Baltimore & Ohio Railroad v. United States

212 F. Supp. 13, 1962 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4780
CourtDistrict Court, D. Maryland
DecidedDecember 19, 1962
DocketCiv. A. No. 13129
StatusPublished

This text of 212 F. Supp. 13 (Baltimore & Ohio Railroad v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad v. United States, 212 F. Supp. 13, 1962 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4780 (D. Md. 1962).

Opinion

R. DORSEY WATKINS, District Judge.

This is an action by plaintiffs1 against the original defendants2 to supend, enjoin, set aside and annul that portion of a decision and order of the Interstate Commerce Commission, dated June 15, 1961, 314 I.C.C. 149, in proceedings entitled Investigation and Suspension Docket No. 6074, Iron Ore from Eastern Ports to Central Freight Association Points, and Investigation and Suspension Docket No. 6742, Iron Ore, Ex-Labrador, Canada to Youngstown, Ohio 3 which re[15]*15quires a parity of rates on import iron ore from Baltimore, Maryland and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to certain destinations in the States of Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia known as “differential territory” or the “17 points”4, to restrain and enjoin the United States of America, and the Interstate Commerce Commission, from enforcing and making effective said portion of the Commission’s decision and order entered in those proceedings; and further to prevent and enjoin the Pennsylvania Railroad Company from continuing in effect certain rates on iron ore from Philadelphia to the same destinations in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, which were published to become effective February 9, 1953 and which became effective February 19, 1954.

Answers were filed by the original defendants. On motions and petitions, interventions as defendants were allowed as indicated in the caption, and answers were filed by the intervenors.

The early background of this litigation is set forth at length in the previous decision of the three-judge court for this District, Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company v. United States, D.Md.1957, 151 F.Supp. 258, and need not be repeated in extenso. A brief summary, however, with special reference to subsequent developments, should be helpful.

Prior to 1950 the railroad rates on imported iron ore from Baltimore and Philadelphia to the destinations in issue had been fixed in conformity with an agreement between the carriers under which the rate from Baltimore was 20 cents per ton lower than that from Philadelphia.

In 1949, substantial reductions were made in the rates on imported iron ore from Baltimore to 49 points in Central Territory, including the 17 points, to take effect October 9, 1950. Simultaneously, the rate from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh was reduced to the Baltimore level continuing a parity that had existed since 1903; but from Philadelphia to points west of Pittsburgh (including the 17 points, and points west thereof) the rates were not reduced. Accordingly, the differential from Philadelphia with respect to these points was not the standard differential of 20 cents, but that amount plus the amount of the Baltimore reductions. Probably this concession of the traffic to Baltimore was because until 1954 Philadelphia had no large, modern ore unloading facilities.

In 1953 the Pennsylvania Railroad filed rates, to become effective February 9, 1953, from Philadelphia to the 17 points, at the same level as the Baltimore 1950 rates. Railroads serving New York and Boston filed rates on the Baltimore level to those of the 17 points served by their lines. In an effort to preserve the differential, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and Western Maryland Railway filed new rates from Baltimore 20 cents per ton under the 1950 rates, and therefore under the proposed rates from Philadelphia. The Pennsylvania Railroad protested the lower Baltimore rates, and filed a second round of reductions, which were protested by the Baltimore interests. The Interstate Commerce Commission suspended all the proposed rates.

In 1954, Division 2 of the Interstate Commerce Commission disapproved the New York and Boston reductions, approved the Philadelphia reduction to 1950 parity with Baltimore, and disapproved the further reductions from Baltimore designed to re-establish a 20 cent differential under Philadelphia, 291 I.C.C. 527. In 1956 the full Commission affirmed Division 2, except that it approved parity rates from New York, as well as from Philadelphia and from Baltimore. The Commission agreed with Division 2 in the disapproval of Boston parity, and this part of its order was affirmed. Bos[16]*16ton & Maine Railroad v. United States, D.Mass. 1957, 153 F.Supp. 952.

Upon appeal by the Baltimore interests from the order approving parity for Philadelphia and New York with Baltimore, this court reversed the Commission as to the New York parity rates5, and remanded the case to the Commission for more specific findings justifying the destruction of the long established Baltimore differential, stating that the mere prophesy that Baltimore would not suffer a total loss of tonnage under parity would not suffice, since the port was entitled to the benefits of its geographical position (151 F.Supp. at 277), including the shorter rail haul to the West. The Commission was directed “to make explicit findings as to the relative costs of ocean shipping of imported iron ore to the ports of Baltimore and Philadelphia and as to the traffic therein to be reasonably expected at these ports, if parity is continued or if the differential is restored, taking into consideration the volume of traffic that has passed through these ports since February 19, 1954, when parity went into effect” 6, and that pending said findings and a decision thereon, parity between Baltimore and Philadelphia would be retained “upon the assumption that steps be taken to secure a prompt determination.” (151 F.Supp. at 278; emphasis supplied.)

On appeal by the Philadelphia and New York interests, the United States Supreme Court entered a per curiam opinion and order, vacated such portion of the order of this Court as did not affirm the order of the Commission, stating that the Commission was not precluded from a consideration of the interrelationship of the Baltimore-Philadelphia-New York rates, and that it should “enter such orders with respect to all three ports as the Commission may find to be required by their interrelationship.” I. C. C. v. Baltimore & O. R. Co., 1957, 355 U.S. 175, 178, 78 S.Ct. 189, 190, 191, 2 L.Ed.2d 183.

In the opinion of the Commission under review in the instant case, the Commission has clearly stated its understanding of its duties on remand, as follows (314 I.C.C. at 152):

“ * * * As a result of the court proceedings, we were directed to reconsider the following matters: (1) the relative cost of ocean transportation of iron ore from foreign origins to Baltimore and Philadelphia; (2) to what extent, if any, differences in ocean distances influence the movement of iron ore; (3) the ownership of vessels in which iron ore is carried; (4) the relative volume of traffic to Baltimore and Philadelphia with or without parity, and whether or not such ore shipments would seek the port offering the lowest transportation cost; (5) the New York schedules with respect to their effect on the Baltimore-Philadelphia rate situation; and (6) the importance of the national defense, as distinguished from other rate-making factors, as justification for rate parity.”

On remand, after hearing, the Commission in its Findings and Conclusions 7 said (314 I.C.C. 168-169):

“1. In I, and S.No.

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Related

New York Central Railroad Company v. United States
200 F. Supp. 944 (S.D. New York, 1961)
Boston and Maine Railroad v. United States
153 F. Supp. 952 (D. Massachusetts, 1957)
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company v. United States
151 F. Supp. 258 (D. Maryland, 1957)
New York Central Railroad Co. v. United States
207 F. Supp. 483 (S.D. New York, 1962)

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Bluebook (online)
212 F. Supp. 13, 1962 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4780, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/baltimore-ohio-railroad-v-united-states-mdd-1962.