Western Pacific Railroad Company v. United States

• Decision Date: 22 June 1964
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 41779.
• Citation: 230 F. Supp. 852
• Parties: The WESTERN PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY et al., Plaintiffs, v. UNITED STATES of America et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of California

230 F. Supp. 852

The WESTERN PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY et al., Plaintiffs, v. UNITED STATES of America et al., Defendants.

Civ. No. 41779.

United States District Court N. D. California, S. D.

June 22, 1964.

Walter G. Treanor, E. L. Van Dellen, R. W. Bridges, San Francisco, Cal., for plaintiffs Western Pac. R. Co., Sacramento Northern Ry. and Tidewater Southern Ry. Co.

William H. Orrick, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Cecil F. Poole, U. S. Atty., Charles Elmer Collett, Asst. U. S. Atty., for defendant United States of America.

Robert W. Ginnane, General Counsel, Robert S. Burk, Attorney, Interstate Commerce Commission, Washington, D. C., for intervenor Interstate Commerce Commission.

Charles W. Burkett, W. Harney Wilson, San Francisco, Cal., for intervenor Southern Pac. Co.

Vaughan, Paul & Lyons, Varnum Paul, San Francisco, Cal., Earl F. Requa, Frank S. Farrell, St. Paul, Minn., for intervenor Northern Pac. Ry. Co., Camas Prairie R. Co. and Walla Walla Valley Ry. Co.

F. J. Melia, J. H. Anderson, William P. Higgins, Omaha, Neb., Robert N. Lowry, San Francisco, Cal., for intervenor Union Pac. R. Co.

No appearance for intervenor Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Ry. Co.

Before MERRILL, Circuit Judge, and SWEIGERT and ZIRPOLI, District Judges.

ZIRPOLI, District Judge.

This is an action brought under the Judicial Code, Sections 1336, 1398, 2284 and 2321 through 2325 of Title 28 United States Code, to enjoin, annul and set aside a report and order of the Interstate Commerce Commission. The plaintiffs, Western Pacific Railroad and its subsidiaries,¹ claim that the defendants² are engaged in discriminatory rate practices at the Portland, Oregon interchange, in violation of Section 3(4) of the Interstate Commerce Act; 49 U.S.C. § 3(4). Section 3(4) provides as follows:

"All carriers subject to the provisions of this part shall, according to their respective powers, afford all reasonable, proper, and equal facilities for the interchange of traffic between their respective lines and connecting lines, and for the receiving, forwarding, and delivering of passengers or property to and from connecting lines; and shall not discriminate in their rates, fares, and charges between connecting lines, or unduly prejudice any connecting line in the distribution of traffic that is not specifically routed by the shipper. As used in this paragraph the term `connecting line' means the connecting line of any carrier subject to the provisions of this part or any common carrier by water subject to part III."

Several issues were ruled on by the Commission which are challenged here³; but since we agree with the Commission's conclusion that plaintiffs are not a "connecting line" within the meaning of Section 3(4) of the Act, we find it unnecessary to resolve the remaining issues presented by the complaint.

The factual background of this case is as follows: The two routes considered herein are called the Bieber route and the Southern Pacific route. The former was created by an order of the Commission in 1931 and was designed to be a competitor with the Southern Pacific route. See Great Northern Ry. Co. Construction, 166 I.C.C. 3, 170 I.C.C. 399. For purposes of this case, the Bieber route consists of the Santa Fe from points in southern California to Stockton, California, thence Western Pacific to Bieber, California, and thence Great Northern to Portland, Oregon. This line extends along the eastern side of northern California through eastern Oregon to Wishram on the Columbia; from Wishram the line runs to Vancouver, Washington and thence to Portland, Oregon. The Southern Pacific route extends from points in southern California by either Santa Fe or Southern Pacific, through the central part of northern California and central Oregon to Portland. Southern Pacific and defendants have maintained a system of through routes and rates at the Portland interchange for over 50 years. With the exception of a few commodities, defendants have refused to establish a similar system of through routes and rates with Western Pacific.

A connecting line within the meaning of Section 3(4) is one which has either a direct physical connection at the common interchange or is one which makes up a "through route" through the interchange point. Atlantic Coast Line R. Co. v. United States, 284 U.S. 288 at 293, 52 S.Ct. 171, 76 L.Ed. 298 (1932). Because Western Pacific terminates at Bieber, California and is therefore the middle link in a three line route, it does not have a direct physical connection with the defendant at Portland, Oregon.

The criteria for the determination of whether a through route exists are set forth in Thompson v. United States, 343 U.S. 549, 557, 72 S.Ct. 978, 983, 96 L.Ed. 1134, as follows:

"Existence of a through route is to be determined by the incidents and circumstances of the shipment, such as the billing, the transfer from one carrier to another, the collection and division of transportation charges, or the use of a proportional rate to or from junction points or basing points. These incidents named are not to be regarded as exclusive of others which may tend to establish a carrier's course of business with respect to through shipments.

"In short, the test of the existence of a `through route' is whether the participating carriers hold themselves out as offering through transportation service. Through carriage implies the existence of a through route whatever the form of the rates charged for the through service." (Emphasis added.)

Plaintiff properly concedes that it does not meet the above test⁴ because the existence of a few instances of joint rates and through routes on some commodities is not sufficient to establish a through route generally. Chicago M. St. P. & P. R. Co. v. Spokane P. & S. Ry. Co., 300 I.C.C. 453 (1957), aff'd Chicago M. St. P. & P. R. Co. v. United States, 366 U.S. 745, 81 S.Ct. 1630, 6 L.Ed.2d 772 (1961); Denver & R. G. W. R. Co. v. Union Pac. R. Co., 351 U.S. 321, 76 S.Ct. 982, 100 L.Ed. 1220 (1956). Therefore, because plaintiff does not meet the test of the Atlantic Coast Line case, it is not a "connecting line" within the meaning of section 3(4).

Plaintiff's reliance on Chicago, I. & L. Ry. v. United States, 270 U.S. 287, 46 S.Ct. 226, 70 L.Ed. 590 (1926) is misplaced. This case involved reciprocal switching arrangements and presented no question of whether the carriers in that case were "connecting lines" for section 3(4) purposes. Moreover, the case was decided prior to...