St. Johnsbury Trucking Company v. United States

• Decision Date: 24 March 1955
• Docket Number: No. 4881.,4881.
• Parties: ST. JOHNSBURY TRUCKING COMPANY, Inc., Defendant, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit

220 F.2d 393 (1955)

ST. JOHNSBURY TRUCKING COMPANY, Inc., Defendant, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee.

No. 4881.

United States Court of Appeals, First Circuit.

March 24, 1955.

John E. Hanscomb, Portland Maine, with whom Wilfred A. Hay, Portland, Maine, was on brief, for appellant.

Herman F. Mueller, Attorney, Interstate Commerce Commission, Boston, Mass., with whom Peter Mills, U. S. Atty., Portland, Maine, was on brief, for appellee.

Before MAGRUDER, Chief Judge, and WOODBURY and HARTIGAN, Circuit Judges.

HARTIGAN, Circuit Judge.

This appeal is from a judgment of the District Court of the United States for the District of Maine entered August 17, 1954, 122 F.Supp. 812, sentencing the defendant to a fine of $700.00 based upon a verdict by the court finding the defendant guilty of violating two regulations (49 C.F.R. 77.823 and 49 C.F.R. 77.817) promulgated by the Interstate Commerce Commission under 18 U.S.C. § 835.

On October 24, 1952, the defendant, one of the largest motor transportation companies in New England, transported 70 wet storage batteries from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Portland, Maine. While the defendant's driver was unloading these wet storage batteries from the defendant's truck at the consignee's place of business, an inspector of the Interstate Commerce Commission made a spot investigation of the truck and of the shipping papers in the possession of the driver. The inspector discovered that although the batteries weighed 3,550 pounds and were thus within the scope of 49 C.F.R. 77.823,¹ the truck was not placarded on each side and rear with a sign bearing the word "dangerous" as is required by that regulation. The inspector also discovered that the shipping papers in the possession of the driver did not state that the batteries were of a "white label"² nature, which statement is required by 49 C.F.R. 77.817.³

Evidence was presented at the trial by the defendant showing the efforts made by it to comply with the Regulations of the Interstate Commerce Commission dealing with the labeling of shipping papers relating to dangerous articles. The method of handling shipping papers in use at the defendant's Cambridge terminal at the time this particular freight was handled was the subject of considerable testimony by the defendant's billing office manager. It is not necessary to state in detail what this method was except to note that one employee, the rating clerk, was supposedly acquainted with the regulations in question and had the duty to attach the proper labels to any shipping papers of original carriers pertaining to dangerous articles such as these batteries. If he failed to attach the required label, or if the label, having been attached to the shipping papers with a paper clip, was accidentally dislodged therefrom after leaving the hands of the rating clerk and before it could be stapled to the defendant's shipping papers which were prepared by the billing clerk, there would be no possibility under the defendant's office system of the mistake being intercepted because only the rating clerk had any knowledge of the content of the Interstate Commerce Commission Regulations. The billing office manager testified that if the original carrier, which had transported the batteries from the shipper to the defendant's Cambridge terminal, had properly indicated the dangerous nature of the batteries on its shipping papers in the manner required by 49 C.F.R. 77.817, the defendant's billing clerk would have realized that the defendant's shipping papers required a white label. It appears, however, that the original carrier also had neglected to correctly label its shipping papers. The defendant's rating clerk, of course, should have realized that "Electric Storage Batteries Ass. With Chemicals Wet", as the shipment was described on the original carrier's shipping papers, made necessary a white label on the defendant's shipping papers despite the original carrier's failure to indicate the white label nature of the batteries on its shipping papers.

The failure to placard the defendant's truck was a direct result of the failure by the rating clerk to label the defendant's shipping papers. The defendant's manifester, who totalled the weights of all dangerous articles to determine whether a truck was carrying more than the allowable 2,500 pounds (see 49 C.F.R. 77.823, supra), and who had the duty to notify the defendant's dispatcher if any truck required placarding, relied solely upon the appearance of a white label on the defendant's shipping papers in determining whether or not the shipping papers related to dangerous articles.

The court, a jury trial having been waived, found that the defendant had violated 18 U.S.C. § 835, which insofar as is pertinent here, provides:

"§ 835. Regulations by Interstate Commerce Commission

"The Interstate Commerce Commission shall formulate regulations for the safe transportation within the limits of the jurisdiction of the United States of explosives and other dangerous articles including flammable liquids, flammable solids, oxidizing materials, corrosive liquids, compressed gases, and poisonous substances, which shall be binding upon all common carriers engaged in interstate or foreign commerce which transport explosives or other dangerous articles by land, and upon all shippers making shipments of explosives or other dangerous articles via any common carrier engaged in interstate or foreign commerce by land or water.

* * * * * *

"Whoever knowingly violates any such regulation shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than one year, or both; and, if the death or bodily injury of any person results from such violation, shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both. June 25, 1948, c. 645, 62 Stat. 739."

The court said 122 F.Supp. 813 that "The basic issue in this case is whether the offense with which the defendant is charged requires proof with regard to the element of criminal intent. The determination of the issue turns upon the meaning of the word `knowingly' as used in section 835 * * *." The court reasoned that this was a public welfare offense and that the case of United States v. Illinois Cent. R. Co., 1938, 303 U.S. 239, 58 S.Ct. 533, 534, 82 L.Ed. 773, was particularly applicable. That case was a civil action brought by the Government to recover from the respondent a penalty for having "knowingly and willfully" failed to comply with provisions of the Live Stock Transportation Act, 34 Stat. 607, 45 U.S.C.A. §§ 71-74. The respondent was held liable because of the negligence of its yardmaster who knew when the statutory 36 hour period beyond which cattle could not be continuously confined in a railroad car would expire, yet failed to notify the employee whose duty it was to unload the cattle prior to the expiration of that period. The district court reasoned that here as in the Illinois Central case "* * * the language of such statutes as concerned herein must be considered in the light of the evils sought to be remedied." It then concluded:

"* * * Thus, considering the purposes of section 835, the particular offense requires no element of criminal intent. * * * In this instance, therefore, the only `knowledge\' or `knowingness\' necessary to a conviction is as to the nature of the commodity and its volume. If it is found that the defendant knew, or in the exercise of reasonable care should have known of the dangerous content of the batteries and the weight of the shipment of said batteries exceeded 2500 pounds, and notwithstanding these facts, the defendant transported the cargo in interstate commerce, there would be a violation of the applicable statutes and regulations, herein concerned.

"Having in mind that at least three of the defendant\'s clerical employees inspected the invoices concerning this shipment; that the operator of the totalizer totalled the amount of weight of all dangerous articles assigned to this particular trailer; that the dispatcher, who supervised the loading of the trailer and whose duty it was to attach an explosive sticker label on the outside of the vehicle, inspected the manifest and saw the seventy batteries each of which bore four inch square white labels, denoting its dangerous nature; and, that the local driver had in his possession the manifest designating the type and amount of cargo, but lacking the proper inscription, the conclusion is inescapable that the defendant had complete knowledge of all of the essential facts relating to the transportation of these dangerous items."

The defendant contends that the instant case is within the scope of Morissette v. United States, 1952, 342 U.S. 246, 72 S.Ct. 240, 96 L.Ed. 288 and that Congress intended that the alleged violations must "be done with an evil state of mind".

We do not find it necessary to discuss at length whether or not the Morissette case is determinative of the issue here because the Supreme Court, three weeks after the Morissette case was decided, construed in Boyce Motor Lines v. United States, 1952, 342 U.S. 337, 72 S.Ct. 329, 96 L.Ed. 367, the very statute with which we are concerned. The Morissette case, on the other hand, construed 18 U.S.C. § 641, a statute dealing with the crime of embezzling, stealing, purloining, knowingly converting, etc. property of the United States. Justice Jackson made an extensive analysis of the necessity of criminal intent in federal crimes and differentiated between common law offenses and public welfare offenses but did not attempt to construe the statute with which we are concerned here. He stated that the crime of "knowingly converting" required a mental element which the trial court had erroneously declared was not necessary. But the criminal statute involved in the instant case is not comparable with that construed in the Morissette case for Justice Jackson said that the particular category of crimes, i. e. embezzling, stealing,...