United States v. Interstate Commerce Commission

• Decision Date: 20 June 1949
• Docket Number: No. 330,330
• Citation: 69 S.Ct. 1410,337 U.S. 426,93 L.Ed. 1451
• Parties: UNITED STATES v. INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION et al
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

337 U.S. 426

69 S.Ct. 1410

93 L.Ed. 1451

UNITED STATES

v INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION et al.

No. 330.

Argued March 2, 1949.

Decided June 20, 1949.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of columbia.

Messrs. Stanley M. Silverberg and David O. Mathews, Washington, D.C., for appellant.

[Argument of Counsel from page 427 intentionally omitted] Mr. Daniel W. Knowlton, Washington, D.C., for appellee Interstate Commerce Commission.

Mr. Windsor F. Cousins, Philadelphia, Pa., for appellees railroads, interveners.

Mr. Justice BLACK delivered the opinion of the Court.

It is contended here that the United States as a shipper is barred from challenging in federal courts an Interstate Commerce Commission order which denies the Government a recovery in damages for exaction of an allegedly unlawful railroad rate. Other contentions if sustained would deny federal courts all power to entertain an action by any shipper challenging a Commission order denying damages to the shipper.

During the war, existing tariffs of many railroads embodied wharfage charges to compensate the railroads for moving goods from railroad cars to piers and from piers to railroad cars. When the United States took over certain piers at Norfolk, Virginia, it began to perform these wharfage services for itself and requested the railroads to make the United States an allowance for the expenses incurred in performing the services. The railroads refused to make an allowance. Upon this refusal the Government requested the railroads to perform the services themselves. The railroads refused to perform the services.

The United States filed with the Interstate Commerce Commission a complaint against the railroads charging that exaction of pay for unperformed services was unjust, unreasonable, discriminatory, excessive, and in violation of certain sections of the Interstate Commerce Act.¹ The Complaint asked the Commission to find the charges unlawful. Further relief asked, under the Interstate Commerce Act,² was that the Government be awarded damages (reparations) on account of the alleged unlawful exactions. The Commission found that the charges were not unjustly discriminatory, unreasonable, or otherwise in violation of the Act. Accordingly, the Commission denied reparations and ordered the complaint dismissed. United States v. Aberdeen & Rockfish R. Co., 269 I.C.C. 141 (1947).

The United States brought this action in a United States District Court to set aside the Commission order. The complaint charged that the Commission's conclusions were not supported by its findings, that the findings were not supported by any substantial evidence, that the order was based on a misapplication of law and was 'otherwise arbitrary, capricious and without support in and contrary to law and the evidence.' The Interstate Commerce Commission was made a defendant. The United States was also made a defendant because of a statutory requirement that any action to set aside an order of the Interstate Commerce Commission 'shall be brought * * * against the United States.' 28 U.S.C. § 46. Railroads that collected the wharfage charges intervened as defendants under authority of 28 U.S.C. § 45a. The Attorney General appeared for the Government as both plaintiff and defendant. Without reaching the merits of the case, the District Court composed of three judges dismissed the cause on the theory that the Government could not maintain a suit against itself. The court also indicated its belief that a three-judge court was without jurisdiction of the suit. D.C., 78 F.Supp. 580. The case is here on direct appeal under 28 U.S.C. § 47a, as amended 28 U.S.C. § 1253, 28 U.S.C.A. § 1253.

In this Court the Commission and the railroad intervenor defendants support the District Court's dismissal for the reasons given by that court. Alternative reasons are also urged. We hold that the dismissal was error and that the case should have been considered on its merits.

First. There is much argument with citation of many cases to establish the long-recognized general principle that no person may sue himself. Properly understood the general principle is sound, for courts only adjudicate justiciable controversies. They do not engage in the academic pastime of rendering judgments in favor of persons against themselves. Thus a suit filed by John Smith against John Smith might present no case or controversy which courts could determine. But one person named John Smith might have a justiciable controversy with another John Smith. This illustrates that courts must look behind names that symbolize the parties to determine whether a justiciable case or controversy is presented.

While this case is United States v. United States, et al., it involves controversies of a type which are traditionally justiciable. The basis question is whether railroads have illegally exacted sums of money from the United States. Unless barred by statute, the Government is not less entitled than any other shipper to invoke administrative and judicial protection. To collect the alleged illegal exactions from the railroads the United States instituted proceedings before the Interstate Commerce Commission. In pursuit of the same objective the Government challenged the legality of the Commission's action. This suit therefore is a step in proceedings to settle who is legally entitled to sums of money, the Government or the railroads. The order if valid would defeat the Government's claim to that money. But the Government charged that the order was issued arbitrarily and without substantial evidence. This charge alone would be enough to present a justiciable controversy. Chicago Junction Case, 264 U.S. 258, 262—266, 44 S.Ct. 317, 318-320, 68 L.Ed. 667. Consequently, the established principle that a person cannot create a justiciable controversy against himself has no application here.

Second. It is contended that the provisions of the Act making the Government a statutory defendant in court actions challenging Commission orders, show a congressional purpose to bar the Government from challenging such orders. Legislative history is cited in support of this contention. If the contention be accepted, Congress by making the Government a statutory defendant in such cases has deprived the United States as a shipper of powers of self protection accorded all other shippers. We cannot agree that Congress intended to make it impossible for the Government to press a just claim which could be vindicated only by court challenge of a Commission order. See United States v. San Jacinto Tin Co., 125 U.S. 273, 279, 8 S.Ct. 850, 853, 31 L.Ed. 747.

In support of their contention that Congress did not intend for the Government to press its claims as a shipper, the Commission and railroads emphasize the anomaly of having the Attorney General appear on both sides of the same controversy. However anomalous, this situation results from the statutes defining the Attorney General's duties. The Interstate Commerce Act requires the Attorney General to appear for the Government as a statutory defendant in cases challenging Commission orders. 28 U.S.C. § 46. The Attorney General is also under a statutory duty 'to determine when the United States shall sue, to decide for what it shall sue, and to be responsible that such suits shall be brought in appropriate cases.' United States v. San Jacinto Tin Co., 125 U.S. 273, 279, 8 S.Ct. 850, 854. See also United States v. California, 332 U.S. 19, 26-29, 67 S.Ct. 1658, 1662-1663, 91 L.Ed. 1889. Nothing in the Interstate Commerce Act indicates a congressional purpose to amend prior statutes which had imposed primary responsibility on the Attorney General to seek judicial redress for the Government.

Although the formal appearance of the Attorney General for the Government as statutory defendant does create a surface anomaly, his representation of the Government as a shipper does not in any way prevent a full defense of the Commission's order. The Interstate Commerce Act contains adequate provisions for protection of Commission orders by the Commission and by the railroads when, as here, they are the real parties in interest. For, whether the Attorney General defends or not, the Commission and the r ilroads are authorized to interpose all defenses to the Government's charges and claims that can be interposed to charges and claims of other shippers. In this case the Commission and the railroads have availed themselves of this statutory authorization. They have vigorously defended the legality of the allowances and the validity of the Commission order at every stage of the litigation.

Third. 28 U.S.C. § 41(28)³ provides that 'The district courts shall have original jurisdiction * * * Of cases brought to enjoin, set aside, annul, or suspend in whole or in part any order of the Interstate Commerce Commission.' The legal consequences of this order if upheld will finally relieve the railroad of any obligations to the Government on account of the alleged unlawful charges; the order thus falls squarely within the type made subject to judicial review by § 41(28). Rochester Telephone Corp. v. United States, 307 U.S. 125, 131-132, 142-143, 59 S.Ct. 754, 757, 762-763, 83 L.Ed. 1147; El Dorado Oil Works v. United States, 328 U.S. 12, 18-19, 66 S.Ct. 843, 846, 90 L.Ed. 1053.

The Commission and the railroads contend, however, that § 9 of the Interstate Commerce Act, 49 U.S.C. § 9, 49 U.S.C.A. § 9, bars the United States or any other shipper from judicial review of an order denying damages in reparation proceedings initiated before the Commission. Section 9 provides in part:

'Any person or persons claiming to be damaged by any common carrier * * * may either make complaint to the commission * * * or may bring suit * * * for the recovery of the damages * * * in any district court of the United States of competent jurisdiction; but such person or persons shall not have the right to pursue both of said...