Morf v. Ingels

Decision Date05 May 1936
Docket NumberNo. 759.,759.
Citation14 F. Supp. 922
CourtU.S. District Court — Southern District of California
PartiesMORF v. INGELS, Director of Motor Vehicle Department of California, et al.

Pierson & Block, Ralph K. Pierson, and Samuel P. Block, all of Compton, Cal., and Byron J. Walters, of Los Angeles, Cal., for plaintiff.

U. S. Webb, Atty. Gen., and Frank Richards, Deputy Atty. Gen., for defendants.

Before MATHEWS, Circuit Judge, and STEPHENS and YANKWICH, District Judges.

STEPHENS, District Judge.

The plaintiff seeks to enjoin state officials from enforcing a state law which allegedly invades his rights under the Federal Constitution. Upon issue joined, the case was tried and submitted for decision in a three-judge court.

For several years automobiles have been transported upon their own wheels from eastern points for sale in California. The practice increased so that automobiles, or cars, as we shall hereafter generally refer to them, were being brought into California singly and in fleets of from three to forty. In the fleets which were commanded by experienced men there were single cars and cars that were linked together; the leading one pulling the other. Up to November 29th last about 14,000 cars had been rolled into the state during the year, and it is safe to say that the number exceeded 15,000 for the full year. The fleet movement, where made up of more than four automobiles, caused certain traffic difficulties, such as passing the fleet and meeting cars while passing it. The fleet would sometimes stop, affecting the flow of traffic. When motor police would stop a car in the fleet, those following would sometimes drive so as to interfere with other traffic. The drivers were not always careful as to their automobile lights, and the towed car sometimes swayed. Some of the drivers were unfamiliar with California traffic regulations and some were fatigued.

Plaintiff is a wholesale dealer of used cars, with his principal place of business in Los Angeles. He sells cars for delivery in other parts of the state and a smaller number for delivery in the North Pacific States. He buys cars and brings them into California singly and by twos coupled and sometimes in fleets of several. The cars are operated directly under his supervision and responsibility and not under contract. Although he has been operating this way for several years, no traffic trouble has occurred in connection with his activity. The specific complaints in this case are, first the demand for a license fee for driving a single car, not in fleet, across the California line from Arizona and, second, demands for license fees for so driving a car with another car attached. Between 30% and 40% of such imported cars are driven to and across the California state line singly and not in company with other automobiles. Plaintiff's business is large and lucrative, but it would appear that the required $15 license fee for each car he brings into California would practically absorb his net profit and would ruin his business. It is a serious situation for him and others in like circumstances.

The Basic Theory of National Unity and Equality of the Laws.

Preferential laws for state industries and the rivalry for foreign commerce prompted the enactment of tariffs against foreign imports between the states under the old federation. This situation was very detrimental to national peace and unity, and was one of the primary causes for the constitutional requirement that "all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States" and for the constitutional provision that Congress should have the power "to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes" (article 1, § 8), and that "no State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty or Tonnage" (article 1, § 10). Through the Fifth and the Fourteenth Amendments the Constitution has provided for the security of property and for the personal freedom from arbitrary state action under the clauses requiring due process of law and the equal protection of the laws. In many instances the states have legislated in contravention of these "equality" principles, a practice certainly to be guarded against with vigilance equal to that we should use against encroachment of national legislation upon the reserved rights of the states. Through the years the courts have met the difficult problems of construing the enacted statutes under these constitutional rules.

No nice and undeviating line has been discovered marking legislation on the one side in harmony with these constitutional provisions and on the other in conflict with them, but action has been held within a fairly narrow zone of deviation, under new and changing conditions, through the process of classification.

"The equal protection of the laws means subjection to equal laws, applying alike to all in the same situation. * * * While reasonable classification is permitted, without doing violence to the equal protection of the laws, such classification must be based upon some real and substantial distinction, bearing a reasonable and just relation to the things in respect to which such classification is imposed." Southern Ry. Co. v. Greene, 216 U.S. 400, 30 S.Ct. 287, 289, 54 L.Ed. 536, 17 Ann.Cas. 1247; Darnell & Son Co. v. Memphis, 208 U.S. 113, at page 120, 28 S.Ct. 247, 250, 52 L.Ed. 413; Continental Baking Co. et al. v. Woodring, 286 U.S. 352, 52 S.Ct. 595, 76 L.Ed. 1155, 81 A.L.R. 1402.

Classification cannot be Sustained.

The California Legislature of 1935 legislated extensively upon the subject of motor transportation. It adopted the Vehicle Code (St.1935, p. 93) and many other acts relating to the subject of motor transportation, including the so-called Caravan Act (chapter 402, p. 1453, St.1935), here under consideration. In section 146.5 of the Vehicle Code it provided for the registration of cars previously registered outside California. This District Court, sitting as a three-judge court, recently declared this section unreasonable, discriminatory, and void. Asher & Ponder v. Ingels et al. (D.C.) 13 F.Supp. 654. Ostensibly its purpose was to prevent the importation of stolen cars into California; actually it practically prohibited the sale of cars in California that had been registered elsewhere. We have referred to these several acts to show that the Legislature covered the subject of motor vehicle transportation comprehensively and, through separate but related acts, sought to apply its legislative discretion to all conditions it deemed desirable to treat. The purpose of each act is more easily understood and the expressed purpose in each act becomes more definitely a limitation upon its basic theory and purpose through such information.

The term "caravan" as applied to and used in the act under consideration is a misnomer and leads to misunderstandings. In a metaphoric sense, it has come to mean a considerable number of persons journeying in company by several or many vehicles. Fleet movement of cars may with propriety be termed caravans.

But the so-called "caravan act," although including such fleet movement of cars as hereinbefore described, is by no means limited thereto. In fact, it straightway defines the term "caravaning" as the movement of a single car upon its own wheels into California to be sold. There is nothing in the act that even refers to caravaning as that term is commonly understood, except that not more than three "vehicles or groups of vehicles" can be operated legally upon the highways unless spaced 150 feet. But this provision applies only to cars for sale that are rolled by highway into California upon their own wheels. There is nothing in the act indicating that the Legislature has determined that the practice of bringing cars into California for sale in this way is undesirable or that the act is intended to prevent, limit, or regulate the practice, except as to the spacing mentioned. There is nothing in the evidence that indicates any police problem resulting from the use of the highway except through fleet or caravan formation. Yet the act is specifically directed to each and every car falling within the prescribed specifications, in fleet or not, to wit, entering California upon its own wheels and being for sale.

The Supreme Court in Darnell & Son Co. v. Memphis, supra, quoted the following from Guy v. Baltimore, 100 U.S. 434, 25 L.Ed. 743, with approval: "In view of these and other decisions of this court, it must be regarded as settled that no state can, consistently with the Federal Constitution, impose upon the products of other states, brought therein for sale or use, or upon citizens because engaged in the sale therein, or the transportation thereto, of the products of other states, more onerous public burdens or taxes than it imposes upon the like products of its own territory. If this were not so, it is easy to perceive how the power of Congress to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several states could be practically annulled, and the equality of commercial privileges secured by the Federal Constitution to citizens of the several states be materially abridged and impaired." See, also, Smith v. Cahoon, 283 U.S. 553, 51 S.Ct. 582, 75 L.Ed. 1264.

Most, if not all, of the cases relied upon for the validity of the act are common carrier casescases arising from the business of selling transportation upon and along the public highways. In such cases, subject to reasonableness and to the interstate commerce clauses of the Federal Constitution, the state denies, permits, regulates, and licenses such businesses. The permits issued and license fees paid are for continuing operation. The vehicles used are usually large and heavy, burdening the road and its roadbed. The difference is obvious between such cases and the instant one, where only ordinary automobiles for which the highways were primarily constructed are transported over but a few...

To continue reading

Request your trial
12 cases
  • Paul Gray, Inc. v. Ingels, Eq. 1203-C.
    • United States
    • United States District Courts. 9th Circuit. United States District Court (Southern District of California)
    • 9 Julio 1938
    ...of the U. S. Constitution, U.S.C.A.Const.Amend. 14, the plaintiffs obtained judgment in a three judge District Court, Morf v. Ingels, D.C., 14 F.Supp. 922, on May 5, 1936. The defendants appealed to the U. S. Supreme Court, where the judgment was affirmed, Ingels v. Morf, 300 U.S. 290, 57 S......
  • Geo. B. Wallace, Inc. v. Pfost, 6367
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Idaho
    • 18 Enero 1937
    ...... Co. v. Georgia Public Service Com., 295 U.S. 285, 55. S.Ct. 709, 79 L.Ed. 1439; Morf v. Bingaman, 298 U.S. 407, 56 S.Ct. 756, 80 L.Ed. 1245; Morf v. Ingels, 14. F.Supp. 922, at p. ......
  • Kenosha Auto Transport Corporation v. City of Cheyenne, 2128
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Wyoming
    • 12 Marzo 1940
    ...298 U.S. 407, 56 S.Ct. 756, 80 L.Ed. 1245. The only question then is how long or short the caravan must be. It is stated in Morf v. Ingels, 14 F.Supp. 922, 925, that the term "caravan" has come to mean "considerable number of persons journeying in company of several or many vehicles." But e......
  • Union Packing Co. v. Rogan, 1071.
    • United States
    • United States District Courts. 9th Circuit. United States District Court (Southern District of California)
    • 21 Enero 1937
    ...that there be some reasonable foundation for it. For a review of the cases on classification, see the writer's dissent in Morf v. Ingels (D.C. 1936) 14 F.Supp. 922. In applying the principle to taxation, courts have sustained, with the exceptions noted, the broadest and most varied exercise......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT