) is an unincorporated voluntary association of a number of railroad companies, having a manager and other employees. The object and the duty of this association is to represent and protect the interests and enforce the rights of the members thereof in the interchange of freight cars, the prompt loading, unloading, and return of cars interchanged or delivered to shippers for traffic purposes. It had been in operation for many years, commencing prior to any of the transactions mentioned in this litigation. Its objects, operations, and methods were generally understood by commercial shippers, and acquiesced in as appropriate for securing to the shipping public the greatest amount of service over the roads composing it.

No express contract existed between the two railroad companies requiring either to use or to permit the other to use the transfer track, or requiring either to place empty or loaded cars thereon, to be taken away or returned by the other. Whenever the Santa Fe placed its empty cars for the mill company on the transfer track, the Missouri Pacific, upon notice thereof, hauled and delivered them at the mill on the siding connecting it with the Missouri Pacific. The Santa Fe and the Missouri Pacific both held themselves out as ready to do such and like transferring, and continued to do so after the controversy arose in this case for all industries located on the Missouri Pacific at Stafford, making car-load shipments in or our over the Santa Fe, except the mill company. A controversy arose between the Missouri Pacific and the mill company as to two charges for demurrage; one for demurrage between December 12, 1905, and April 26, 1906, and the other between July 24 and August 14, 1906. Payment of both was demanded by the car service association. One of them, the mill company offered to pay; the other it refused, on the ground that the delay and detention were not caused by its fault, but by the defective, insufficient, and inadequate service of the Missouri Pacific in placing the cars for unloading and reloading. For a failure to pay both these charges the Missouri Pacific, by the direction of the car service association, ceased and refused to make further delivery to the mill company of empty cars placed on the transfer track for the use of the mill company by the Santa Fe, in consequence of which the mill company, when desiring to ship any of its products from Stafford by the Santa Fe, was compelled to haul the same in wagons from its mill to the station of the Santa Fe and there load into cars. This entailed upon the mill company great inconvenience and additional expense in the management of its business. The refusal of the Missouri Pacific was based solely upon the ground above stated, and not upon a claim that the compensation paid for the service was unsatisfactory, or that the service constituted a part of interstate commerce, or that the Missouri Pacific did not undertake to perform services of such character.

The commissioner also found that the detention of the cars on account of which the demurrage charge was refused payment by the mill company was caused as much by the defective motive power and insufficient train service of the Missouri Pacific as from any fault or omission on the part of the mill company.

The case coming on for hearing before the supreme court of the state, a peremptory writ of mandamus was ordered, commanding the Missouri Pacific to immediately resume the transfer and return of cars loaded and unloaded from the line of the Santa Fe to and from the mill and elevator at the station and city of Stafford, upon the request and demand of the mill company, and upon payment of the theretofore customary charges.

Mr. Balie P. Waggener for plaintiff in error.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 616-617 intentionally omitted] Messrs. Charles Blood Smith, Joseph G. Waters, John C. Waters, John F. Switzer, W. H. Rossington, and Clad Hamilton for defendant in error.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 617-619 intentionally omitted] Statement by Mr. Justice Brewer:

Mr. Justice Brewer delivered the opinion of the court:

All questions arising under the Constitution and laws of the state of Kansas are settled adversely to the plaintiff in error by the decision of the supreme court of the state. Merchants' M. Nat. Bank v. Pennsylvania, 167 U. S. 461, 42 L. ed. 236, 17 Sup. Ct. Rep. 829, and cases cited in the opinion. This brings within a narrow range the controversy which this court is called upon to decide.

Coming directly to that, counsel for plaintiff in error contend that no duty was imposed on the railroad company by act of the legislature or mandate of commission or other administrative board. Conceding this, it is also ture that the Missouri Pacific was a common carrier, and, as such, was engaged in the work of transferring cars from the Sante Fe track to the mill company, and, after this controversy arose, continued like transfer for all industries located on the Missouri Pacific at Stafford, except the mill company. While no one can be compelled to engage in the business of a common carrier, yet, when he does so, certain duties are imposed which can be enforced by mandamus or other suitable remedy. The Missouri Pacific engaged in the business of transferring cars from the Santa Fe track to industries located at Stafford, and continued to do so for all parties except the mill company. So long as it engaged in such transfer it was bound to treat all industries at Stafford alike, and could not refuse to do for one that which it was doing for others. No legislative enactment, no special mandate from any commission or other administrative board, was necessary, for the duty arose from the fact that it was a common carrier. This lies at the foundation of the law of common carriers. Whenever one engages in that business, the obligation of equal service to all arises; and that obligation, irrespective of legislative action or special mandate, can be enforced by the courts. Neither is there any significance in the absence of a special contract between the Missouri Pacific and the mill company. It appears that the practice theretofore had been for the Missouri Pacific to charge the Sante Fe for the transfer,—that the latter collected the total freight and paid the Missouri Pacific its switching charges. There is no suggestion that the amount of this charge was changed in favor of any other shipper; and, so long as that was so, it was the charge which the Missouri Pacific was entitled to make for cars transferred at the instance of the mill company. If, in the future, a change is made in behalf of shippers generally, undoubtedly that change can be made operative in respect to the mill company. Indeed, all these questions are disposed of by one well-established proposition, and that is that a party engaging in the business of a common carrier is bound to treat all shippers alike, and can be compelled to do so by mandamus or other proper writ.

But the main contention on the part of the Missouri Pacific runs along an entirely different line. It is that the Missouri Pacific and the Santa Fe are common carriers, engaged in interstate commerce, and, as such, are subject to the control of Congress, and, therefore, in these respects not amenable to the power of the state. It appears from the findings that about three fifths of the flour of the mill company is shipped out of the state, while the other two fifths is shipped to points within the state. In addition, the hauling of the empty cars from the Santa Fe track to the mill was, if commerce at all, commerce within the state.

The roads are, therefore, engaged in both interstate commerce and that within the state. In the former, they are subject to the regulation of Congress; in the latter, to that of the state; and, to enforce the proper relation between Congress and ...

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