Illinois Central Railroad Company v. Mulberry Hill Coal Company

• Decision Date: 14 June 1915
• Docket Number: No. 118,118
• Citation: 238 U.S. 275,35 S.Ct. 760,59 L.Ed. 1306
• Parties: ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD COMPANY, Plff. in Err., v. MULBERRY HILL COAL COMPANY
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

238 U.S. 275

35 S.Ct. 760

59 L.Ed. 1306

ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD COMPANY, Plff. in Err.,

v MULBERRY HILL COAL COMPANY.

No. 118.

Argued and submitted January 14, 1915.

Decided June 14, 1915.

Messrs. Blewett Lee, Edward C. Kramer, John G. Drennan, and Walter S. Horton for plaintiff in error.

Mr. Frederick B. Merrills for defendant in error.

Mr. Justice Pitney delivered the opinion of the court:

This was an action brought by defendant in error against plaintiff in error to recover damages for the alleged failure of the latter to furnish coal cars at plaintiff's mine, located upon the line of defendant's railroad, pursuant to plaintiff's requirements and demands. It was founded upon § 22 of an act of March 31, 1874, in relation to fencing and operating railroads, as amended (Hurd's Rev. Stat. [Ill.] 1913, chap. 114, § 84, p. 1955). The declaration set forth that plaintiff was the owner of and engaged in operating a coal mine equipped with appliances necessary for the mining of coal, and was possessed of a large amount of coal at the mine; that defendant was the owner of the railroad upon which the mine was located, there being a switch at the mine, etc., and that on certain specified days in the year 1907 plaintiff notified defendant that it was ready and proposed to load certain specified quantities of coal, and needed defendant's cars in which to load it, and that defendant failed to furnish the cars, and by reason thereof plaintiff sustained damages. The plea was the general issue. There was a trial by jury, at which evidence was given tending to prove the averments of the declaration. Defendant's evidence showed that it was engaged in interstate commerce, having lines of railway extending to other states besides Illinois, with coal mines located upon its lines in three states, the greater part of them being in Illinois; that during the time covered by the action plaintiff shipped 95 per cent of its coal into states other than Illinois, and that if the cars demanded by it had been furnished 95 per cent of the coal shipped in them would have gone to points in other states and off the lines of defendant; and that the coal mines located along defendant's line were divided into divisions, and its equipment for hauling coal was first divided among the divisions and afterwards distributed among the coal operators. There was also evidence of a general shortage of coal cars upon the Illinois Central lines during the year 1907; but the reason for this was not clearly shown, and it did not appear that it was attributable to any sudden emergency or to other causes beyond the control of the carrier. Defendant introduced in evidence its established rules governing the distribution of coal cars during the period covered by the suit, and there was evidence tending to show that these were followed. But it cannot be said that this was conclusive, and it was distinctly negatived by the finding of the jury.

A verdict was rendered in favor of plaintiff, which by remittitur was reduced to $716.92. The resulting judgment was affirmed by the supreme court of Illinois (257 Ill. 80, 100 N. E. 151), and the case comes here upon questions raised under the commerce clause of the Constitution of the United States and the act to regulate commerce.

1. The fundamental Federal question, and the only one with which the state supreme court dealt, is whether the Illinois statute is a direct burden upon interstate commerce and therefore repugnant to the commerce clause, irrespective of congressional action. This was raised by a motion to dismiss and a motion for the direction of a verdict in favor of defendant. The statute, so far as now pertinent, is as follows:

'Every railroad corporation in the state shall furnish, start and run cars for the transportation of such passengers and property as shall, within a reasonable time previous thereto, be ready or be offered for transportation at the several stations on its railroads and at the junctions of other railroads, and at such stopping places as may be established for receiving and discharging way-passengers and freights; and shall take, receive, transport and discharge such passengers and property, at, from and to such stations, junctions and places, on and from all trains advertised to stop at the same for passengers and freight, respectively, upon the due payment, or tender of payment of tolls, freight, or fare legally authorized therefor, if payment shall be demanded, etc.'

The Illinois supreme court construed it as follows: 'The only requirement of the statute, as applied in this case or any other case, is, that the railroad corporation shall furnish cars, within a reasonable time after they are required, to transport the property offered for transportation, and what would be a reasonable time in any case would depend upon all the circumstances and conditions existing, including the requirements of the interstate commerce carried on by the corporation.'

In that court, Houston & T. C. R. Co. v. Mayes, 201 U. S. 321, 329, 50 L. ed. 772, 775, 26 Sup. Ct. Rep. 491, and St. Louis Southwestern R. Co. v. Arkansas, 217 U. S. 136, 149, 54 L. ed. 698, 704, 29 L.R.A.(N.S.) 802, 30 Sup. Ct. Rep. 476, were cited. In the first of these, the state law absolutely required that a railroad should furnish a certain number of cars at a specified day, regardless of every other consideration except strikes and other public calamities, making no exception in cases of a sudden congestion of traffic, an actual inability to furnish cars by reason of their temporary and unavoidable detention in other states or in other places within the same state, or any allowance for interference with traffic occasioned by wrecks or other accidents upon the same or other roads; and for any dereliction of the carrier, owing perhaps to circumstances beyond its control, it was made answerable not only to the extent of the damages incurred by the shipper, but, in addition, to an arbitrary penalty of $25 per car for each day of detention. In the Arkansas Case, the rule of the state railroad commission, as applied by the state court, penalized the carrier for delivering its cars to other roads for the movement of interstate commerce pursuant to the regulations of the American Railway Association, because, as the state court concluded, these regulations, although governing 90 per centum of the railroads in the United States, were inefficient and should be disregarded. This court held (p. 149) that the rule of the state court 'involved necessarily the assertion of power in the state to absolutely forbid the efficacious carrying...