Alamo Express, Inc. v. Union City Transfer

298 S.W.2d 914, 1956 Tex. App. LEXIS 2491, 1956 WL 92555
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 12, 1956
DocketNo. 10431
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 298 S.W.2d 914 (Alamo Express, Inc. v. Union City Transfer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Alamo Express, Inc. v. Union City Transfer, 298 S.W.2d 914, 1956 Tex. App. LEXIS 2491, 1956 WL 92555 (Tex. Ct. App. 1956).

Opinion

GRAY, Justice.

This appeal is from a judgment sustaining an order of the Railroad Commission of Texas granting specialized motor carrier certificates to appellees.

Appellants are twenty five regular route common carrier motor carriers.

The Railroad Commission of Texas will be later referred to as the Commission and the specialized motor carriers as ap-pellees.

Prior to all times material here appel-lees were the owners and operators of specialized motor carrier certificates authorizing them to transport

“Oilfield Equipment and Pipe, when moving as oilfield equipment. Pipe when it is to be used in the construction and maintenance of pipe lines of any and every other character or use other than oilfield equipment; except the carrier is prohibited from transporting pipe when not moving as oilfield equipment when such pipe is less than four (4") inches in diameter and is also less than twenty-eight (28) feet in length.
“Trenching Machines * * * ” (then follows a list of various machines, materials and equipment) “when said commodities are not moving as oilfield equipment, as follows:
“ ‘The holder of this authority may transport the above named commodities together with its attachments and its detached parts thereof between incorporated cities, towns and villages only when the commodity to be transported weighs 4,000 pounds or more in a single piece or when such commodity, because of physical characteristics other than weight, requires the use of “special devices, facilities or equipment” for the safe and proper loading or unloading thereof.
“ ‘The term “special devices, facilities or equipment” is construed to mean only those operated by motive or mechanical power.’ ”

Prior to the times material here appel-lees had transported machinery, materials and equipment for various industries under the belief that they were transporting oilfield equipment and that their operations were lawful. Their authority was questioned and thereafter appellees filed separate applications with the Commission to amend their existing certificates.

It appears that some 150 applications were filed by 128 specialized motor carriers. Separate notices were issued on the applications and upon the call of the docket of the Commission the applications were each set down for hearing at the Lamar Plotel in Houston for March 15, 1954. On that date appellants together with other parties appeared before the examiner as protestants. The examiner after a lengthy discussion with and between the attorneys for the various parties consolidated the hearings and heard the applications on a consolidated record. Appellants objected to the consolidated hearing. Thereafter on May 13, 1954, the Commission granted appellees specialized motor carrier certificates authorizing them to transport

“ * * * pipe when it is to be used in the construction of pipe lines of any and every other character or use other than oilfield equipment between the points within the area covered by the existing certificates of the applicants; except that the applicants are prohibited from transporting pipe when not moving as oilfield equipment, where both origin and destination are places on the certificated routes of regular route common carrier motor carriers, [917]*917when such pipe is less than four inches (4") in diameter and is also less than twenty-eight feet (28') in length.
“It is further ordered by the Commission that the certificates enumerated in the caption of this order be amended so as to authorize the transportation by these applicants, when said commodities are not moving as oilfield equipment and when said commodities require specialized equipment for the loading or unloading, and transportation, thereof, between all points within the area covered by the existing certificates, as follows: Absorbers (scrubbers) * * * ”

Then follows a list of machines, materials and equipment not listed in the original certificates and the order concludes with the restriction that:

“ ‘The Holder of This Authority may transport the above-named commodities (beginning with the commodity “Absorbers”) together with its attachments and its detached parts thereof, between points in the pickup and delivery limits of the regular route common carrier motor carriers in incorporated cities, towns and villages only when the commodity to be transported weighs 4,000 pounds or more in a single piece or when such commodity, because of physical characteristics other than weight, require the use of “special devices, facilities or equipment” for the safe and proper loading or unloading and transportation thereof.
“ ‘The term “special devices, facilities or equipment,” is construed to mean only those operated by motive or mechanical power.’ ”

Appellants filed objections and exceptions to the above order and requested oral argument before the Commission. This request was granted, oral arguments were heard and on August 18, 1954, the Commission overruled the exceptions and objections.

Appellants timely filed this suit and at a non jury trial the Commission’s order was sustained.

Findings of fact and conclusions of law were filed by the trial court.

Appellants’ points are to the effect that the trial court erred in sustaining the Commission’s order because: (1) as a matter of law the Commission could not have reasonably discharged the mandatory duties required by the specialized motor carrier act in connection with each of the applications; (2) there was no substantial evidence before the trial court supporting the Commission’s order; (3) the order of the Commission is void because it fails to set forth full, complete and detailed fact findings of the inadequacy of existing services or the public need for the proposed new services; (4) the Commission was without jurisdiction to authorize the transportation of many of the named commodities by specialized motor carriers because they never move with physical characteristics requiring special equipment for loading, unloading and transportation and others only occasionally move with such qualifying characteristics; (5) the order is invalid and is a denial of due process because it is uncertain, indefinite and ambiguous because it fails to provide reasonable standards, definitions and limitations of what is or is not a violation of the order sufficient to prevent discrimination in its enforcement; and (6) the trial court erred in refusing appellants’ alternative request that if the order is sustained then that a declaratory judgment be rendered declaring the meaning of the order and its provisions which are indefinite and not measurable by standards contained in the order. Point 1-A is to the effect that there is no evidence or insufficient evidence to support numbered findings of fact, and Point 1-B is to the effect that the trial court erred in failing to make requested findings of fact.

In their brief appellants say:

“As previously stated the controlling issues in this case summarized [918]*918in Points I through V are issues concerning (1) whether the Commission’s action in this case can be reconciled with jurisdictional and procedural limitations imposed by the 1941 Specialized Motor Carrier Act and (2) whether the Commission’s action in this case was reasonably supported by substantial evidence before the Trial Court.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Presbyterian Hospital North v. Texas Health Facilities Commission
664 S.W.2d 391 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1983)
Miller v. Railroad Commission
363 S.W.2d 244 (Texas Supreme Court, 1962)
Alamo Express, Inc. v. Union City Transfer
309 S.W.2d 815 (Texas Supreme Court, 1958)
Railroad Commission v. Alamo Express, Inc.
298 S.W.2d 926 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1956)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
298 S.W.2d 914, 1956 Tex. App. LEXIS 2491, 1956 WL 92555, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/alamo-express-inc-v-union-city-transfer-texapp-1956.