Chicago & North Western Railway Co. v. United States

195 F. Supp. 708, 1961 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4279
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedJanuary 31, 1961
DocketNo. 60 C 813
StatusPublished

This text of 195 F. Supp. 708 (Chicago & North Western Railway Co. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Chicago & North Western Railway Co. v. United States, 195 F. Supp. 708, 1961 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4279 (N.D. Ill. 1961).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

This action to set aside an order of the Interstate Commerce Commission having come on for hearing on December 19, 1960, before this statutory three-judge United States District Court upon the plaintiff’s complaint and the defendants’ answers thereto, and the Court having received in evidence a certified copy of relevant portions of the record of the proceedings before the Interstate Commerce Commission, including the evidence therein, now, after reviewing said record in its entirety, and after consideration of the oral arguments and written briefs of counsel for the respective parties, the Court makes and enters the following findings of fact and conclusions of law:

[709]*709Findings of Fact

1. Plaintiff, Chicago and North Western Railway Company, hereinafter called the “North Western” is a railroad corporation, incorporated under the laws of Wisconsin, with its principal offices at Chicago, Illinois, and is a common carrier by railroad subject to the provisions of the Interstate Commerce Act (49 U.S.C.A. § 1 et seq.).

2. The defendants are the United States of America, Interstate Commerce Commission, and Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad Company, hereinafter called the “Milwaukee”. The Milwaukee is a railroad corporation, incorporated under the laws of Wisconsin, with its principal offices at Chicago, Illinois, and is a common carrier by railroad subject to the provisions of the Interstate Commerce Act (49 U.S. C.A. § 1 et seq.)

3. This action is brought by the North Western under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1336, 1398, 2284 and 2321 through 2325 and Section 10 of the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C.A. § 1009, to set aside an order of the Interstate Commerce Commission, dated June 26, 1959, in its Docket No. I. & S. 7080, Rand-ville, Mich., New Station, Chicago & N. W. Ry. Co., 308 I.C.C. 1.

4. By various tariff supplements filed with the Commission to become effective December 6, 1958, and later, the North Western proposed to name Rand-ville, Michigan, as a station served by it and to publish schedules of rates on various commodities to and from Rand-ville.

5. Randville is located on a line of the Milwaukee in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan between Amasa and Iron Mountain, approximately midway between Channing and Iron Mountain. It is served exclusively by the Milwaukee and is listed in the tariffs of that railroad.

6. Upon protest of the Milwaukee that said tariff supplements purported to publish rates to and from a point which the North Western cannot serve, the Interstate Commerce Commission suspended the operation of the proposed schedules until July 6, 1959, and instituted an investigation into their lawfulness.

7. The proceeding before the Commission was handled under its modified procedure. Written verified statements of fact and written arguments were filed by the North Western and by the Milwaukee, and an oral hearing was held for the cross-examination of witnesses and to afford the parties an opportunity to submit additional evidence. Thereafter, the Commission, Division 2, issued its report and order of June 26, 1959, finding the proposed schedules to be unlawful, in violation of section 6 of the Interstate Commerce Act, 49 U.S.C.A. § 6, and ordering them can-celled.

8. On November 19, 1959, the entire Commission denied a petition of the North Western for reconsideration for the reason that the findings of fact and conclusions in the report of the Commission, Division 2, were fully supported by the evidence and the matters submitted in support of the petition did not present substantial and material grounds to warrant reopening the proceeding for reconsideration.

9. The North Western brought this suit on May 25, 1960, seeking a decree permanently enjoining and setting aside the order of the Commission.

10. In April, 1935, the North Western and the Milwaukee entered into an agreement which provides for the pooling of iron ore mined or hoisted on the Menominee Range in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and transported from the Range to Escanaba, Michigan, for transshipment on thé Great Lakes, the sharing of revenues and expenses on such traffic on an agreed basis, and the pooling of tracks, equipment, and facilities utilized in such traffic. The Range is defined in the ore pooling agreement as “that territory on the Menominee Iron Range along the North Western from Loretto and Vulcan on [710]*710the east to Crystal Falls and Iron River on the west, and along the Milwaukee from Amasa on the north to Iron Mountain on the south and to Iron River on the west.” The agreement was approved by the Commission under Section 5(1) of the Interstate Commerce Act, 49 U.S.C.A. § 5(1), in Pooling of Ore Traffic in Wisconsin and Michigan, 210 I.C.C. 599 (1935) and 219 I.C.C. 285 (1936).

11. The pooling agreement contemplated that the Milwaukee would discontinue its operations under trackage rights over the line of the Eseanaba and Lake Superior Railroad (E. & L. S.) from a connection at Channing to Es-canaba, and would abandon its ore docks at Eseanaba; that the North Western would abandon its line from Amasa to Crystal Falls, approximately paralleling a line of the Milwaukee; and that the pooled ore consigned over either railroad from the mines to Eseanaba would be carried by the North Western to its docks at Eseanaba, the Eseanaba ore moving from the mines over the lines of the Milwaukee being delivered to the North Western at Iron Mountain. Pursuant to section 1(18) of the Interstate Commerce Act, 49 U.S.C.A. § 1(18), the Commission granted to the Milwaukee permission to abandon its operation over the line of the E. & L. S. in Pooling of Ore Traffic in Wisconsin and Michigan, 219 I.C.C. 285 (1936), and granted to the North Western permission to abandon its Amasa-Crystal Falls line in Chicago & N. W. Ry. Co. Trustee Abandoninent and Operation, 224 I.C.C. 8 (1937).

12. Incidental to the pooling arrangements, the agreement contains certain provisions for the handling of non-pooled traffic, consisting of all-rail iron ore not destined to Eseanaba and other commodities moving to and from the pooled area. Thus, paragraph 34 provides for the North Western to handle for the Milwaukee such non-pooled traffic as the latter was previously privileged to handle under its trackage rights over the E. & L.

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Bluebook (online)
195 F. Supp. 708, 1961 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4279, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chicago-north-western-railway-co-v-united-states-ilnd-1961.