Western v. Railroad Commission of Georgia

• Decision Date: 19 February 1923
• Docket Number: No. 195,195
• Citation: 67 L.Ed. 645,261 U.S. 264,43 S.Ct. 252
• Parties: WESTERN & A. R. R. v. RAILROAD COMMISSION OF GEORGIA et al
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

261 U.S. 264

43 S.Ct. 252

67 L.Ed. 645

WESTERN & A. R. R.

v RAILROAD COMMISSION OF GEORGIA et al.

No. 195.

Argued Jan. 9, 1923.

Decided Feb. 19, 1923.

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

Mr. Justice BUTLER delivered the opinion of the Court.

This is a suit commenced in the District Court by the Western & Atlantic Railroad, against the Railroad Commission of Georgia, its members, its special attorney, and the Attorney General of the state, to restrain and enjoin the enforcement of an order of the commission requiring the plaintiff to construct and put in service a spur or industrial track to the Farmers' Warehouse Company's warehouse abutting the right of way of the railroad at Smyrna, Ga. A law of Georgia (section 2664 of the 1910 Georgia Code) authorizes the commission to prescribe rules with reference to spur tracks and side tracks, and with reference to their use and construction, and gives it power to compel service to be furnished warehouses and similar places of business along the line of railroads where practicable and in the judgment of the commission the business is sufficient to justify, and on such terms and conditions as the commission may prescribe. The plaintiff attacks the order as unreasonable and arbitrary because under the circumstances it would deprive the plaintiff of its property without due process of law in contravention of the Fourteenth Amendment, interfere with and burden the interstate commerce of the plaintiff and compel it unjustly to discriminate against other shippers in violation of the Act to Regulate Commerce (Comp. St. § 8563 et seq.). Before the e piration of the time allowed by the commission for compliance with its order, this suit was commenced and plaintiff gave notice of motion for temporary injunction. The defendants answered and, among other things, denied that the value of the matter in controversy is sufficient to give the court jurisdiction and averred that it does not exceed $3,000. There was a hearing before three judges, as required by section 266 of the Judicial Code (Comp. St. § 1243), and the application for a temporary injunction was denied upon the sole ground that the requisite amount was not involved. This appeal calls for a review of that ruling. North Pacific S. S. Co. v. Soley, 257 U. S. 216, 221, 42 Sup. Ct. 87, 66 L. Ed. 203; Gilbert v. David, 235 U. S. 561, 568, 35 Sup. Ct. 164, 59 L. Ed. 360.

The complaint alleges that the matter in controversy exceeds, exclusive of interest and costs, the sum or value of $3,000, and by way of detail it is stated, among other things, that the initial cost of the construction of the side track would be $1,266.24; that the interest on the money which plaintiff would have to expend for the construction of the track, depreciation charges, necessary maintenance and operating expenses would exceed $200 a year, and that compliance with the order would hamper and delay the plaintiff in the proper operation of its trains and would impose upon it additional costs and expenses, but...