Service Storage & Transfer Co. v. Com., 4748
| Decision Date | 10 March 1958 |
| Docket Number | No. 4748,4748 |
| Citation | 102 S.E.2d 339,199 Va. 797 |
| Parties | SERVICE STORAGE AND TRANSFER COMPANY, INC. v. COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA. Record |
| Court | Virginia Supreme Court |
Francis W. McInerny (Oscar L. Shewmake; John C. Goddin; Shewmake, Gary, Goddin & Blackwellf Macleay, Lynch & Macdonald, on brief), for the appellant.
Reno S. Harp, III, Assistant Attorney General (Kenneth C. Patty, Attorney General, on brief), for the Commonwealth.
This is an appeal of right from an order of the State Corporation Commission wherein Service Storage and Transfer Company, Inc. (hereinafter called Service) was fined $500 for each of ten alleged violations of Chapter 12, Title 56, Code of Virginia, 1950, the aggregate of the fines being $5,000.
The case grows out of a prosecution of Service under § 56-304.12 of the Code for allegedly operating as a common carrier in intrastate commerce on the highways of Virginia without a certificate of convenience and necessity in violation of § 56-278.
Service is a common carrier by motor vehicle, operating under authority of Certificate No. MC-30471, issued by the Interstate Commerce Commission. The territory covered in the certificate follows:
'Between Bluefield, Va., Bluefield, W. Va. and points and places within five miles of Bluefield, W.Va.
'Between Bluefield, Va., and points and places within five miles of Bluefield, Va., and those within five miles of Bluefield, W. Va., respectively, on the one hand, and, on the other, points and places in that part of Virginia and West Virginia within 75 miles of that territory.
'Between Bluefield, W. Va., on the one hand, and, on the other, points and places in West Virginia, that part of Virginia west of U.S. Highway 29 and south of U.S. Highway 60 including points and places on the indicated portions of the highways specified, and that part of Virginia north of U.S. Highway 60 which is within 80 miles of Bluefield, W. Va.'
The manifest object of the Interstate Commerce Commission's certificate was to permit Service to engage in interstate commerce. This is the extent of the commission's jurisdiction. Under the ICC certificate Service was empowered, (1) to gather freight within the defined territory and transport it out of Virginia into other jurisdictions; and (2) to gather freight within the defined territory, haul it out of the State and thence back to points within the defined territory, provided it acted in good faith and did not route the freight out of Virginia for the purpose of evading Virginia's jurisdiction. We are here concerned with the latter right.
It is contended by the Commonwealth that Service Operates between points in Virginia by way of Bluefield, West Virginia; that the routes employed are not the usual or normal routes but are circuitous routes used for the purpose of evading the Virginia law; that Service was fined on July 9, 1956 for similar violations from which no appeal was taken; that since the imposition of that fine Service has continued to violate the rule issued by the State Corporation Commission, resulting in the issuance of the present rule which is the basis for the fines involved on this appeal.
A fine of $500 was imposed upon Service for goods shipped by alleged circuitous routes in each of the following instances:
Origin Destination
------------------- ---------------------------
Roanoke, Virginia Glen Lyn, Virginia
Lynchburg,Virginia Draper, Virginia
Roanoke, Virginia Wytheville, Virginia
Bristol, Virginia Carbo, Virginia
Bluefield, Virginia Haysi, Virginia
Bristol, Virginia Wise, Virginia
Roanoke, Virginia Kimbleton (Kimballton), Va
Bristol, Virginia Cranes Nest, Virginia
Lynchburg, Virginia Marion, Virginia
Roanoke, Virginia Abingdon, Virginia
It was stipulated that each shipment went through Bluefield, West Virginia.
The Commonwealth established by uncontradicted evidence that Service did not follow the usual or normal route between the points involved. It was urged that the goods in question had been shipped by Service over unnecessarily long and circuitous routes for the sole reason that it did not hold a certificate of convenience and necessity from the State Corporation Commission of Virginia.
The several charges against Service were developed by the Commonwealth as follows:
On August 21, 1956, an investigator of the Division of Motor Transportation of the State Corporation Commission stopped a truck owned by Service on Route 460, one mile north of Pearisburg, Virginia, on which was found a shipment from Rish Equipment Company, Roanoke, Virginia, to the Heron Todd Steel Construction Company, Inc., Glen Lyn, Virginia. This shipment had moved from Roanoke to Bluefield, West Virginia, and thence back to Glen Lyn, whereas the usual or normal route would have been direct from Roanoke to Glen Lyn, entirely within the State.
On August 22, 1956, an investigator stopped a truck owned by Service on Route 460, one mile north of Pearisburg, Virginia, where he found a shipment from Norfolk and Western Industries, Inc., Lynchburg, Virginia, to Sutphin and Jackson, Draper, Virginia. This shipment had moved from Lynchburg to Bleufield, West Virginia, and thence back to Draper, when the usual or normal route would have been from Lynchburg to Draper, wholly within the State.
On September 6, 1956, an investigator stopped a truck owned by Service on Route 460, one mile north of Pearisburg, Virginia, wherein he found a shipment from Leonard Electronics, Roanoke, Virginia, to Wytheville Vance Company, Wytheville, Virginia. This shipment moved from Roanoke through Bluefield, West Virginia, and thence back to Wytheville. The usual or normal route for this shipment would have been from Roanoke to Wytheville, wholly within the State.
On September 11, 1956, an investigator stopped a truck owned by Service on Route 58 near St. Paul, Virginia, on which he found a shipment from Bristol Steel and Iron Works, Bristol, Virginia, to Link Belt Company, Carbo, Virginia. This shipment moved from Bristol to Bluefield, West Virginia, and thence back to Carbo, when the usual or normal route would have been from Bristol to Carbo, wholly within the State.
On September 11, 1956, a truck owned by Service was stopped by an investigator on Highway 58, near St. Paul, Virginia. The truck contained a shipment from F. D. Lazenby and Company, Bluefield, Virginia, to Haysi Hardware Company, Haysi, Virginia. This shipment went from Bluefield, Virginia to Bluefield, West Virginia, and thence back to Haysi, and did not take the usual or normal route which lies wholly within the State.
On September 13, 1956, another shipment was involved, from Bristol Steel and Iron Works, Bristol, Virginia, to Quesenberry Construction Company, Wise, Virginia. This shipment moved from Bristol to Bluefield, West Virginia, thence back to Wise, when the usual or normal route would have been from Bristol to Wise, wholly within the State.
On September 17, 1956, an investigator stopped a truck owned by Service at the junction of U.S. Highways 58 and 72, at Coeburn, Virginia, on which he found a shipment of iron railway car wheels from Enterprise Wheel and Car Corporation, Bristol, Virginia, to Banner Fuel Corporation, Cranes Nest, Virginia. This shipment moved from Bristol to Bluefield, West Virginia, thence back to Cranes Nest, when the usual or normal route would have been from Bristol to Cranes Nest, wholly within the State.
An examination of the maps of the State of Virginia, introduced as exhibits, showing the network of improved roads between the points here involved, conclusively shows that the routes used by Service in moving the various shipments were not the usual or normal routes. The commission was justified in finding, on this uncontradicted evidence, that Service had used these circuitous routes in an effort to bring the shipments within the purview of the authority granted under its certificate from the Interstate Commerce Commission.
Service assigns six errors, the first four of which can be embodied in the question Is the State Corporation Commission vested with the authority to regulate intrastate commerce in these instances and, if so, did...
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