Raymond Motor Transp., Inc. v. Rice, 75-C-172.

• Decision Date: 13 August 1976
• Docket Number: No. 75-C-172.,75-C-172.
• Citation: 417 F. Supp. 1352
• Parties: RAYMOND MOTOR TRANSPORTATION, INC., a Minnesota Corporation, and Consolidated Freightways Corporation of Delaware, a Delaware Corporation, Plaintiffs, v. Zel S. RICE et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Wisconsin

417 F. Supp. 1352

RAYMOND MOTOR TRANSPORTATION, INC., a Minnesota Corporation, and Consolidated Freightways Corporation of Delaware, a Delaware Corporation, Plaintiffs, v. Zel S. RICE et al., Defendants.

No. 75-C-172.

United States District Court, W. D. Wisconsin.

August 13, 1976.

DeWitt, McAndrews & Porter, S. C., by John Duncan Varda and Jon P. Axelrod, Madison, Wis., for plaintiffs.

Bronson C. La Follette, Atty. Gen. of Wis., by Albert O. Harriman, Asst. Atty. Gen., Madison, Wis., for defendants.

Before SPRECHER, Circuit Judge, and DOYLE and WARREN, District Judges.

PER CURIAM.

This is an action whereby two corporate plaintiffs challenge certain provisions of the Wisconsin Administrative Code which concern size limitations for trailer-train trucks traveling upon interstate highways in the state of Wisconsin. The plaintiff Raymond Motor Transportation, Inc. is a Minnesota corporation with its principal place of business in Minneapolis, Minnesota; the plaintiff Consolidated Freightways Corporation of Delaware is a Delaware corporation with its principal place of business in Menlo Park, California. The named defendants are various officials of the state of Wisconsin including the State Attorney General, the Secretary of the Department of Transportation, the Chief Traffic Engineer, the commanding officer of the Wisconsin State Patrol, and the chairman and various members of the Wisconsin Highway Commission. Each defendant is sued in his individual and official capacity.

The case presents a cause of action arising under the provisions of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 because it is alleged that the defendants have acted and are acting under color of state statute, regulation and custom to deprive the plaintiffs of rights and privileges secured by the Constitution and laws of the United States. Jurisdiction thus lies pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1343.¹ The action is properly before a three-judge court, convened by the terms of 28 U.S.C. § 2281, because the complaint specifically attacks and seeks interlocutory and permanent injunctive relief against enforcement of a regulation made by a state administrative board or commission acting under state statutes, said administrative regulation being § Hy 30.14(3)(a) of the Wisconsin Administrative Code.

On March 18, 1976 the cause came on for hearing before this three-judge panel. The following memorandum and order serves to resolve the merits of this controversy, and constitutes final findings of fact and conclusions of law as required by Rule 52(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.²

I.

Each of the named plaintiffs is a commercial interstate motor carrier holding a certificate from the Interstate Commerce Commission. Each is engaged in substantial interstate commerce operations through Wisconsin, and each currently utilizes a variety of types of trailer-truck vehicles, including some currently prohibited by the statutory and administrative policies of the state of Wisconsin because of their length.

Both plaintiffs make rather extensive use of "twin trailer" combinations, articulated vehicles consisting of a truck tractor, a semitrailer, a set of dollies and a second semitrailer; the two freight-carrying vans are each 27 feet in length, for an overall length of 65 feet for the assembled twin-trailer vehicle. Both plaintiffs also make use of more traditional semitrailer vehicles which are not articulated and which are 55 feet in length when assembled. The differences in size as between these two particular types of vehicles are graphically illustrated at Appendix A.

By statute and administrative regulation, the state of Wisconsin limits the length of most trailer-train vehicle combinations to 55 feet. This limitation is attacked in this suit; counsel for the plaintiffs allege that to so limit vehicle length precludes general commercial operation of twin trailer combinations in Wisconsin and, therefore, constitutes a direct or indirect discrimination against interstate commerce and an unlawful burden on interstate commerce in violation of Art. I Sec. 8 of the United States Constitution, as well as a breach of equal protection of the law as guaranteed by the fourteenth amendment to the United States Constitution. For any one or all of these three reasons, it is urged that we issue a declaratory judgment that the vehicle length limitations in effect in Wisconsin are void, and enter a permanent injunction to restrain further prohibition of twin trailer operation on the interstate highways which traverse the state. For the reasons to follow, we decline to take such action.

II.

Initially, the Court would briefly review the rather complex statutory and administrative scheme by which twin trailer vehicles are now generally prohibited.

Chapter 348 of the Wisconsin Statutes governs the size, weight and load of private and commercial vehicles traveling on all highways in Wisconsin. Section 348.07 provides, inter alia, that the over-all length of any single vehicle may not exceed 35 feet and that the over-all length of any combination of two vehicles shall not exceed 55 feet. These limitations are subject to certain exceptions set out in the statute itself, as well as other exceptions to be granted by permit.³ Section 348.08 concerns vehicle trains, and provides that except by permit no vehicle shall draw more than one other vehicle where the over-all length of the combination exceeds 55 feet.⁴

Permits for vehicles and loads of excessive size or weight may be granted pursuant to section 348.25 of the Wisconsin Statutes; subparagraph (3) of that section grants power to the Wisconsin Highway Commission to prescribe forms for such permits as are allowed by law, and to impose reasonable conditions upon and to adopt reasonable rules for the issuance of permits and the operations of permittees thereunder.⁵ Sections 348.26 and 348.27 denominate the types of permits that may become available and include, inter alia, annual permits for trailer-train combinations not greater than 100 feet in length. See: § 348.27(6) Wis.Stats.⁶

Pursuant to and in accordance with the authority embodied in section 348.25 the Wisconsin Highway Commission has enacted chapter Hy 30 of the Wisconsin Administrative Code. This chapter establishes limits, procedures and conditions under which the various permits authorized by sections 348.26 and 348.27 may be issued. Trailer-train permits are governed by section Hy 30.14; general limitations on the issuance of trailer-train permits are described at paragraph (3), and include the restrictions that are challenged in this action:

"Hy 30.14 Trailer-train permits.

* * * * * *

"(3) General limitations on the issuance of trailer-train permits.

* * * * * *

"(a) Trailer-train permits shall be issued only for the operation of vehicles used for the transporting of municipal refuse or waste, or for the interstate or intra-state operation without load of vehicles in transit from manufacturer or dealer to purchaser or dealer, or for the purpose of repair."

Thus, while § 348.27(6) Wis.Stats. contemplates annual permits for trailer-train vehicles not to exceed 100 feet, the Wisconsin Highway Commission has precluded issuance thereof in all but a limited class of cases by virtue of promulgation of § Hy 30.14(3)(a), Wis.Admin.Code.⁷ It seems apparent that this administrative prohibition falls within the discretionary rulemaking power granted by § 348.25(3); the Court must nonetheless determine whether, by adopting this position, the highway commission or any defendant has acted in derogation of either the commerce clause in Art. I Sec. 8, or the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment to the United States Constitution.

III.

It is clear that a state statute or ordinance which discriminates against interstate commerce is an impermissible affront to the commerce clause in Art. I Sec. 8 of the United States Constitution. The discrimination thereby prohibited may be either express or implicit. While the face of a state regulation may speak in a neutral fashion, apparently applicable to interstate and intrastate commerce alike, the regulation is nonetheless unconstitutional where its practical effect is to discriminate against interstate commercial activities:

"The commerce clause forbids discrimination, whether forthright or ingenious. In each case it is our duty to determine whether the statute under attack, whatever its name may be, will in its practical operation work discrimination against interstate commerce."

Best & Co. v. Maxwell, 311 U.S. 454, 455-456, 61 S.Ct. 334, 335, 85 L.Ed. 275 (1940).

". . . a statute may, upon its face, apply equally to the people of all the states, and yet be a regulation of interstate commerce which a state may not establish. A burden imposed by a state upon interstate commerce is not to be sustained simply because the statute imposing it applies alike to the people of all states, including the people of the state enacting such statute."

Minnesota v. Barber, 136 U.S. 313, 326, 10 S.Ct. 862, 866, 34 L.Ed. 455 (1890).

In point of fact, it is relatively rare that a state "artlessly discloses an avowed purpose to discriminate against interstate goods." Dean Milk Co. v. City of Madison, 340 U.S. 349, 354, 71 S.Ct. 295, 298, 95 L.Ed. 329 (1951). The actual impact of the state policy upon interstate commerce is the critical consideration. See: Baldwin v. G.A.F. Seelig, Inc., 294 U.S. 511, 55 S.Ct. 497, 79 L.Ed. 1032 (1935); and Washington State Apple Advertising Commission v. Holshouser, 408 F.Supp. 857 (3-Judge Ct., E.D.N.C. 1976).

After thorough review of the position of each party the Court concludes that there is neither explicit nor implicit discrimination against interstate commerce through the statutory and administrative scheme in question here. No statute or regulation now at issue expressly focuses its impact upon interstate trucking operations.⁸ In practical effect, it seems apparent that the highways of the state of...