Bartlett & Co., Grain v. State Corp. Com'n of Kansas
Citation | 223 F. Supp. 975 |
Decision Date | 26 November 1963 |
Docket Number | Civ. No. T-3289. |
Parties | BARTLETT AND COMPANY, GRAIN, a Missouri Corporation, Plaintiff, v. STATE CORPORATION COMMISSION OF KANSAS, William L. Mitchell, Chairman, Alvin F. Grauerholz and Harry G. Wiles, as Members of said Commission, and their respective successors in office, Defendants. |
Court | U.S. District Court — District of Kansas |
Erle Francis, Topeka, Kan., Charles B. Blackmar and James H. McLarney, of Swanson, Midgley, Jones, Blackmar & Eager, Kansas City, Mo., for plaintiff.
Robert C. Londerholm, Topeka, Kan., for defendants.
Before HILL, Circuit Judge, and RIZLEY and TEMPLAR, District Judges.
On April 4, 1963, the plaintiff filed its complaint and in paragraph 9 thereof it is asserted:
Because injunctive relief was sought against state statutes and against state administrative action Chief Judge Alfred P. Murrah was immediately notified and thereafter this Court was duly appointed, in accordance with 28 U.S.C. § 2284, to hear the cause.
The matter was heard on July 12, 1963, and thereafter briefs were filed in accordance with the direction of the Court. At the hearing, neither of the parties was certain that the case was one for three judges, and, therefore, we decided that we would first pass upon the question of our jurisdiction as a three-judge court.
28 U.S.C. § 2281 reads as follows:
"An interlocutory or permanent injunction restraining the enforcement, operation or execution of any State statute by restraining the action of any officer of such State in the enforcement or execution of such statute or of an order made by an administrative board or commission acting under State statutes, shall not be granted by any district court or judge thereof upon the ground of the unconstitutionality of such statute unless the application therefor is heard and determined by a district court of three judges under section 2284 of this title."
The factual situation is succinctly stated in the Complaint. It reads:
The Complaint then alleges:
The defendants have answered the Complaint, asserting that the shipments in question are not shipments in interstate commerce, and for this reason they have authority to prescribe the rates.
The parties have stipulated that the question for decision is whether the truck shipments of grain "from Kansas points over highways wholly within the State of Kansas to Kansas City, Kansas, are intra-state shipments subject to the jurisdiction of the Kansas Corporation Commission or are rendered interstate in character by reason of subsequent interstate shipment of the grain from Kansas City, Kansas to points in states other than the State of Kansas."
However, the first question we will consider is whether or not the dispute is required to be heard in accordance with 28 U.S.C. § 2281.
The purpose of Section 2281 is to provide procedural protection against an improvident invalidation of a state's legislative policy by a single federal judge. Phillips v. United States, 312 U.S. 246, 61 S.Ct. 480, 85 L.Ed. 800; Jacobs v. Tawes, 4 Cir., 250 F.2d 611; Division 1287, Amalgamated Ass'n of St., Elec. Ry. & Motor Coach Emp. of America, A.F.L.-C.I.O. v. Dalton, 206 F.Supp. 625 (W.D.Mo.1961). In other words, its purpose is to protect state sovereignty. Stainback v. Mo Hock Ke Lok Po, 336 U.S. 368, 69 S.Ct. 606, 93 L.Ed. 741. The statute is not to be viewed "as a measure of broad social policy to be construed with great liberality, but as an enactment technical in the strict sense of the term and to be applied as such." Kesler v. Department of Public Safety, 369 U.S. 153, 156, 82 S.Ct. 807, 810, 7 L.Ed.2d 641. In short, the grant of jurisdiction to a statutory three-judge court should be closely construed to the end that only those cases which plainly fall in the class therein described may be referred to such a court. Marshall v. Sawyer, 9 Cir., 301 F.2d 639; Moss v. Hornig, 214 F.Supp. 324 (D. Conn.1962), aff'd., 2 Cir., 314 F.2d 89; Eastern Freight-Ways, Inc. v. United States, 170 F.Supp. 848 (D.N.J.1959.)
It has been said that "the principles in regard to the convening of a court of three judges have been clearly stated but are not too simple in application." Webb v. State University of New York, 120 F.Supp. 554 (N.D.N.Y.1954), appeal dismissed, 348 U.S. 867, 75 S.Ct. 113, 99 L.Ed. 683. The "clearly stated" principles or prerequisites under § 2281 are as follows:
In addition, it has generally been held that a disputed substantial federal question on constitutional grounds must be presented or a three-judge court has no jurisdiction. See, e. g., Bailey v. Patterson, 369 U.S. 31, 82 S.Ct. 549, 7 L.Ed.2d 512; Haines v. Castle, 7 Cir., 226 F.2d 591, cert. denied, 350 U.S. 1014, 76 S.Ct. 660, 100 L.Ed. 874; Booker v. State of Tennessee Board of Education, 6 Cir., 240 F.2d 689, cert. denied, 353 U.S. 965, 77 S.Ct. 1050, 1 L.Ed.2d 915; German v. South Carolina State Ports Authority, 4 Cir., 295 F.2d 491. However, if a disputed substantial federal question is presented and...
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