State ex rel. Anderson Motor Serv. V. Pub. Serv. Comm.

• Decision Date: 03 April 1941
• Docket Number: No. 36950.,36950.
• Citation: 154 S.W.2d 777
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court
• Parties: STATE OF MISSOURI at the relation of ANDERSON MOTOR SERVICE COMPANY ET AL. v. PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION and PERRY A. BROOKS Appellants.

154 S.W.2d 777

STATE OF MISSOURI at the relation of ANDERSON MOTOR SERVICE COMPANY ET AL. v. PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION and PERRY A. BROOKS Appellants.

No. 36950.

Supreme Court of Missouri.

Division Two, April 3, 1941.

Rehearing Denied, September 25, 1941.

Motion to Transfer to Banc Overruled, October 25, 1941.

Appeal from Cole Circuit Court. — Hon. Ransom A. Breuer, Judge.

AFFIRMED.

H.P. Lauf and John O. Bond for Perry A. Brooks.

James H. Linton, General Counsel, and Daniel C. Rogers, Assistant Counsel, for Public Service Commission.

D.D. McDonald and June R. Rose for respondents.

COOLEY, C.

This cause was originally appealed to the Kansas City Court of Appeals from a judgment of the Circuit Court of Cole County reversing a decision of the Public Service Commission. The Court of Appeals, in an opinion written by BLAND, J., and concurred in by KEMP, J., affirmed the circuit court's judgment. SHAIN, P.J., dissented and at his request the cause was certified to this court and is here for disposition as though originally brought here on appeal. The majority and dissenting opinions of the Court of Appeals are published in State ex rel. Anderson Motor Service Company et al. v. Public Service Commission et al., 234 Mo. App. 470, 134 S.W. (2d) 1069.

The cause originated before the Public Service Commission September 11, 1934, when appellant Brooks, doing business as Brooks Truck Company, filed with the Commission an application for authority to consolidate several truck lines operated by him between various points in Missouri, on which he was compelled to charge and was charging local rates, or what might be termed a combination of local rates; that is, to illustrate, if he had a shipment of freight, say from Kansas City to some point not on the initial authorized shipping route but on another route operated by him he would have to transfer the freight from one truck line to another and charge a combination of what may be termed the local rates, amounting to substantially more than a through rate would be from point of origin to point of ultimate destination and, he contended, to the inconvenience and detriment of the shipping public. Under his various certificates he was operating truck lines serving sixty or sixty-five towns in central Missouri; with authority to transport freight from Kansas City and St. Louis to and from some of these towns but had been prohibited by the Commission from transporting freight between Kansas City and St. Louis and between those cities and certain of the other sixty or sixty-five towns. The granting of the application sought by Brooks would permit him to transport merchandise between Kansas City and St. Louis and between certain other points, which authority had theretofore been denied him. He sought in his application permission to consolidate his various truck lines and to charge through rates. Respondents here and others protested the granting of the authority sought by Brooks. A hearing was had before the Commission at which evidence was offered by the applicant and by the protestants. The Commission granted the authority sought by applicant Brooks, except between points where protestant motor carriers were furnishing service. Thereafter, pursuant to statutory provisions, there were "rehearings" by the Commission, but no additional evidence was taken. Several "supplemental reports and orders" were issued by the Commission, in which the members of the Commission were divided in opinion. Some of those "supplemental...