Pennsylvania Railroad Company v. Sonman Shaft Coal Company

• Decision Date: 14 May 1915
• Docket Number: No. 10,10
• Citation: 37 S.Ct. 46,61 L.Ed. 188,242 U.S. 120
• Parties: PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD COMPANY, Plff. in Err., v. SONMAN SHAFT COAL COMPANY
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

242 U.S. 120

37 S.Ct. 46

61 L.Ed. 188

PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD COMPANY, Plff. in Err.,

v SONMAN SHAFT COAL COMPANY.

No. 10.

Argued May 14, 1915.

Reargued October 25, 1915.

Decided December 4, 1916.

Messrs. Francis I. Gowen, John G. Johnson, and Frederic D. McKenney for plaintiff in error.

Messrs. A. M. Liveright and A. L. Cole for defendant in error.

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

The coal company brought this action to recover damages from the railroad company upon two grounds: first, that for a period of four years, beginning April 1, 1903, the railroad company had failed to supply the coal company with a sufficient number of cars to meet the needs of the latter's coal mine; and, second, that during the same period the railroad company, in furnishing cars to the several mines in that district, had discriminated unjustly against the coal company and in favor of some of its competitors. The second ground was eliminated by the coal company at the trial, and does not require further notice. The action was begun in a state court and resulted in a judgment for the coal company for $145,830.25, which the supreme court of the state affirmed. 241 Pa. 487, 88 Atl. 746.

The questions presented by the several assignments of error are: (1) What was the nature of the commerce involved? (2) If the commerce was interstate, was the action cognizable in a state court? (3) Was prejudicial error committed in excluding evidence presently to be mentioned?

The coal company sold its coal f. o. b. cars at the mine, and when the cars were loaded, the coal was promptly forwarded to the purchasers at points within and without the state,—largely to points in other states. This was well understood by both companies,—by the coal company when it asked for cars and by the railroad company when it supplied them. Cars were not requested or furnished merely to be used in holding or storing coal, but always to be employed in its immediate transportation. While furnishing some cars for this service, the railroad company failed to furnish as many as the coal company needed and requested. It is plain that supplying the requisite cars was an essential step in the intended movement of the coal and a part of the commerce—whether interstate or intrastate—to which that movement belonged. It was expressly so held in Pennsylvania R. Co. v. Clark Bros. Coal Min. Co. 238 U. S. 456, 465-468, 59 L. ed. 1406, 1410-1412, 35 Sup. Ct. Rep. 896. We there said of the sale and delivery of coal f. o. b. at the mine for transportation to purchasers in other states: 'The movement thus initiated is an interstate movement and the facilities required are facilities of interstate commerce.' Here the state court ruled that, as the coal was sold f. o. b. at the mine, the commerce involved was intrastate, even though the coal was going to purchasers outside the state. This was error, but it plainly was without prejudice unless it led the state court to exercise a jurisdiction which it did not possess.

In the courts below the railroad company contended that, in so far as the commerce involved was interstate the action could not be entertained by a state court consistently with the Interstate Commerce Act, chap. 104, 24 Stat. at L. 379, Comp. Stat. 1913, § 8563, and that contention is renewed here. It proceeds upon the theory, first, that the coal company was without any right to redress in respect of its interstate business unless the failure to supply it with the requisite cars was a violation of some provision of that act; second, that §§ 8 and 9 of the act prescribe the only modes of obtaining redress for violations of its provisions; and, third, that an action for damages in a state court is not among the modes prescribed.

It is true that §§ 8 and 9 deal with the redress of injuries resulting from violations of the act, and give the person injured a right either to make complaint to the Interstate Commerce Commission or to bring an action for damages in a Federal court, but not to do both. If the act said nothing more on the subject it well may be that no action for damages resulting from a violation of the act could be entertained by a state court. But the act shows that §§ 8 and 9 do not completely express the will of Congress as respects the injuries for which redress may be had or the modes in which it may be obtained, for § 22 contains this important provision: 'Nothing in this act contained shall in any way abridge or alter the remedies now existing at common law or by statute, but the provisions of this act are in addition to such remedies.' The three sections, if broadly construed, are not altogether harmonious, and yet it evidently is intended that all shall be operative. Only by reading them together and in connection with the act as a whole can the real purpose of each be seen. They often have been considered and what they mean has become pretty well settled. Thus we have held that a manifest purpose of the provision in § 22 is to make it plain that such 'appropriate common law and statutory remedies' as can be enforced consistently with the scheme and purpose of the act are not abrogated or displaced (Texas & P. R. Co. v. Abilene Cotton Oil Co. 204 U. S. 426, 446, 447, 51 L. ed. 553, 561, 562, 27 Sup. Ct. Rep. 350, 9 Ann. Cas. 1075); that this provision is not intended to nullify other parts of the act, or to defeat rights or remedies given by earlier sections, but to preserve all existing rights not inconsistent with those which the act creates (Pennsylvania R. Co. v. Puritan Coal Min. Co. 237 U. S. 121, 129, 59 L. ed. 867, 872, 35 Sup. Ct. Rep. 484); that the act does not supersede the jurisdiction of state courts in any case, new or old, where the decision does not involve the determination of matters calling for the exercise of the administrative power and discretion of the Interstate Commerce Commission, or relate to a subject as to which the jurisdiction of the Federal courts is otherwise made...