Smith v. Cahoon

• Decision Date: 25 May 1931
• Docket Number: No. 449,449
• Parties: SMITH v. CAHOON, Sheriff
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

283 U.S. 553

51 S.Ct. 582

75 L.Ed. 1264

SMITH

v CAHOON, Sheriff.

No. 449.

Argued April 22, 1931.

Decided May 25, 1931.

[Syllabus from pages 553-555 intentionally omitted] Mr. John W. Davis, of New York City, for appellant.

Mr. H. E. Carter, of Tallahassee, Fla., for appellee.

Mr. Chief Justice HUGHES delivered the opinion of the Court.

The appellant, a private carrier for hire,was arrested upon a warrant charging him with operating vehicles upon the highways in Duval county, Fla., without having obtained the certificate of public convenience and necessity, and without having paid the tax, required by chapter 13700, Laws of Florida 1929. At the preliminary hearing, the appellant challenged the validity of the statute, as applied to him, upon the ground that it was repugnant to the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. The appellant was held for trial. Upon return to a writ of habeas corpus, the circuit court of the county decided that the statute as applied to the appellant was unconstitutional, and the appellant was discharged from custody. This judgment was reversed by the Supreme Court of the state, which upheld the statute. 99 Fla. 1174, 128 So. 632. The case comes here on appeal.

The statute provides for the regulation, through the State Railroad Commission, of 'auto transportation companies.' These companies are thus defined in section 1(h):

'The term 'auto transportation company' when used in this Act means every corporation or person, their lessees, trustees or receivers, owning, controlling, operating or managing any motor propelled vehicle not usually operated on or over rails, used in the business of transporting persons or property for compensation or as a common carrier over any public highway in this State between fixed termini or over a regular route; Provided, That the term 'auto transportation company' as used in this Act, shall not include corporations or persons engaged exclusively in the transportation of children to or from school, or any transportation company engaged exclusively in the transporting agricutura l, horticultural, dairy or other farm products and fresh and Salt Fish and Oysters and Shrimp from the point of production to the assembling or shipping point enroute to primary market, or to motor vehicles used exclusively in transporting or delivering dairy products or any transportation company engaged in operating taxicabs, or hotel busses from a depot to a hotel in the same town or city.'

Every auto transportation company as thus defined is prohibited (section 2) from operating 'any motor vehicle for the transportation of persons or property for compensation on any public highway in this State without first having obtained from the Railroad Commission a certificate that the present or future public convenience and necessity requires or will require such operation.' There is an exception in case of operation exclusively within the limits of an incorporated city or town.

Application for such 'Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity' (section 3) must set forth certain information with respect to the applicant and proposed service. Upon hearing, the commission may issue the certificate as prayed for, 'or refuse to issue the same, or may issue the same with modification, or upon such terms and conditions as in its judgment the public convenience and necessity may require.' The commission may take into consideration various matters bearing upon the applicant's previous operation and reliability, as well as the effect that the granting of the certificate may have upon 'other transportation' facilities and upon 'transportation as a whole' within the territory sought to be served, and 'any other matters tending to qualify or disqualify' the applicant 'as a common carrier.' It is further provided that, upon hearing, the certificate shall be granted 'as a matter of right' to such auto transportation companies as were operating in good faith on the 19th day of April, 1929, over the route for which the certificate is sought, 'who shall comply in full with the provisions of this Act.' When application is made for a certificate 'to operate in a territory or on a line already served by a certificate holder,' the commission shall grant the certificate 'only when the existing certificate holder or holders serving such territory fail to provide service and facilities to the satisfaction of said Commission.'

The following provision as to the giving of a bond in connection with the application for certificate is found in section 4:

'The Commission shall, at the time of granting a certificate to operate any transportation company for transporting persons or property, fix and determine the amount of the bond to be given by the applicant for the protection, in case of passenger vehicle, of the passengers and baggage carried in said vehicle and of the public against injury caused by negligence of the person or corporation operating the said vehicle, and in the case of the vehicle transporting freight, for the protection of the said freight so carried and of the public against injuries received through negligence of the person or corporation operating said freight carrying vehicle. * * * The said bonds shall be conditioned to indemnify passengers and the public receiving personal injuries by any act of negligence, and for damages to property of any person other than the assured; and such bonds shall contain such conditions, provisions, and limitations as the Commission may prescribe, and said bonds shall be payable to the State of Florida, and shall be for the benefit of and subject to action thereon by any person or persons who shall have sustained an actionable injury protected thereby, notwithstanding any provisions in said bond to the contrary, and every bond or insurance policy given shall be conclusively presumed to have been given according to and to contain all of the provisions of this Act. And no certificate shall be valid until such bond has been filed and approved. * * *'

With the approval of the commission, the applicant may file an insurance policy in lieu of bon.

The commission is empowered (section 5) 'to fix or approve the rates, fares, charges, classifications, rules and regulations for each auto transportation company,' to regulate its 'service and safety of operations,' to prescribe 'a uniform system and classification of accounts to be used, which among other things, shall set up adequate depreciation charges,' to require 'the filing of annual and other reports and all other data,' and to supervise and regulate it 'in all other matters' affecting its relationship with the traveling and shipping public.

Under section 6, every auto transportation company, as defined by the act, must forthwith file, with its application for a certificate, 'a schedule of its rates and fares, and a time schedule of all motor vehicles operated' which are to be subject to public inspection. Rates and time schedules are to be changed only with the sanction of the commission, and it is made unlawful for any such company to receive a greater or less charge for any service rendered than that shown by the filed schedules.

Violation of any provision of the act is made a misdemeanor (section 13) punishable by fine or imprisonment, or by both.

Section 14 provides for the collection of a tax from every auto transportation company to which has been granted a certificate of public convenience and necessity. This is a mileage tax graded according to the capacity of the vehicle. The tax is to be paid quarterly in advance, beginning with the issue of the certificate. Five per cent. of the moneys collected are to be used to defray the expense of the administration of the act, and the remainder is to be distributed among the counties in proportion to the use of their highways (section 15).

Other provisions prohibit discrimination and 'free fares' except as stated.

Upon the appeal in this case, the Supreme Court of the state thus construed the statute (99 Fla. 1174, 128 So. 632, 634):

'The statute applies to corporations and persons who use motor-propelled vehicles in the business of transporting persons or property for compensation over public highways in this state between fixed termini or over a regular route, whether such transportation for compensation is as common carriers or as carriers for particular persons under special contract; but the statute does not require private carriers to become common carriers, and the provisions of the statute that are legally applicable only to common carriers are not intended to be applied to, and are not applicable to, corporations or persons who are not common carriers, though engaged in the transpor- tation to which the statute refers; and the provisions of the statute that are legally applicable to private carriers for compensation are capable of being effectuated, leaving the provisions that are legally applicable only to common carriers to be applied to such common carriers as are covered by the statute. * * * The requirements as to procuring certificates of convenience and necessity for doing the business on the highways and as to the tax imposed on the business may be reasonably applied to private carriers for compensation for the privilege of transporting for hire as a business on the public roads of the state, in the exercise of the police and taxing power of the state to conserve the proper use of the public highways and to serve proper sovereign purposes.'

The state court gave no indication as to the particular provisions of the statute which were deemed to be 'legally applicable' only to common carriers, or as to those which were considered to be legally applicable to private carriers, except that it was decided that the latter were bound to procure certificates and to pay the tax.

There is no controversy with respect to the status of the appellant. The Supreme...