State v. Railroad Com'n of Washington

• Decision Date: 01 March 1909
• Citation: 52 Wash. 33,100 P. 184
• Parties: STATE ex rel. GREAT NORTHERN RY. CO. v. RAILROAD COMMISSION OF WASHINGTON et al.
• Court: Washington Supreme Court

100 P. 184

52 Wash. 33

STATE ex rel. GREAT NORTHERN RY. CO. v. RAILROAD COMMISSION OF WASHINGTON et al.

Supreme Court of Washington

March 1, 1909

Appeal from Superior Court, Thurston County; O. V. Linn, Judge.

Writ of review by the State, on the relation of the Great Northern Railway Company, against the Railroad Commission of Washington and H. A. Fairchild and others, members of said commission, to review an order of the commission. From a judgment for defendants, relator appeals. Affirmed.

L. C. Gilman and B. S. Grosscup, for appellant.

John D Atkinson, J. B. Alexander, and Harold Preston, for respondents.

DUNBAR J.

On the 17th day of May, 1907, a complaint was filed by the Railroad Commission of Washington against this appellant, the Great Northern Railway Company, and other railroad companies doing business in the state of Washington, viz., the Northern Pacific Railway Company, the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company, the Washington & Columbia River Railroad Company the Spokane Falls & Northern Railway Company, and the Spokane & Inland Railroad Company. The complaint charged that the said companies had refused to fix joint rates from points in eastern Washington to Puget Sound seaports. Citation was issued. The companies all appeared and answered. Testimony was taken before the commission, and on the 20th day of September, 1907, the commission made an order, whereby, among other things, there were established joint rates on wheat from points on the line of the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company over the lines of said company and the lines of the Great Northern Railway Company to Seattle, and joint rates on wheat from points on the main line of the Great Northern over said line and the lines of the Northern Pacific Railway Company to Tacoma. From this order the Great Northern Railway Company sued out a petition for a writ of review. The writ was issued, and, pursuant thereto, the proceeding before the commission was certified to the superior court of Thurston county, and the cause assigned for hearing. Prior to the hearing of the cause the Great Northern Railway Company made a motion for leave to take evidence before the court to supplement its evidence introduced before the commission. This motion was denied by the court and exception taken. The court, in short, affirmed the rulings of the commission, and an appeal is taken to this court from the judgment of the superior court.

The main proposition discussed by the appellant in this case viz., that the law is unconstitutional for the reason that no right is given the appellant under the provisions of the commission act to have the matters in dispute determined by a court of justice, was fully discussed in a case just decided by this court, viz., State ex rel. O. R. & N. Co. v Railroad Commission, 100 P. 179, and the constitutionality of the law was there sustained. The appellant, however, makes the further contention that the order made by the commission and confirmed by the lower court was invalid, in that it was in conflict with the maximum rate acts passed by the Legislature in 1893 and 1897 (Laws 1893, p. 210, c. 85; Laws 1897, p. 113, c. 68), the contention being that these statutes fixed the rates for transportation of wheat, and that the rates so fixed, until otherwise decided by the courts, must be deemed reasonable and just rates. The commission act was passed subsequently to either of the acts referred to, but during the same session that the rate act of 1907 (Laws 1907, p. 536, c. 226) was passed. Very little argument is presented by counsel in favor of this contention, and no authorities are cited excepting the opinion of Judge Hanford of the United States Circuit Court for this district. This opinion of Judge Hanford seems to be based upon a provision of the state Constitution, viz., section 18 of article 12, which provides that the Legislature shall pass laws establishing reasonable maximum rates of charges for the transportation of passengers and freight, and to correct abuses and prevent discrimination and extortion in the rates of freight and passenger tariffs on the different railroads and other common carriers in the state, and shall enforce such laws by adequate penalties....