United States v. Illinois Cent Co
| Decision Date | 05 March 1934 |
| Docket Number | No. 422,422 |
| Citation | 78 L.Ed. 909,54 S.Ct. 471,291 U.S. 457 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES et al. v. ILLINOIS CENT. R. CO. et al |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
Appeal from the District Court of the United States for the District of Delaware.
The Attorney General and Messrs. Angus D. MacLean, Asst. Sol. Gen., and Daniel W. Knowlton, both of Washington, D.C., for appellants The United States and Interstate Commerce Commission.
Mr. A. K. Shipe, of Washington, D.C., for appellants American Barge Line Co., et al.
Messrs. H. H. Larimore, of St. Louis, Mo., and R. S. Outlaw, of Chicago, Ill., for appellees.
This is a suit brought by the Illinois Central Railroad Company and other railroad carriers, under the Urgent Deficiencies Act of October 22, 1913, U.S.C. title 28, § 47 (28 USCA § 47), as amended by the Act of February 13, 1925, U.S.C. title 28, § 345 (28 USCA § 345), to set aside, annul, and enjoin the enforcement of an amended order of the commission, made under section 3(e) of the Inland Waterways Corporation Act of June 3, 1924, c. 243, 43 Stat. 360, as amended, May 29, 1928, c. 891, § 2, 45 Stat. 978 (49 USCA § 153(e). That section provides that any person, etc., about to engage in conducting a common carrier service upon certain designated waters may, upon application to the commission, obtain a certificate of public convenience and necessity in accordance with section 1 of the Interstate Commerce Act (49 USCA § 1); and that the commission 'shall thereupon, by order, direct all connecting common carriers and their connections to join with such water carrier in through routes and joint rates,' and shall, in such order, 'fix reasonable minimum differentials between all rail rates and joint rates in connection with said water service,' etc. The commission is further authorized to require the interested common carriers to enter into negotiations for the purpose of establishing equitable divisions of these joint differential rates, and if they are unable to agree within a time specified in the act, the commission shall determine and establish reasonable divisions to become effective coincident with the effective date of the joint rates. The act further authorizes the commission, upon complaint, at once, and if it so orders, without answer or other formal pleading, but upon reasonable notice, to enter upon a hearing concerning the reasonableness or lawfulness of any through route or joint rate filed pursuant to such order of the commission, etc., and after full hearings to 'make such order with reference to any such matters as it may find to be proper and in the public interest.' The burden of proof in such case is put upon the carrier or carriers making the complaint, and preference is to be given to the hearing and decision of the questions involved over all other questions pending before it, except where like preference is given by law; and the commission is directed to render a decision as speedily as possible.
Upon application under this section, the commission, after a hearing confined to that application, granted to the American Barge Line Company, a certificate of public convenience and necessity, Application of American Barge Line Co., 182 I.C.C. 521; and thereupon, without further hearing, entered an order directing the interested carriers to establish through barge-rail routes and rates. Subsequently, in August or September, 1932, because of competition from unregulated truck and water carriers, the railroad carriers published all-rail carload rates on cotton lower than those previously in effect. These rates were further reduced in November, 1932. But the railroad carriers declined to join in joint water and rail rates; and, thereupon, the Barge Line sought from the commission supplemental orders requiring the establishment of rail-barge-rail rates between designated points. The rail carriers opposed the application and requested a hearing before action by the commission. This hearing the commission refused, and entered an order requiring the rail carriers to join with the Barge Line in publishing specified rail-barge-rail rates on cotton in carloads. The order, particulars of which need not be stated, was issued December 10, 1932, to become effective on January 25, 1933, which time was afterwards extended to June 1, 1933, a period altogether of nearly six months from the date of issue.
Appellees, on February 2, 1933, before the order had become effective, brought this suit and sought relief from the order, upon the grounds (1) that it was made without according them a full and fair hearing, and that section 3(e) of the statute (as amended), in so far as it authorizes the commission to make and enforce the order without such hearing, contravenes the due process of law clause of the Fifth Amendment; and (2) that it also constitutes a delegation to the commission of legislative power. The court below held with appellees upon the first ground, and entered a decree enjoining, setting aside, annulling, and suspending the order of the commission. 3 F.Supp. 1005.
1. Assuming that the order in question, if enforced, would have the effect of depriving appellees of property or of property rights, we first inquire whether the statute, as interpreted and applied by the commission, does have the effect of denying appellants a full and fair hearing in respect of the matter prior to the enforcement of the order, and, consequently, fails to satisfy the constitutional requirement of due process of law. The provision of the statute that a certificate of public convenience and necessity to conduct a common carrier service upon the waters designated may be obtained upon application to the commission and thereupon the commission shall make the order described in the statute, undoubtedly empowers the commission to make the order, in the first instance, without a hearing. The commission, however, seems never to have held that it is not obliged upon complaint to grant a full and fair hearing after the making of the order but before putting it into effect. And both in the briefs filed on behalf of appellants, including the United States and the commission, and in the argument at the bar, the position is definitely taken that the order is tentative and the rates prescribed thereby cannot be enforced without a hearing if properly sought by appellees. The brief for the Untied States and the commission quotes from the concurring opinion of Commissioner Brainerd in Ex parte 94 (Procedure Under Barge Line Act), 148 I.C.C. 129, 141, to this effect, and adopts it as the view of the government and the commission. Upon the oral argument, in response to a direct question from the bench, this view was reiterated by the Assistant Solicitor General, his statement in effect being that the commission is bound to grant the hearing upon complaint being made by the railway carriers, and pending such hearing to postpone the effective date of the order upon a showing which is not frivolous. The conclusion of Commissioner Brainerd, thus adopted, is that if the commission issue a certificate of public convenience and necessity and enter an order without hearing, directing the establishment of through routes and joint rates and fixing reasonable minimum differentials, and later, before said rates become effective, a complaint is filed by an interested carrier, 'it would then be our duty to hear said complaint and decide said matter before said rates become effective; that in the event such a hearing is not had and the matter disposed of before the effective date of said rates, it would be our further duty temporarily to suspend them until said matter is decided. * * *' And he declared that this procedure would be necessary to comply with the requirements of due process of law.
This is an admissible construction of the statutory provisions. That the order made by the commission upon granting the certificate of public convenience and necessity is not final and conclusive is clear, since, by the affirmative provisions of the act, the railway carriers may file the through routes and joint rates pursuant to the preliminary order, and immediately, upon complaint, secure...
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