Cutting v. Florida Ry. & Nav. Co.

• Decision Date: 26 June 1891
• Citation: 46 F. 641
• Parties: CUTTING v. FLORIDA RY. & NAV. CO. et al., (HARRIS et al., Intervenors.) MEYER v. SAME. BROWN v. SAME. CENTRAL TRUST CO. OF NEW YORK v. SAME. GUARANTY TRUST & SAFE-DEPOSIT CO. v. SAME.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Florida

46 F. 641

CUTTING v. FLORIDA RY. & NAV. CO. et al., (HARRIS et al., Intervenors.)

MEYER v. SAME.

BROWN v. SAME.

CENTRAL TRUST CO. OF NEW YORK v. SAME.

GUARANTY TRUST & SAFE-DEPOSIT CO. v. SAME.

United States Circuit Court, N.D. Florida.

June 26, 1891

H Bisbee, for intervenors.

John A Henderson, for receiver.

PARDEE J.

The several petitions of intervention are alike in their allegations, and severally claim that the petitioners shipped over the Florida Railway & Navigation Company's railroad then in the possession of the court, H. Reiman Duval, Esq. receiver, from Citra, Marion county, Fla., to Callahan, or Baldwin, Fla., and from Wildwood, Sumter county, Fla., to Baldwin, or Callahan, Fla., between the 1st day of November, 1888, to the 1st day of February, 1890, sundry boxes of oranges, consigned to sundry persons, for the carriage and transportation of which the said receiver demanded and collected 25 cents per box, against the protests of petitioners; that the railroad commissions, existing and exercising authority under the laws of the state of Florida, previous to the shipment of any of said boxes of oranges, had duly fixed the freight charges for carriage and transportation of the said fruit as 15 cents per box between the points aforesaid, and had duly issued freight rates, and notified the said receiver thereof; that they loaded the said fruit upon the cars furnished by said receiver, and that he was subjected to no expense or trouble in loading and handling said fruit, and that the whole service performed by said receiver was in the hauling of said fruit from the place of shipment to the point of consignment; that the 10 cents per box in excess of commission rates charged and exacted by the said receiver for the carriage and transportation of said fruit was unjust and illegal; and they pray that the court will decree that the receiver shall pay the said petitioners the sum of 10 cents per box, so alleged to have been illegally exacted from them for the carriage and transportation of said fruit. Said petitions are indorsed, 'Filed by leave of the court,' though the record does not show that any order for filing or for process or reference was made thereon. No answers appear to have been filed to the said interventions, but the same appear to have gone to the special master without being in anywise put at issue. The master heard the several petitions together, took a large amount of evidence, oral and documentary, and returned the same to the court without specifically finding any facts in the case, or making any recommendation as to disposition of the cases. Thereupon the petitions have been submitted to the court for determination upon written briefs, as though distinct issues were made on each and every allegation of the several interventions.

As a matter of course, in considering these interventions, the court will take judicial notice of all facts appearing of record in the main suit, particularly with regard to the lines and extent of the Florida Railway & Navigation Company's railroad, and of the financial condition and general management of the property. Baldwin is the station where the Fernandina & Cedar Keys line and the Jacksonville &amp Chattahoochie line cross; both lines belonging to the Florida Railway & Navigation Company. Callahan is a station on the Fernandina & Cedar Keys line, in the extreme north-east corner of the state of Florida, near the Georgia state line, where the Florida Railway & Navigation line is crossed by the Savannah, Florida & Western Railway. Neither Baldwin nor Callahan is a town or place of any importance, except from the railroad connection; neither is a market place for oranges, nor a distributing point for such fruit. Citra is a station on the Florida Railway & Navigation Railroad, southern division, in an orange growing and producing country, and is a competitive railway point; the Florida Southern Railway reaching the place via Gainesville. In the year 1888 the Florida Railway Commission established rates on fruit, oranges, and lemons, carried by the Florida Railway & Navigation Railroad from points within the state to points within the state, fixing extremely low rates in comparison with the rates previously charged. From Citra to Baldwin and Callahan, as points within the state, the rate was fixed at 12 cents per box, 20 per cent. added, making about 15 cents per box. Prior to this, the...