Baltimore Ohio Railroad Company v. United Stated of America Ex Rel Pltcairn Coal Company

• Decision Date: 10 January 1910
• Docket Number: No. 289,289
• Citation: 215 U.S. 481,54 L.Ed. 292,30 S.Ct. 164
• Parties: BALTIMORE & OHIO RAILROAD COMPANY et al., Plffs. in Err., v. UNITED STATED OF AMERICA EX REL. PLTCAIRN COAL COMPANY et al
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

215 U.S. 481

30 S.Ct. 164

54 L.Ed. 292

BALTIMORE & OHIO RAILROAD COMPANY et al., Plffs. in Err.,

v UNITED STATED OF AMERICA EX REL. PLTCAIRN COAL COMPANY et al.

No. 289.

Argued October 18, 19, 1909.

Decided January 10, 1910.

Messrs Edgar H. Gans, Hugh L. Bond, Jr., Charles Markell, W. Ainsworth Parker, and W. Irvine Cross for plaintiffs in error.

Messrs. William A. Glasgow, Jr., and Frederick Dallam for defendants in error.

Mr. Justice White delivered the opinion of the court:

To decide the merits of this cause will require us to determine the legality of the regulations of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company, by which that company distributed cars to coal mines along the line of its road in case of car shortage. As an incident to this general question, we would further be required to consider the relations, irrespective of its mere attributes and duties as a common carrier, of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad with various coal mines along the line of its road, and the relation with or control over some, if not all, of these coal mines by other mines or mine operators, and, in addition, to consider the relation of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad with the Cumberland & Pennsylvania Railroad. This road taps the main track of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad at Cumberland, Maryland, proceeds thence to the state line between Maryland and Pennsylvania, where it strikes the Pennsylvania Railroad, and passing thence through a country rich in bituminous coal deposits, and containing coal mines, it reaches Piedmont, West Virginia, where its tracks again connect with those of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. As an additional incident, we might also be required to consider the relation or control, direct or indirect, if any, which the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad exerted over some, if not all, of the coal mines along the line of the Cumberland & Pennsylvania road. Some, therefore, of the underlying questions involved in the cause, if we may consider them, are similar to the issues which were passed upon by us in the case of the Interstate Commerce Commission v. Illinois C. R. Co., which we have just decided. [215 U. S. 452, 54 L. ed. ——, 30 Sup. Ct. Rep. 155.] While referring to the general situation as depicted in that case, we think, in addition, a mere outline sketch of the conditions existing prior to the commencement of this suit, as regards the matters with which it is concerned, will serve to render clear the reasons which control us in deciding it.

The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company, a corporation existing under the laws of Maryland, owned and operated a railroad or railroads in the states of Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and other states, and, as a common carrier, was engaged in interstate commerce between such states. The main line of said road west of Cumberland, Maryland, passes through a bituminous coal field, which is worked by many coal operators, the product of whose mines depends for its movement to market in interstate commerce on the facilities for such movement which the Baltimore & Ohio affords. For the purpose of this case, the coal mines referred to may be treated as situated in what is described as the Monongah district of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. Regulations of the Baltimore more & Ohio Railroad, by which mines were rated in order to fix the basis for a pro rata distribution of coal cars in case of car shortage, had their peculiarities differing from other roads. They were based, first, upon the capacity of the mines; second, upon the previous shipments by the mines for a period of two years the capacity counting as one and the previous shipments as two. The capacity was ascertained by considering the number of working places, etc., modified by taking into account the facilities for moving the coal out of the mine, such as tracks, tipple, etc. The previous shipments were taken from the records of the company during periods when there was no car shortage. Upon the basis of the capacity thus ascertained, the regulations of the company for giving each mine owner in the case of shortage its percentage of cars, stated in the most summary way, were briefly these: In the first place, there were assigned, out of the general mass of cars before the distribution was made, such cars as it was deemed the Cumberland & Pennsylvania Railroad was entitled to. This was done by no fixed rule, but, in the discretion of the traffic manager, generally upon the basis of the percentage of shipments of coal hauled in the two previous years by that road. The estimated mass remaining after the deliveries to the Cumberland & Pennsylvania Railroad were subjected to certain arbitrary assignments, and the remainder, after such assignments had been taken out, were equally distributed among the mine operators, according to their capacity rating. The arbitrary deductions which were made, as we have just stated, were these:

1. Baltimore & Ohio Railroad cars placed at mines for Baltimore & Ohio fuel coal.

2. New mines are allotted an arbitrary number of cars daily or weekly for development. In cases where the inspection shows a marked increase in the capacity of certain mines, and it is not practicable to change the percentage of the whole district, proper arbitraries are applied pending a general revision.

3. Cars of foreign railroads, assigned by them to their own fuel trade.

4. Cars of individual companies, placed at mines owned by such companies, and cars owned by individual consumers, placed at mines for their coal.

There are also certain exceptions of a local character, as follows:

1. Curtis Bay premium. Whenever a shipper on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad handles cars at Curtis Bay promptly in any one month, he is allowed in the succeeding month a premium of 50 per cent of the number of cars so handled, in addition to his regular percentage. This in lieu of an assignment of cars to the Curtis Bay trade.

2. At certain points, noted on the percentage sheets, an arbitrary number of cars is assigned to mines on fire.

3. At certain mines in the immediate vicinity of industries, empty cars intended for loading at such industries are first sent into the mines for loading coal for such industries.

4. When annual contracts are placed for foreign railroad fuel coal with mines on the Baltimore & Ohio, arrangements are made that, if the foreign railroads' cars are furnished for this fuel coal, the Baltimore & Ohio will allow the mines shipping the coal a number of Baltimore & Ohio cars equal to the foreign cars furnished.

5. When mines are connected with foreign railroads as well as with the Baltimore & Ohio, their rating is reduced 50 per cent. A similar reduction is made in cases where mines are located near rivers and are equipped for loading boats.

Where mines needed box and stock cars for the shipment of coal, as to which class of cars shortage rarely arose, there was a special rule which we need not notice.

With the system just referred to in force on the 19th of January, 1907, the Pitcairn Coal Company, a West Virginia corporation owning a coal mine on the line of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in West Virginia, filed its petition in mandamus in the United States circuit court for the district of Maryland. The defendants were the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company, the Fairmont Coal Company, the Clarksburg Fuel Company, the Pittsburg & Fairmont Fuel Company, and the Southern Coal & Transportation Company, these four coal companies operating coal mines located in West Virginia on the Monogah division of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. Along with these there were also made defendants two other corporations, the Consolidation Coal Company, located on the Cumberland & Pennsylvania Railroad in Maryland, and the Somerest Coal Company, located on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in Pennsylvania. All of these coal companies were charged to be substantially one in interest and were generally described as the Fairmont Companies. In addition, thirty-one other coal companies, alleged to be independent companies, operating coal mines on the line of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, were also made defendants. Rearranging somewhat the order of the averments as contained in the bill, the prayer for relief was substantially based upon the following grounds: The Pitcairn Coal Company, it was averred, was entitled to an equal distribution of the coal cars of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in times of shortage, in order to move its output of coal in interstate commerce; that the railroad company had refused, after demand, to give it the share of cars to which it was entitled; and that its not doing so had been seriously prejudicial to the business of the company, had curtailed its production, and interfered with the moving of the coal produced in interstate commerce, and that the conduct of the railroad in the premises had amounted to the giving of an undue preference to the Fairmont Coal Company and its affiliated companies, to the prejudice of the Pitcairn Company and all other independent companies. The method pursued by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad for rating mines by the consideration of both capacity and previous shipments was alleged, and it was charged that, on the basis of capacity of the mine as rated by that system, the Pitcairn Company was entitled to 7/10 per cent of the cars for distribution in the Monongah division. General averments were, however, made concerning the method of rating, which, in effect, charged that such method was discriminatory and preferential, and was put in force so as to operate in favor of the Fairmont Coal Company and the companies affiliated with it, to the prejudice of the Pitcairn Company and other independent coal operators, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad being interested, it was charged, directly or indirectly, in the Fairmont and its affiliated companies. The method of deduction from the mass of cars for the benefit of the Cumberland & Pennsylvania Railroad was also...