Crescent Brewing Co. v. Oregon Short Line Railroad

132 P. 975, 24 Idaho 106, 1913 Ida. LEXIS 129
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedMay 17, 1913
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 132 P. 975 (Crescent Brewing Co. v. Oregon Short Line Railroad) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Crescent Brewing Co. v. Oregon Short Line Railroad, 132 P. 975, 24 Idaho 106, 1913 Ida. LEXIS 129 (Idaho 1913).

Opinion

STEWAET, J.

This action was brought in the district court of Canyon county for a peremptory writ of mandate compelling the defendant company to accept from plaintiff certain freight at the town of Nampa.

The complaint alleges that Nampa is a station upon the railroad line of the respondent, and that plaintiff tendered for shipment ten quarter barrels of beer addressed to A.’T. Toney, McCall, Boise county, Idaho, by way of New Meadows, care of Mitchell & Mathias Forwarding Company; that at the time plaintiff tendered a bill of lading made out in the regular form, setting out the class of goods and weight, the address of the consignee and the route. This tender and offer of shipment was refused by the defendant, and the defendant indorsed on the bill of lading, by the agent of the defendant company at Nampa, the following:

■ ‘This shipment refused. G. F. A. J. A. Eeeves. Eules unlawful to accept where railroad destination is located in prohibition territory.
“(Signed) J. M. McPHEESON.
“Nampa, Idaho, Apr. 18, 1912.”

The allegations of the complaint were put in issue, and it is also alleged that Nampa, Idaho, is situated in prohibition [110]*110territory, as defined by the statutes of Idaho; that New Meadows, the town mentioned in plaintiff’s complaint, is situated in Adams county, Idaho, which had prior to the commencement of this action, and for a long time prior thereto, voted to prohibit the sale of intoxicating liquors in Adams county, Idaho, and that the sale of intoxicating liquors in Adams county is now prohibited by law; that the defendant has never held itself out as a common carrier of freight or accepted shipments of freight for delivery to McCall, Boise county, Idaho, but shipments offered to this defendant, the ultimate destination of which is McCall, Boise county, Idaho, are billed to New Meadows, Adams county, Idaho, where delivery is made to the consignee, or his agent there, where the liability and responsibility of the defendant ceases; and for that reason the defendant cannot legally accept for shipment and delivery the intoxicating liquors offered to it by the plaintiff.

It is also alleged in the answer that this defendant has no through freight rate, and does not quote any freight rate from Nampa, Canyon county, Idaho, to McCall, Boise county, Idaho, and that there is now on file with the interstate commerce commission no tariff showing any rate from Nampa, Canyon county, Idaho, to McCall, Boise county, Idaho, and there is no common carrier of freight for hire over whose line this defendant can bill' or transport freight from Nampa, Canyon county, Idaho, to McCall, Boise county, Idaho, and that the defendant has no connection whatever with the Mitchell & Mathias Forwarding Company mentioned in plaintiff’s complaint, and said Mitchell & Mathias Forwarding Company does not hold itself out as a common carrier of freight and has not filed any tariff with the interstate commerce commission, and has no arrangement with the defendant company or with the Pacific '& Idaho Northern Railroad whereby freight is billed over its stage line from New Meadows to McCall, or to any other place.

Upon the issues made by the complaint and answer the cause was tried to the court and findings of fact and conclusions of law were filed and judgment was entered that a writ [111]*111of mandate be denied and the cause dismissed. This appeal is from the judgment.

The appellant depends for reversal upon the following grounds: First, that the shipment offered by plaintiff to the defendant was a continuous shipment from Nampa to McCall, Idaho, and that the point of destination was McCall and not New Meadows; that the Oregon Short Line Railway, the Pacific & Idaho Northern Railroad and the Mitchell & Mathias Forwarding Company are all connecting carriers; that the delivery of freight to the Mitchell & Mathias Forwarding Company is not a delivery to the agent of the consignee, but a delivery of the goods to a connecting carrier of the defendant. Second, that the shipment in question is an interstate shipment, and being interstate commerce, under the commerce clause of the United States constitution, the local option law of the state of Idaho did not apply. Third, refusal of the lower court to issue the peremptory writ of mandate. Fourth, that the findings and judgment are contrary to the evidence and contrary to the law.

The respondent contends that there is no obligation resting upon the defendant company to accept such shipment for transportation over any line of any connecting carrier, unless it be such carrier as comes within the definition of a common carrier as given in the interstate commerce act.

From the positions taken by the respective parties, it is apparent that two questions are presented for consideration. First, whether the shipment in question was an interstate shipment and governed by the Interstate Commerce Act as amended June 29, 1906, and April 13, 1908; second, whether sec. 25 of the local option law, Laws of 1909, p. 17, prohibits the shipment involved in this case, and would the acceptance of such shipment subject the defendant to the penalty prescribed by sec. 30 of said act.

We will first consider whether the shipment involved was an interstate shipment.

See. 1 of the Interstate Commerce Act reads as follows:

“That the provisions of this act shall apply to any corporation or any person or persons engaged in the transportation [112]*112of oil or other commodity, except water and except natural or artificial gas, by means of pipe-lines, or partly by pipelines and partly .by railroad, or partly by pipe-lines and partly by water, who shall be considered and held to be common carriers within the meaning and purpose of this act, and to any common carrier or carriers engaged in the transportation of passengers or property wholly by railroad (or partly by railroad and partly by water when both are used under a common control, management, or arrangement for a continuous carriage or shipment), from one state or territory of the United States, or the District of Columbia, to any other state or territory of the United States, or the District of Columbia, or from one place in a territory to another place in the same territory, or from any place in the United States to an adjacent foreign country, or from any place in the United States through a foreign country to any other place in the United States, and also to the transportation in like manner of property shipped from any place in the United States to a foreign country and carried from such place to -a. port of transshipment, or shipped from a foreign country to any place in the United States and carried to such place from a port of entry either in the United States or an adjacent foreign country: Provided, however, That the provisions of this act shall not apply to the transportation of passengers or property or to the receiving, delivering, storage, or handling of property'wholly within one state and not shipped to or from a foreign county from or to any state or territory as aforesaid.
“The term ‘common carrier’ as used in this act shall include express companies and sleeping-car companies.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
132 P. 975, 24 Idaho 106, 1913 Ida. LEXIS 129, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/crescent-brewing-co-v-oregon-short-line-railroad-idaho-1913.