Chicago, B. & Q.R. Co. v. Winnett
Decision Date | 17 April 1908 |
Docket Number | 2,722. |
Parties | CHICAGO, B. & Q.R. CO. v. WINNETT et al., State Ry. Com'rs. |
Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit |
W. D McHugh, for appellant.
W. T Thompson, Charles H. Aldrich, and Halleck F. Rose, for appellees.
Before SANBORN and ADAMS, Circuit Judges, and CARLAND, District Judge.
The record in this case discloses that on or about the 17th day of August, 1907, appellees, acting as the Nebraska State Railway Commission, issued a notice to appellant that on the 9th day of September, 1907, at 10 o'clock a.m., said Railway Commission would consider the question of fixing the rates on grain and grain products in straight car loads transported between points in Nebraska, and that the rates contained in a schedule attached to said notice would be adopted with such changes and modifications as should be deemed necessary unless good and sufficient cause should be shown why they should not be. The only good and sufficient cause shown by appellant pursuant to the invitation contained in said notice was the filing of the bill in this case on the 10th day of September, 1907, while said Railway Commission was engaged in considering the matter mentioned in said notice and before said Commission had reached any conclusion therein. Upon the filing of said bill, appellant obtained an order fixing the 23d day of September, 1907, as the time when the court would hear an application for a temporary injunction, and also in the meantime restraining appellees as members of the Nebraska State Railway Commission, from mailing to appellant any copies or copy of any order reducing the rates for the transportation of corn, wheat, and flaxseed, and from in any manner giving any notice to appellant of any order of said board reducing the rates for the transportation of corn, wheat, and flaxseed in the state of Nebraska, charged and maintained by appellant. At the time appointed for the hearing of the motion for a temporary injunction appellees appeared and filed a demurrer to the bill. In addition to the general ground of want of equity, said demurrer specified the following ground:
Upon said hearing the court sustained said demurrer, refused to grant a temporary injunction as prayed, and dissolved the restraining order theretofore granted. Appellants declining to plead further, final decree dismissing the bill was entered, and appellant has appealed therefrom to this court. The Circuit Court refused to continue the restraining order pending the appeal, and the record does not show what the Railway Commission has done as to the matters referred to in the notice of August 17, 1907. It was stated, however, at the argument in this court by counsel for the appellees, that the Railway Commission had never as yet concluded its consideration of said matters. In view of this condition of the record, we turn to the allegations of the bill with some interest. The demurrer admits all the facts alleged therein that are well pleaded. It does not admit conclusions of law or mere matters of opinion not justified by the facts. The following material facts appear in the bill: Appellant is a citizen of Illinois. Defendants are citizens of Nebraska, and constitute the Nebraska State Railway Commission. The requisite amount in controversy to give jurisdiction. Appellant is the owner and engaged in the operation of a system of railways extending through the states of Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana.
On the 17th day of August, 1907, said Railway Commission served a notice upon appellant in words and figures as follows:
The rates now in force on appellant's lines in Nebraska were established by the Legislature of said state by an act approved April 8, 1907. Said act is as follows:
The bill further alleges: That the rates fixed by said act are unjust, unreasonable, and confiscatory; that the rates between points in Nebraska for the transportation of corn, wheat, and flaxseed as stated in the schedules attached to the notice served on appellant on or about August 17, 1907, are very much lower than the rates on said commodities fixed by the Legislature in said act of April 8, 1907; that the rates stated in said schedule attached to said notice are confiscatory, unjust, and unreasonable and will directly interfere with interstate commerce if established and enforced; that no complaint by any person or corporation affected by the rates named in said act of April 8, 1907, has been filed with or presented to the said defendants or either of them or the Nebraska State Railway Commission. The bill then proceeds as follows:
To continue reading
Request your trial-
Southern Pac. Co. v. Bartine
...be bad as an attempt to enjoin legislation or as a suit against a state, and will be the proper form of remedy.' In Chicago, B. & Q. Co. v. Winnett (C.C.A.) 162 F. 242, the Railway Commission of Nebraska had notified complainant railroad company to show cause why a proposed schedule of rate......
-
Rixford Manufacturing Co. v. Town of Highgate
... ... 341, 342; Dailey v. Nassau ... County, 52 A.D. 272, 65 N.Y.S. 396, 397, 398; ... Chicago R.I. & P. R. R. Co. v ... Lincoln, 85 Neb. 733, 124 N.W. 142, 143, 19 Ann ... Cas. 207; City of ... And in Chicago B. & Q. R. R. Co. v ... Winnett, 162 F. 242, 249, a petition for an ... injunction against the giving of notice of the fixing of ... ...
-
Rixford Mfg. Co. v. Town of Highgate
...from considering and passing a resolution declaring a certain franchise to be forfeited was refused. And in Chicago, B. & Q. R, Co. v. Winnett (C. C. A.) 162 F. 242, 249, a petition for an injunction against the giving of notice of the fixing of rates by a Railroad Commission was denied, an......
-
Western Distributing Co. v. Public Service Commission
...not interfere with legislative regulation until it has been abused. Nor can the alleged abuse be anticipated. Chicago, Burlington & Quincy R. Co. v. Winnett (C. C. A.) 162 F. 242; Backus-Brooks Co. v. Northern Pacific Ry. Co. (C. C. A.) 21 F.(2d) 4, Syl. 17; Vincennes Water Supply Co. v. Pu......