Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati Highway, Inc. v. Public Utilities Commission

60 N.E.2d 166, 144 Ohio St. 557, 144 Ohio St. (N.S.) 557, 30 Ohio Op. 179, 1945 Ohio LEXIS 495
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 14, 1945
Docket29982 and 29983
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 60 N.E.2d 166 (Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati Highway, Inc. v. Public Utilities Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati Highway, Inc. v. Public Utilities Commission, 60 N.E.2d 166, 144 Ohio St. 557, 144 Ohio St. (N.S.) 557, 30 Ohio Op. 179, 1945 Ohio LEXIS 495 (Ohio 1945).

Opinion

Weygandt, C. J.

The first question presented by the appellants for consideration by this court is whether the proposed operation of the Pennsylvania Truck Lines,. Inc., is that of a “motor transportation company” or “common carrier by motor vehicle” as defined by Section 614-84 (a), General Code, which reads in part as follows:

“The term ‘motor transportation company,’ or ‘common carrier by motor vehicle,’ when used in this chapter, shall include, and * * * shall apply to every corporation, company, * * * or copartnership * * * when engaged, or proposing to engage, in the business of transporting persons or property, or both, or of providing or furnishing such transportation service, for hire, whether directly or by lease or other arrangement, for the public in general, in or by motor propelled vehicles of any kind whatsoever, * * # over any public highway in this state * *

The applicant, the Pennsylvania Truck Lines, Inc., has entered into a contract with the Pennsylvania Railroad Company which also owns the stock of the former company. This contract is unassignable except with the consent of the railroad company and provides that the trucking company as an independent contractor shall accept and transport from and to the enumerated stations all so-called less-than-earload quantities of freight offered to it by the railroad company. The motor vehicles employed im this transportation service are owned by the trucking company and are not to be rented or leased to the railroad company but are to be operated, maintained and insured by the trucking company at its own expense. For this service the railroad company agrees to pay the trucking company a specified sum per month plus an.-additional *560 „amount for mileage traveled. The contract “shall continue in effect subject to termination upon thirty (30) clays’ written notice from either party to the other; provided, that either party may' terminate this agreement at any time immediately upon written notice to the other party by reason of any1 adverse legislation, order or rule of any public authority; and provided further, that railroad, because of its common carrier obligations, may terminate this agreement at any time immediately upon the giving of written notice to trucker in the event that trucker shall fail to perform in a satisfactory manner any of its obligations under this agreement.”

In their briefs counsel cite and discuss at length the decisions of this court in the three cases of New York Central Rd. Co. v. Public Utilities Commission, 121 Ohio St., 588, 170 N. E., 574; New York Central Rd. Co. v. Public Utilities Commission, 123 Ohio St., 370, 175 N. E., 596; and Lake Motor Freight Line, Inc., v. Public Utilities Commission, 126 Ohio St., 419, 185 N. E., 529.

In the second paragraph of the syllabus of the first of the three cited cases this court held that where “a common carrier railroad company owns, controls, operates or manages any motor-propelled vehicle not usually operated on or over rails, used in the business of transportation of persons or property or both as a common carrier for hire over any public highway in this state, this constitutes such railroad company a motor transportation company.” In contrast the instant case involves the certification of a trucking, company and not a railroad. It is true that in the cited case a trucking company .was doing the hauling, but that company was operating under a contract which lodged complete control of both management and operation in the railroad company alone. In the instant case the contract expressly provides that the trucking *561 .company shall be “wholly independent” and that the railroad company shall not “supervise, direct or control the manner of the rendering of any service in connection with any work or other feature covered by this or prior agreements * *

The second cited case involved the same railroad company as the first. The chief difference between the two cases is that in the first it was held simply that the railroad company could not continue to operate the trucking service without a certificate of convenience and necessity; and in the second case the railroad company itself applied for such a certificate but this was denied on the three grounds that.no proper tariffs had been filed by the applicant as required by law and the rules and regulations of the commission, that the evidence did not show public convenience and necessity for the proposed service, and that the evidence did not show the existing motor transportation companies were not rendering adequate and convenient service.

The third cited case is the one upon which the appellee relies. There, as in the instant case, the applicant was a trucking company that had entered into a contract with the railroad company for motor transportation of less-tlian-carload quantities of freight from and to the latter’s stations and under the latter’s tariffs and bills of lading exclusively. The Public Utilities Commission granted the application, and that order was affirmed by this court by a divided vote.

But it is important to observe that subsequent to the decisions in those cases Section 8746-1, General Code, was enacted. In part it reads as follows:

“Any railroad company may acquire, own and hold capital stock and securities of corporations organized for or engaged in the businesses authorized in this act and may operate the properties, or any part or parts thereof, of such corporations, and may enter into *562 working arrangements and agreements with such corporations. ’ ’

Thus it is apparent that this new statute has expressly authorized a railroad company to do the things that have been done by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, namely, own capital stock of a motor transportation company and enter into a working arrangement 'and agreement with such corporation; and there is nothing in the statute to indicate an intention on the part of the General Assembly to the effect that under such circumstances the railroad necessarily becomes a motor transportation company or that the contracting motor transportation company thereby loses its character as a common carrier, as contended by the appellants. It, of course, is true that the motor transportation company is hauling for the railroad, but the fact remains that at the same time it is engaged in public transportation also. The freight transported is the property of neither the railroad company nor the motor transportation company but belongs to members of the public by whom it is taken to one of the enumerated stations to be hauled to another.

Incidentally, as stated by the Public Utilities Commission, one of the appellant protestants itself has been operating for some time under a similar certificate approving a similar contract with the Pennsylvania Railroad Company for the hauling of less-than-carload quantities of freight over a different route in lilis state.

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Related

In re Atlantic Greyhound Corp.
88 Ohio Law. Abs. 257 (Ohio Public Utilities Commission, 1958)
Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Co. v. Public Service Commission
81 S.E.2d 700 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 1953)
B. & N. Transportation, Inc. v. Public Utilities Commission
153 Ohio St. (N.S.) 441 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1950)
B. N. Trans. v. P.U.C.
92 N.E.2d 265 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1950)
Norwalk Truck Line Co. v. Public Utilities Commission
74 N.E.2d 328 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1947)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
60 N.E.2d 166, 144 Ohio St. 557, 144 Ohio St. (N.S.) 557, 30 Ohio Op. 179, 1945 Ohio LEXIS 495, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cleveland-columbus-cincinnati-highway-inc-v-public-utilities-ohio-1945.