Co v. Southern Pac Co

• Citation: 75 L.Ed. 1333,283 U.S. 654,51 S.Ct. 592
• Decision Date: 25 May 1931
• Docket Number: No. 520,LEWIS-SIMAS-JONES,520
• Parties: CO. v. SOUTHERN PAC. CO
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

283 U.S. 654

51 S.Ct. 592

75 L.Ed. 1333

LEWIS-SIMAS-JONES CO.

v SOUTHERN PAC. CO.

No. 520.

Argued April 28, 29, 1931.

Decided May 25, 1931.

[Syllabus from pages 654-656 intentionally omitted] Messrs. Robert E. Quirk, of Washington, D. C., and Ernest Clewe, of San Francisco, Cal., for petitioner.

Mr. J. R. Bell, of Washington, D. C., for respondent.

Mr. Justice BUTLER delivered the opinion of the Court.

Petitioner sued respondent in the superior court of the city and county of San Francisco, Cal., to recover damages alleged to have been caused by the exaction of freight charges which had been found excessive by the Interstate Commerce Commission in a reparation case. 102 I. C. C. 245. A jury being waived, the court made findings of fact, stated its conclusions of law, and dismissed the case on the ground that the Commission's findings and order were void for lack of jurisdiction. The District Court of Appeal affirmed, 106 Cal. App. 595, 289 P. 643, the state Supreme Court ecli ned to hear the case, and this court granted a writ of certiorari, 282 U. S. 833, 51 S. Ct. 102, 75 L. Ed. —.

Defendant is an interstate carrier by railroad. Its lines connect with a line of a Mexican common carrier by rail extending from Navojoa, Sonora, to the international boundary at Nogales, Ariz. In 1923, defendant, in conjunction with the Foreign line, transported three carloads of cow peas from Navojoa to San Francisco. The shipments moved at different times on through bills of lading issued by the foreign line. The rate charged was $1.33 per hundred pounds, stated in a tariff joined in by the carriers and filed with the Interstate Commerce Commission and the Department of Communications and Public Works of Mexico. The carriers agreed to divide the rate, 63.175 cents to the foreign line and 69.825 cents to the defendant.

The cow peas were transported by the foreign line 377 miles to the boundary, thence by defendant 1,036 miles to destination. The defendant collected from plaintiff $3,828.74 as freight charges, and that amount was divided in accordance with the divisions agreement. The average yield on these shipments was 90 cents per car mile and 18.8 mils per ton mile for the entire distance, 1,413 miles. The average yield to the foreign line was $1.60 per car mile and to defendant 64.6 cents.

The trial court found that defendant, by tariff filed with the Interstate Commerce Commission, maintained a rate of $1.14 1/2 applicable to carload shipments of cow peas destined to San Francisco 'originating at Nogales,' 'originating at the point where the lines' of the foreign carrier and of defendant touch the boundary or 'loaded into cars at any point upon or adjacent to said international boundary line, within the limits of defendant's railroad yards at Nogales.' The court found that the cow peas were in sacks and readily could have been transported, by means other than a railroad, to Nogales there to be loaded into cars for transportation over defendant's lines to San Francisco at the rate of $1.14 1/2, that the Commission had made no finding in respect of such rate, and that it was 'reasonable and lawful for application upon carload shipments of cow peas from Nogales, Arizona, including such shipments as might be loaded at any and all places within the railroad yard limits at that point, destined to San Francisco, California.'

It was not found, and it does not appear from the record, that the defendant established or made available to shippers any rate applicable to the transportation over its lines from the boundary to San Francisco of cow peas in car loads originating at Navojoa or elsewhere in Mexico and delivered to defendant at such boundary point by a connecting railroad for transportation to San Francisco. The record does not disclose what, if any, rate was available for the transportation of the cow peas as a local shipment from Navojoa to Nogales. And it may not reasonably be assumed that the charges of the foreign carrier for such transportation would be less than the amount it was entitled to have out of the joint through rate under its agreement with defendant. Indeed, under the principles ordinarily applied in making divisions agreements, in the absence of a special allowance or arbitrary differential, the Foreign carrier's share of the through rate would be less than its local rate.

If defendant's local rate of $1.14 1/2 be deemed to be applicable to the American part of the through transportation and the foreign carrier's proportion, 63.175 cents, of the joint rate be taken as the local rate from Navojoa to the boundary, the sum of the locals would amount to slightly more than $1.77 1/2 as against the joint through rate of $1.33. There is nothing in the record to indicate that there was available for the transportation of such cow peas any rate or combination of rates less than the rate of $1.33.

The Commission found that at the time the cow peas were being transported defendant concurred in a rate of 94 cents per hundred pounds on garbanzo (a kind of pea) from Navojoa to San Francisco; that the rate of $1.33 for the transportation of the cow peas was unreasonable to the extent that it exceeded the 94-cent rate; that the shipments moved as described; that plaintiff paid and bore the freight charges; that so far as defendant participated in such transportation and rates it was a tort-feasor, and that it should make reparation for the damage to complainant in the sum of $1,122.72, with interest. And by its order the Commission authorized and directed defendant to pay complainant that sum.

Defendant having refused to make reparation, plaintiff brought this action, and in its complaint alleged the transportation, the unreasonableness of the rate as found by the Commission, showed the charges paid by it to defendant, made the Commission's report and order a part of the complaint, and prayed judgment for the amount of damages found by the Commission.

Defendant's answer admitted the transportation, the rate exacted, and the charges collected. It alleged that defendant maintained a rate applicable on cow peas in carloads from the international boundary at Nogales to San Francisco, but it did not specify that rate or state that it was reasonable. It averred that the Commission had not found such rate unjust, unreasonable, or otherwise in violation of law, and that the Commission had no jurisdiction to order the defendant to pay any reparation or damages.

The opinion of the District Court of Appeal differentiates this case from News Syndicate Co. v. N. Y. C. R. R., 275 U. S. 179, 48 S. Ct. 39, 72 L. Ed. 225, on the ground that it there appeared that the carrier violated the act by failing to maintain a rate to cover the transportation from the international boundary to destination, thereby compelling the shipper to pay the excessive joint through rate, and that, for the determination of damages, it was necessary for the Commission to determine the reasonableness of such rate. But the court said that in this case defendant published and maintained a rate on shipments from the boundary to destination which was not found unreasonable by the Commission, and plaintiff was not compelled to pay the joint through rate by reason of any violation of the Act on the part of the defendant.

We are of opinion that the record shows that the Commission had jurisdiction to determine the reasonableness of the joint through international rate.

The act does not empower the Commission to prescribe or regulate such rates. It applies to international commerce only in...