Louisville Co v. Steel Iron Co

• Citation: 70 L.Ed. 242,46 S.Ct. 73,269 U.S. 217
• Decision Date: 23 November 1925
• Docket Number: SLOSS-SHEFFIELD,No. 25,25
• Parties: LOUISVILLE & N. R. CO. v. STEEL & IRON CO
• Court: United States Supreme Court

269 U.S. 217

46 S.Ct. 73

70 L.Ed. 242

LOUISVILLE & N. R. CO.

v SLOSS-SHEFFIELD STEEL & IRON CO.

No. 25.

Argued April 23, 1925.

Decided Nov. 23, 1925.

[Syllabus from pages 217-219 intentionally omitted] Messrs. E. P. Thomas, of Montgomery, Ala., and Charles J. Rixey, of Washington, D. C., for plaintiff in error.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 219-221 intentionally omitted] Messrs. Challen B. Ellis, Wade H. Ellis, Orla E. Harrison, and Woodson P. Houghton, all of Washington, D. C., for defendant in error.

Mr. Justice BRANDEIS delivered the opinion of the Court.

This suit, under section 16 of the Act to Regulate Commerce (Act Feb. 4, 1887, c. 104, 24 Stat. 379, 384 (Comp. St. § 8584)), was brought against the Louisville & Nashville Railroad in the Federal District Court for Northern Alabama. By it the Sloss-Sheffield Company sought to recover $63,982.80, with interest, being the amount of a reparation order entered by the Interstate Commerce Commission for excessive freight charges exacted in violation of section 1 of the act (Comp. St. § 8563) Sloss-Sheffield Steel & Iron Co. v. Louisville & Nashville R. R. Co., 60 Interst. Com. Com'n R. 595; Id., 62 Interst. Com. Com'n R. 646. The charges here in question were paid between April 17, 1910, and September 15, 1915, on shipments of pig iron from the company's furnances in Alabama, over lines of the Louisville & Nashville as initial carrier, to purchasers at Ohio river crossings and points beyond in central freight association territory.¹ The reparation directed was an incident of proceedings commenced April 16, 1912, to secure a reduction of the tariff rates. On June 1, 1914, an order was entered reducing rates for the future 35 cents a ton. Later a finding was made that to this extent the existing tariff rates had exceeded what was reasonable throughout the whole period, commencing two years prior to the filing of the original complaint before the Commission. The order sued on, which was entered July 12, 1921, accompanied what is known as the Seventh Supplemental Report. See Sloss-Sheffield Steel & Iron Co. v. Louisville & Nashville R. R. Co., 30 Interst. Com. Com'n R. 597; Id., 35 Interst. Com. Com'n R. 460; Id., 40 Interst. Com. Com'n R. 738; Id., 46 Interst. Com. Com'n R. 558; Id., 51 Interst. Com. Com'n R. 635; Id., 52 Interst. Com. Com'n R. 576.

The District Court, which heard the case without a jury, entered judgment in accordance with the Commission's order, except that it disallowed damages for the period between April 16, 1912, and July 22, 1913. Writs of error from the Circuit Court of Appeals were sued out by both the plaintiff and the defendant. That court entered judgment for $103,367.47, being the full amount awarded by the Commission, with interest, and thus affirmed, as modified, the judgment of the District Court. 295 F. 53. The carrier then sued out a writ of error from this court. It also filed a petition for a writ of certiorari, consideration of which was postponed to the hearing on the writ of error. Compare Southern Pacific Co. v. Darnell-Taenzer Lumber Co., 245 U. S. 531, 535, 38 S. Ct. 186, 62 L. Ed. 451. As the case is properly here on writ of error, the petition for certiorari is denied. Seventy-seven errors are formally assigned. Only 7 distinct contentions require separate consideration. Some of these relate to matters of procedure; others, to substantive rights. Some assert that complete defenses to the suit were erroneously overruled; others, that the amount of the recovery should have been reduced. Those which deal with matters of procedure will be considered first.

First. It is claimed that the order of reparation dated July 12, 1921, on which the suit rests, is void, because entered without notice to the Louisville & Nashville or opportunity to be heard thereon, in violation both of the rules of the Commission and of the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment. The essential facts are these: The order sued on differed from an earlier one entered March 8, 1921, accompanying the so-called Sixth Supplemental Report, only in this. It reduced the amount payable from $68,728.80 to $63,982.80. It deferred the final date for payment from June 1, 1921, as prescribed by the earlier order, to September 1, 1921, and it declared in terms that the order of 'March 8, 1921, be and the same is hereby vacated and set aside.' These modifications were made in response to a petition filed by the Sloss-Sheffield Company on June 30, 1921, which recited, among other things, that certain items of excess charges had been inadvertently included in earlier computations, and prayed that the order theretofore entered be modified by making the reduction stated. The Louisville & Nashville had no notice of this application, but it had had notice and opportunity to be heard, and was fully heard on all proceedings leading up to the entry of the Sixth Supplemental Report and accompanying order. Neither of the two reports, and neither of the accompanying orders, recited the items of excess charges of which the sums named therein were the aggregates. The District Court found that, by the order of July 12, 1921, the Commission merely corrected its Sixth Supplemental Report and award, through striking out and deducting a certain part of the amount theretofore awarded; that the substituted order did not award the Sloss-Sheffield Company reparation on any shipment that was not included and allowed for in its order of March 8, 1921; that the award of July 12, 1921, was based entirely upon evidence furnished the Commission prior to entering the March 8 order; and that the company did not, in connection with its petition of June 30, 1921, submit to the Commission any new or additional evidence. The Louisville & Nashville did not, after learning of the entry of the substitute order, take any proceedings before the Commission to have it set aside or corrected; nor was other objection made thereto until it raised the point in this suit.

The Louisville & Nashville concedes that this claim of invalidity is unfounded if the order of July 12, 1921, did nothing except reduce the amount required to be paid. The contention is that the Commission did more than reduce the amount payable; that the order not only eliminated certain items of excess charges inadvertently included, but added certain items inadvertently omitted; that this fact is established by recitals in the petition of June 30, 1921, by a passage in the Seventh Supplemental Report, and by evidence introduced by the carrier in the District Court; that the evidence to the contrary introduced by the shipper, and on which that court relied, was incompetent, was duly objected to, and should have been excluded; and that the finding made thereon is in direct conflict with matter of record in the Commission.

The Commission, like a court, may, upon its own motion or upon request, correct any order still under its control without notice to a party who cannot possibly suffer by the modification made. Compare Pennsylvania R. R. Co. v. United States (D. C.) 288 F. 88. This power of the Commission is, in adversary proceedings, narrowly circumscribed, and its exercise is not to be encouraged. Whether in this instance these narrow limits were transcended by the Commission we have no occasion to inquire. The original order was sufficient to sustain the findings and the judgments of the District Court, as modified and affirmed by the Circuit Court of Appeals. A copy of it was annexed to the petition in the District Court, and was introduced in evidence there. If lack of notice to the Louisville & Nashville rendered the later order void, the original order remained in full force. Compare Chicago M. & St. P. Ry. Co. v. Hormel & Co., 240 F. 381, 383, 384, 153 C. C. A. 307. The petition of the Sloss-Sheffield Company of June 30 for a modification may be treated as a remittitur by that company of a part of the amount originally awarded. Pacific Postal Telegraph Cable Co. v. O'Connor, 128 U. S. 394, 9 S. Ct. 112, 32 L. Ed. 488. The order of July 12 operates as the entry of the remittitur, and appropriate amend- ments in the pleadings may be deemed to have been made here. The insistence of the Louisville & Nashville that the order of July 12 should be deemed valid and of full force and effect in so far as it sets aside, vacates, and annuls the prior order of March 8, but void in so far as it cirects a payment to be made, is without support in reason or authority. Thus the alleged errors in ruling on the admissibility of evidence do not appear to have affected the substantial rights of the parties. Act Feb. 26, 1919, c. 48, 40 Stat. 1181 (Comp. St. Ann. Supp. 1919, § 1246).

Second. It is claimed that the order of reparation sued on is void to the extent that it includes damages on account of shipments made between April 17, 1910, and April 16, 1912, because the cause of action for this period was barred by the special two-year statute of limitations contained in section 16 of the Interstate Commerce Act. In the original petition filed April 16, 1912, reparation for this period was specifically prayed for in these words:

'That the rates and charges herein complained of be found and declared to have been unjust, unreasonable, and discriminatory for a period of at least two years preceding the filing of this complaint, and that the complainants * * * may have reparation to the extent of the difference between the rates and charges actually paid by them severally and the rates and charges that may herein be found and declared the just and reasonable maximum rates to be charged in the future.'

This claim rests primarily upon the assertion that the prayer is so general as to be, under sections 13 and 16 of the act (Comp. St. §§ 8581, 8584) and the rules of the Commission, insufficient to invoke its jurisdiction to award reparation.² The argument is that a petition before the Commission for reparation must give, not only the names...