Northern P. Ry. Co. v. Department of Public Works
| Decision Date | 02 January 1923 |
| Docket Number | 17157. |
| Court | Washington Supreme Court |
| Parties | NORTHERN PAC. RY. CO. v. DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS et al. |
Appeal from Superior Court, Thurston County; John M. Wilson, Judge.
Writ for review by the Northern Pacific Railway Company against the Department of Public Works and another. From a judgment affirming an order of the Department reopening a cause for a further hearing, the railway company appeals. Judgment of the trial court and order of the Commission reversed, and proceeding dismissed.
Superseding departmental decision, 207 P. 686.
Geo. T. Reid, of Seattle, J. W. Quick, of Tacoma and L. B. da Ponte, of Seattle, for appellant.
Lindsay L. Thompson and R. W. Clifford, both of Olympia, and John E Belcher, of Tacoma, for respondents.
A departmental decision was filed in the above entitled cause on June 12, 1922, and published in 207 P. 686.
A number of inadvertent inaccuracies were stated in the opinion, and counsel for both parties kindly stipulated that the opinion should be withdrawn and corrected, as to the inaccurate statements made. A rehearing was granted, however and the cause was heard en banc. It is ordered that this opinion shall be substituted for the original opinion, supra.
A complaint was filed before the Public Service Commission of the state of Washington on July 14, 1917, by Miller & Murray copartners doing business as the International Spar Company, against the Northern Pacific Railway Company, for alleged discrimination in freight charges on logs or spars, against the complainants, upon shipments between certain points within the state of Washington. That complaint alleged no specific amounts of overcharge, and demanded no refund or reparation. It was dismissed by the Commission upon the hearing, on the ground that the complainant did not attack the reasonableness of a rule and rate published by the railway company, but charged discrimination; the Commission deciding that the proper tariff rate having been charged to complainant, the railway company could not be held guilty of discrimination.
No writ of review was sued out within 30 days, or at all, and no further proceedings were had in the cause before the Commission until August, 10, 1921, when there was filed with the Department of Public Works, which had succeeded to the duties of the former Public Service Commission, a petition for the reopening of cause No. 4452, the cause heretofore referred to. This petition refers to, and repeats, the statements of the first petition, and further states that, after the government assumed control of the railways, about January 1, 1918, a complaint was filed with the Interstate Commerce Commission by Miller, alleging that the same rates charged him for transportation of long timbers between the same specified points on the Northern Pacific Railway, within the state of Washington, were unreasonable and unjust in certain specific amounts. In that case the Interstate Commerce Commission held the rates to be unreasonable, and ordered reparation to be made by the Railroad Administration for the period only of federal control. Miller v. Director General, as Agent, and Northern Pacific Railway Co., 60 Interst. Com. Com'n R. 162. The petitioner therefore prayed that cause No. 4452, Public Service Commission proceedings, be reopened for further proceedings, and that he be permitted to file an amended complaint. The railway company appeared and objected to the reopening of the cause by the Department, on the ground that it was without jurisdiction so to do.
On September 30, 1921, the department made an order reopening the cause, permitting an amended complaint to be filed, and ordered that the cause be set for hearing on October 7, 1921, at which time both parties might appear and offer additional evidence. An amended complaint was filed by petitioner before the Department of Public Works, alleging the unlawful and excessive rates charged, and praying an order commanding the railway company to cease and desist from such unlawful charges, and for the Commission to establish lawful rates for the future, and that reparation for excessive charges exacted and paid prior to federal control be ordered paid unto the complainant in the sum of $1,272.66, together with interest thereon. It was prayed that the rates be changed from and after March 1, 1920, when federal control ceased.
The acts complained of as intrastate charges occurred prior to federal control, and between August 24, 1917, and December 22, 1917. Petitioner alleged that the same overcharges were held to be unreasonable and excessive by the Interstate Commerce Commission on shipments after those dates.
Within the time prescribed by law, appellant sued out a writ of review of the order of the Department of Public Works to the superior court. It was contended by respondent in the court below, and is here contended, that the order of the Department reopening cause No. 4452 for a further hearing, is not a final order, and therefore not subject to review.
The trial court correctly held that the order reopening the cause is a final order so far as this question is concerned, and is therefore reviewable under the statute. State ex rel. Tacoma & Eastern R. Co. v. Public Service Commission, 102 Wash. 589, 173 P. 626; Rem. Code, §§ 8626-86, 8626-99.
Appellant raises three principal questions: (1) Did the Department of Public Works have jurisdiction of the parties and the subject-matter? (2) Did the failure of the International Spar Company to seek a review of the order of September 14, 1917 make that order a final order in the sense that the Department of Public Works lost jurisdiction of the parties? (3) Did the Department of Public Works have authority to set aside its order of September...
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