Detroit Mackinac Railway Company v. Michigan Railroad Commission

• Decision Date: 03 April 1916
• Docket Number: No. 68,68
• Citation: 36 S.Ct. 424,240 U.S. 564,60 L.Ed. 802
• Parties: DETROIT & MACKINAC RAILWAY COMPANY, Plff. in Err., v. MICHIGAN RAILROAD COMMISSION and Fletcher Paper Company
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

240 U.S. 564

36 S.Ct. 424

60 L.Ed. 802

DETROIT & MACKINAC RAILWAY COMPANY, Plff. in Err.,

v MICHIGAN RAILROAD COMMISSION and Fletcher Paper Company.

No. 68.

Argued and submitted November 10, 1915.

Decided April 3, 1916.

Messrs. James McNamara and Fred A. Baker for plaintiff in error.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 564-566 intentionally omitted] Messrs. David H. Crowley and I. S. Canfleld, and Mr. Grant Fellows, Attorney General of Michigan, for defendants in error.

Mr. Justice Van Devanter delivered the opinion of the court:

This was a petition to the supreme court of Michigan by the Railroad Commission of that state, for a writ of mandamus to enforce obedience to an order of the Commission, directing the Detroit & Mackinac Railway Company to re-lay 1/2 mile of rails removed by it from a 5-mile logging spur, called Tubbs Branch, and to resume service thereon. The railroad company answered, and, after a hearing, the court granted the writ, subject to a condition presently to be stated. 178 Mich. 230, 144 N. W. 696.

The Commission's action was invoked by a complaint presented by the Fletcher Paper Company, of which the railway company had due notice. Before the Commission the railway company insisted that the logging spur was not a part of its railroad system, and that its use had been only that of a private convenience; but the Commission concluded from the pleadings and evidence that the fact was otherwise, and made the order with the purpose of correcting what it deemed an unreasonable and unjust discrimination and an inadequate service within the meaning of the local statute (3 Howell's Anno. Stat. 2d ed. §§ 6526, 6537, 6545). Thereupon the railway compnay filed a bill in equity in the circuit court of Wayne county, praying that the order be vacated, and asking that its enforcement be temporarily and permanently enjoined. In the bill the railway company repeated its insistence that the logging spur was not a part of its railroad system, but only a private convenience, and charged that an adequate hearing was denied by the Commission in that the issues were determined upon the evidence presented by the paper company, and in contravention of an understanding, assented to by the Commission, that if an objection of the railway company in the nature of a plea of res judicata should be overruled, as it afterwards was, the company would be afforded a further opportunity to present evidence in opposition to that of the paper company. The bill invoked the due process of law clause of the 14th Amendment. Apparently the prayer for a temporary injunction was not insisted upon.

It was during the pendency of that suit that the mandamus proceeding was begun and carried to judgment in the supreme court. In this proceeding the railway company again asserted that the logging spur was only a private convenience, and not a part of the railroad system used by it as a common carrier, and that the Commission had denied it an adequate opportunity to be heard upon that question, and further insisted that to require it to give effect to the Commission's order in advance of a hearing and decision upon that question in the suit in equity would deprive it of the due process of law guaranteed by the 14th Amendment.

In the course of its opinion the supreme court said, pp. 243-246:

'We are not called upon to consider and determine the merits of the controversy between the Fletcher Paper Company and respondent railway company upon the order of August 3, 1911. Such questions are involved in the case now pending before the circuit court for the county of Wayne, in chancery, wherein the respondent railway company seeks to review, annul, and set aside said order. The sole question before this court in this proceeding is whether the order of the Railroad Commission shall take effect and become operative pending the hearing and determination of that chancery cause. . . .

'Pelative to an order made by this Commission, this court has said: '. . . Its orders stand until modified or set aside by it or by the courts. . . . Presumptively, the findings and orders of the Commission are right. If attacked, the complainant has the burden of showing 'by clear and satisfactory evidence that the order of the Commission complained of is unlawful or unreasonable, as the case may be." Detroit & M. R. Co. v. Michigan R. Commission, 171 Mich. 335, 346, 137 N. W. 329.

* * * * *

'The petitioner in the instant case before the Railroad Commission offered, and upon this hearing before this court keeps such offer good, to indemnify respondent for all costs and expenses incurred in re-laying the track taken up by it, with interest; and to pay all rates that may be fixed or charged by the railway company and approved by the Commission, in case this order is vacated and set aside by the Wayne circuit court in chancery, or by this court, if an appeal is taken. This indemnity would save respondent harmless from any possible loss in complying with the order, and save petitioner from claimed irreparable damage to 21,000,000 feet of forest products during the probable term of years occupied in this litigation.

'It has been held by this court that an order of the Railroad Commission is enforceable by mandamus, although a proceeding in equity to review it is pending. Michigan R. Commission v. Michigan C. R. Co. 159 Mich. 580, 124 N. W. 564.

'This order is prima facie not unreasonable. There is no question but that the legislative intent, clearly expressed in this statute, was that the orders of the Commission should be and continue in force during all subsequent proceedings until modified or set aside by the Commission or by the courts.

'The statute provides a remedy by mandamus to enforce the orders of the Commission, and this court has granted such writs. Upon the facts presented, the writ should be granted in this case.

'Upon furnishing bond by the petitioner before the Railroad Commission, the Fletcher Paper Company, in the penal sum of $10,000 to indemnify respondent in manner and form as herein stated, with two sureties, to be agreed upon between the parties, or approved by the clerk of this court, a writ of mandamus will issue as prayed.'

And in the course of a separate opinion one of the justices said, p. 248:

'So long as the respondent was operating the spur, accepting thereon and transporting over it freight for those who offered it, and...