Vicksburg, S. & P. Ry. Co. v. Railroad Commission of Louisiana

• Decision Date: 03 February 1913
• Docket Number: 19,592
• Citation: 132 La. 193,61 So. 199
• Parties: VICKSBURG, S. & P. RY. CO. v. RAILROAD COMMISSION OF LOUISIANA
• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court

61 So. 199

132 La. 193

VICKSBURG, S. & P. RY. CO. v. RAILROAD COMMISSION OF LOUISIANA

No. 19,592

Supreme Court of Louisiana

February 3, 1913

Rehearing Denied March 3, 1913

SYLLABUS

(Syllabus by the Court.)

By constitutional enactments, the Supreme Court has jurisdiction to review on appeal the judgments of inferior courts sustaining or reversing the order of the Railroad Commission. This jurisdiction extends to both the law and facts of the case.

An order of the Railroad Commission directing a railroad company to erect and maintain a standard passenger and freight depot with a regular agent, in a small town or village, already provided with a flag stating and freight shelter, will be held to be unreasonable, where the evidence shows that for nearly three years the passenger traffic has averaged per day 1 1/2 passengers, and 80 cents for fares, and that shipments of freight have been restricted to car load lots handled from the headquarters of the railroad company in an adjoining city.

Such an order will also be held to be discriminatory, where the evidence shows that three other railroads pass through the same town in order to reach the same city, and that none of them have been required to erect and maintain standard depots for freight and passenger traffic within the limits of the said town.

Hall, Monroe, & Lemann, of New Orleans, for appellant.

Ruffin G. Pleasant, Atty. Gen., and Wylie M. Barrow, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

OPINION

LAND, J.

This suit was instituted to contest the reasonableness of order No. 1598 of the Railroad Commission of Louisiana, adopted April 23, 1912, requiring the plaintiff company by August 1, 1912, to erect a combination freight and passenger depot at Bossier City, and to place an agent in charge of the same. There was judgment in favor of the defendant, and the plaintiff has appealed.

Bossier City is a small town or village situated on the east bank of Red river directly opposite the city of Shreveport. The two places are connected by a toll bridge, which belongs to the city of Shreveport and the parish of Bossier. Four railroads pass through Bossier City, to wit, the Vicksburg, Shreveport & Pacific, the St. Louis & Southwestern, the Louisiana Railroad & Navigation Company, and the Louisiana & Arkansas Railway. The Louisiana Railroad & Navigation Railroad extends from the city of Shreveport to the city of New Orleans. The St. Louis & Southwestern Railroad extends from the city of Shreveport to the city of St. Louis. The Vicksburg, Shreveport & Pacific Railroad extends from the city of Shreveport to Meridian, Miss., and the Louisiana & Arkansas from Shreveport, via Meridian, into Arkansas. The Vicksburg, Shreveport & Pacific Company is the only one of the three which has been required by the Railroad Commission to erect and maintain a passenger and freight depot in Bossier City. The record does not explain the reason of this discrimination against the Vicksburg, Shreveport & Pacific Company.

Bossier City, although situated in another parish, is an industrial suburb of the city of Shreveport. The industries carried on within the limits of Bossier City consist of five plants, one of which is not situated on the line of the plaintiff company. All of these plants ship in car load lots, and the managers of four of them testified that the establishment of a freight depot in Bossier City would not be of any material benefit to them. As to shipments in less than car load lots, the evidence shows that since July, 1, 1909, when a flag station was established by plaintiff company in Bossier City by order of the Railroad Commission, no such shipments have been tendered from or to that point.

As to passenger traffic, the records of the plaintiff company show that from July 1, 1909, to the date of the trial of the case below, a period of 1,065 days, 1,580 persons traveled to and from Bossier City, and that the gross revenue from this source amounted to $ 820 or 80 cents per day. It may be that during this period some persons living in Bossier City may have taken, or left, plaintiffs' trains at the Shreveport depot, but there are no data in the record for even a guess at the number of such persons. The evidence shows that the population of Bossier City consists largely of laborers, many of whom work in the city of Shreveport.

Mr. Hearn, who had been superintendent of the plaintiff company for four years, testified that there has been no material change since 1909 in business conditions in Bossier City, except that one industry, the Fields Box Company, has closed down. In 1909 the Railroad Commission ruled that a flag station and freight shed would meet all the requirements of the situation.

What changes have taken place since 1909 to warrant the order for the erection and maintenance by the Vicksburg, Shreveport &amp Pacific Railway of a standard passenger and freight depot in the village of Bossier City? The evidence shows that since 1909 the passenger traffic, mostly local, has averaged 1 1/2 passengers per day. The evidence shows that during the same period car load shipments have been satisfactorily handled through the Shreveport office, and that not a single less than car load shipment from Bossier City has been tendered to the railroad company. Outside of the manufacturing industries, the only business in Bossier City, as far as the record shows, is a retail store kept by Mr. J. B. O'Neal, who had been in business in that village for about 18 months before the trial of the case. Mr. O'Neal trades in Shreveport and New Orleans. All of his goods from the latter place have been transported over the line of the Louisiana Railroad & Navigation Company. Mr. O'Neal states that, if the plaintiff company established a regular freight depot in Bossier City, he would order his goods shipped from New Orleans, via Jackson, Miss., to Bossier City. Heretofore Mr. O'Neal has received his goods from New Orleans via the line of the Louisiana Railroad & Navigation Company, and has never made any shipments over the Vicksburg, Shreveport & Pacific Railroad. Mr. Hutchins, the only other witness who testified in favor of the defendant, was city clerk and notary public of Bossier City, and his wife was postmistress in the same village. Mr. Hutchins had never shipped any freight over the Vicksburg, Shreveport & Pacific line, but was one of the incorporators of a wholesale grocery company, which expected to locate in Bossier City if the Vicksburg, Shreveport & Pacific should be forced to erect and maintain a standard freight depot in that village. The new grocery company expected...