Western v. Georgia Public Service Commission, 209

• Decision Date: 13 April 1925
• Docket Number: No. 209,209
• Citation: 69 L.Ed. 753,267 U.S. 493,45 S.Ct. 409
• Parties: WESTERN & A. R. R. v. GEORGIA PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION et al
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

267 U.S. 493

45 S.Ct. 409

69 L.Ed. 753

WESTERN & A. R. R.

v GEORGIA PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION et al.

No. 209.

Argued Jan. 20, 1925.

Decided April 13, 1925.

Messrs. Fitzgerald Hall, of Nashville, Tenn., and Henry C. Peeples, of Atlanta, Ga., for appellant.

Messrs. W. E. Watkins, of Jackson, Ga., and George M. Napier, of Atlanta, Ga., for appellees.

Mr. Chief Justice TAFT delivered the opinion of the Court.

The Western & Atlantic Railroad Company, an interstate common carrier, filed this bill in the District Court of the United States for the Northern District of Georgia against the Georgia Public Service Commission and its members, to enjoin the enforcement of an order of the commission requiring the railroad to furnish switching service on an industrial siding to the National Bonded Warehouse, Inc., of Atlanta, Ga.

In accordance with the limitations of section 266 of the Judicial Code (Comp. St. § 1243), an application was made for a temporary injunction to a court consisting of a Circuit and two District Judges. The application was denied and this appeal was taken.

The industrial siding in question diverges from the main line of the railroad company, and was built many years ago for the convenience of industries then located on it. At the present time J. K. Shippey and the National Bonded Warehouse are the only industries served by it. The siding is all upon the right of way of the railroad company.

On August 2, 1923, the railroad company notified the warehouse company that, unless it signed a standard form of contract in respect to the side track, its use and maintenance which had been submitted to it, the service would be discontinued after August 15th. The warehouse company made complaint to the Public Service Commission. The commission advised the railroad company that no application from the company had been made to the commission for such authority, which under its rule 14 was necessary before the service could be discontinued. However on August 28th a full hearing was held by the commission, with the parties present, and as a result of such hearing it was ordered that, effective immediately on receipt of the order, the railroad company should restore the service. Thereupon this bill was filed.

The bill avers that the warehouse company's premises are two city blocks, or 1,600 feet, from the railroad's public team tracks, which are adequate in size and construction conveniently and properly to handle all the public business, including that of the warehouse company, and that since the discontinuance of switching service on August 15th, conformably to the notice given, the railroad has been ready to serve that industry on public team tracks, and that industrial sidings like the one in question have been put in without any care to avoid undue discrimination between interstate shippers in cost of cransportation. It says that of the business done over the side track 85 per cent. is interstate. The railroad company therefore avers that, if it does not continue the service as required by the order, it will be subject to penalty under the Georgia state law, and that if it obeys the order it will be guilty of undue discrimination under the interstate commerce law, and so will be subject to a heavy penalty in the federal jurisdiction.

The bill further alleges that the side track is out of repair, and that in order to put it in proper condition it will require an expenditure of $440, that the receipts from the switching are but only a small part of the cost of it, and that enforced compliance with the order will thus deprive the company of its property without due process of law.

The order made by the commission was based on its general order 14, promulgated December 23, 1909, which provided that any and all facilities and privileges enjoyed by shippers to which they were entitled by law or any rule of the commission, whether granted by voluntary action on behalf of the railroad companies or otherwise, should not be discontinued without the consent of the Railroad Commission.

The three-judge court refused the application, on the ground that rule 14 had not been complied with. Rule 14 is a reasonable rule, and the commission was fully justified in refusing to sanction a discontinuance of service until a petition had been filed with the commission and a showing made. The doubt which arises in our minds is whether the Public Service Commission by its...