Armour Co v. Alton Co

• Decision Date: 03 February 1941
• Docket Number: No. 293,293
• Citation: 85 L.Ed. 771,61 S.Ct. 498,312 U.S. 195
• Parties: ARMOUR & CO. v. ALTON R. CO. et al
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

312 U.S. 195

61 S.Ct. 498

85 L.Ed. 771

ARMOUR & CO.

v ALTON R. CO. et al.

No. 293.

Argued Jan. 14, 1941.

Decided Feb. 3, 1941.

Messrs. Paul E. Blanchard and Charles J. Faulkner, Jr., both of Chicago, Ill., for petitioner.

Mr. Douglas F. Smith, of Chicago, Ill., for respondents.

Mr. Justice BLACK delivered the opinion of the Court.

This litigation is the latest episode of a long struggle involving the meat packers. the railroads, and the Union Stock Yard and Transit Company of Chicago.¹ Basically, on the merits the issue here presented is whether Armour and Company, one of the packers, is correct in its contention that under the facts of this case the railroads must deliver its shipments of livestock at such a location and in such a manner that it need pay no 'yardage charge' to the Stock Yards Company. The case is here on certiorari (311 U.S. 627, 61 S.Ct. 40, 85 L.Ed. —-) from the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit,² which affirmed a District Court order dismissing Armour's complaint against the railroads.³ The ground on which the Circuit Court affirmed was that the issues involved presented administrative problems, necessitating primary resort to the Interstate Commerce Commission.⁴ The sole question we find it necessary to decide is whether the Circuit Court was correct in this conclusion.

It is petitioner's contention that its complaint showed a wilful failure and refusal on the part of the railroads to deliver livestock to petitioner in accordance with the railroads' contractual and common law duties; that instead of delivering to petitioner, the railroads delivered to the Stock Yards Company contrary to petitioner's express direction—with full knowledge that the Stock Yards Company would not effect a delivery to petitioner without first exacting a yardage charge in addition to the agreed transportation charges set out in the railroads' regular published tariffs; and that petitioner's right to proceed in the courts for such a breach of duty exists under the provisions of 49 U.S.C. Sections 9 and 22, 49 U.S.C.A. §§ 9, 22.⁵ But respondents contend, and both courts below held, that the issues tendered by the complaint are not so simple as petitioner would have them seem. Their view is that adjudication of the issues presented relates to such complex transportation problems that determination of the legal questions must necessarily be preceded by the consideration of extensive evidence in a specialized filed, and that decision of such questions is by statute vested exclusively in the Interstate Commerce Commission.⁶ Since the cause was dismissed without answer or evidence, it is on the basis of the allegations of the complaint that we must apply the controlling law.

The factual situation, according to the complaint is as follows: For many years prior to 1933 the railroads held themselves out as ready to transport goods to 'Union Stock Yards, Illinois', and petitioner shipped to itself at that station much livestock from various points of origin in the United States. None of the railroads own or operate a depot or terminal facilities for the unloading and delivery of livestock, but all of them jointly have long had arrangements with the 'Union Stock Yard and Transit Company', a public stock yard, for the use of its terminal facilities. This public stock yard is a common carrier, subject in some respects to the jurisdiction of the Interstate Commerce Commission, and in others to that of the Secretary of Agriculture. Its unloading charges, fixed according to a tariff published and on file with the Interstate Commerce Commission, are collected by the railroads from petitioner and other shippers and are in turn paid to the Stock Yards Company.⁷ This charge, however, does not include payment for use of the facilities after unloading and before delivery to consignees, or for any services then performed. To cover these items, the Stock Yards Company collects an additional charge, since 1921 contained in a tariff filed with the Secretary of Agriculture,⁸ and it is this charge which is at the root of the present controversy.

In 1933 petitioner, without resort to the Interstate Commerce Commission, demanded that the railroads alter this long-standing practice so as to relieve it from payment of this additional charge. Pursuant to its purpose, petitioner notified the railroads that it would not thereafter utilize any services after unloading; asked that tender of delivery be made to it immediately after unloading so that it could remove its stock to its own plant; avowed its readiness thereafter to accept delivery at such 'reasonable and proper delivery pens of the carrier' at 'Union Stock Yards, Illinois,' as might be provided by the railroads; demanded that the railroads either directly or through their agent, the Stock Yards Company, deliver the consigned stock to petitioner without any charges except those paid for transportation; and declared that delivery to the Stock Yards Company contrary to petitioner's demand would be treated as a conversion of property for which the railroads would be held responsible. Notwithstanding this demand the railroads continued to deliver petitioner's consignments to the Stock Yards Company and that Company, over petitioner's protest, continued to exact the controverted charge. The railroad companies knew that delivery to petitioner would only be made by the Stock Yards Company on Company property and with no means of egress save by crossing other property of the Company, for which privilege a charge would be exacted.

The complaint adds that in spite of this demand the railroads have 'continuously refused to provide or establish by lease or otherwise at their said common station, Union Stock Yards, Illinois, any depot or platforms, pens or facilities' where petitioner might accept delivery of its stock without payment of the controverted charge, and have also 'failed to make any arrangement with its said agent under * * * which the plaintiff might have free ingress * * * and egress * * * to a public street.' Specifically, two breaches are alleged: (1) a breach of duty in failing 'to provide reasonably convenient, accessible and safe unloading pens, at the said common depot or station, at which such livestock could be tendered to plaintiff'; and (2) a breach of contract in 'failing to afford to plaintiff an opportunity of receiving its livestock and of removing the same with reasonable promptness from the unloading pens used by defendants at Union Stock Yards, Chicago, Illinois, or from any point at which delivery thereof is tendered. * * *' The contract relied on provides 'That the carrier has received from the shipper * * * the livestock * * * consigned and destined as indicated below, which the carrier agrees to carry to its usual place of delivery at said destination. * * *' The usual place of delivery for livestock shipped to Union Stock Yards, Chicago, Illinois, and indeed the only place of delivery ever utilized at that station so far as the complaint shows is the public stock yards.

The complaint concludes with a prayer for affirmative relief: an adjudication that petitioner is entitled to de- livery free of any charges other than those filed with the Interstate Commerce Commission; a mandatory injunction to require such delivery; and an accounting for those charges paid under protest.

This statement of the facts alleged in the complaint reveals that there are many questions relating to complex transportation problems that must be solved as a prerequisite to a determination of whether the railroads, in violation of contracts or governing laws, have...