Denver Union Stock Yard Co. v. United States

21 F. Supp. 83, 1937 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1326
CourtDistrict Court, D. Colorado
DecidedOctober 8, 1937
DocketNo. 10913
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 21 F. Supp. 83 (Denver Union Stock Yard Co. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Denver Union Stock Yard Co. v. United States, 21 F. Supp. 83, 1937 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1326 (D. Colo. 1937).

Opinion

SYMES, District Judge.

The Secretary of Agriculture, pursuant to the so-called Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921, as amended (42 Stat. 159, 7 U.S.C.A. §§ 201-217, inclusive), entered an order February 17, 1937, prescribing maximum reasonable rates and charges to be collected by the plaintiff, the Denver Union Stock Yard Company, for services rendered at its stockyards in Denver. The plaintiff brought this action (authorized by 7 U.S.C.A. § 217, section 316 of the same act) to restrain the enforcement of said order. By agreement of parties an interlocutory injunction was granted by this court on March 9, 1937, enjoining the enforcement of said order pending final hearing.

The constitutionality of the act (supra) has been sustained. See Stafford v. Wallace, 258 U.S. 495, 42 S.Ct. 397, 66 L.Ed. 735, 23 A.L.R. 229. And section 217 grants us jurisdiction to test the fairness, etc., of an order of the Secretary such as is here involved. It provides that all provisions of law that have to do with the suspension, or restraining the enforcement, operation, or execution of, or the setting aside in whole or in part of the orders of the Interstate Commerce Commission, are made a part of, and applicable to, the so-called Packers and Stockyards Act. See section 24 (27, 28) of the Judicial Code as amended (title 28 U.S.C.A. § 41, subds. 27 and 28).

A previous order of the Secretary prescribing maximum reasonable rates and charges to be collected by the same stock yards company, dated July 28, 1931, was held invalid by this court. Denver Union Stock Yard Co. v. United States (D.C.) 57 F.(2d) 735. The order now before us follows an order of inquiry and notice of hearing, dated November 8, 1934. The taking of evidence by the examiner was concluded July 3, 1935. The oral testimony covers 2,300 pages and 118 exhibits containing 4,000 pages were introduced. It indicates that the Secretary’s findings were made only after a full and fair hearing. The procedure has been approved by this and other courts. American Commission Co. v. United States (D.C.) 11 F.Supp. 965.

The Supreme Court has construed the act in question in the St. Joseph Stock Yards Co. Case (St. Joseph Stock Yards Co. v. United States), 298 U.S. 38, at page 51, 56 S.Ct. 720, 725, 80 L.Ed. 1033, and defined the scope and limits of the judicial review permitted, holding that rate fixing [86]*86is a legislative act, in the exercise of which there is broad discretion; that the federal courts do not sit as boards of revision to substitute their'judgment for that of the Congress or its agents as to matters within the province of either; that when, as in the act in question, the Congress appoints an agent — i. e., the Secretary of Agriculture — to act within the sphere of legislative authority, it may endow the latter with power to make findings of fact which are conclusive, provided the requirements of due process which are specially applicable to such an agency are met, as in according the parties a fair hearing and acting upon evidence and not arbitrarily; that “the judicial inquiry into the facts goes no further than to ascertain whether there is evidence to support the findings, and the question of the weight of the evidence in determining issues of fact lies with the legislative agency acting within its statutory authority.”

The court points out, however, the constitutional limitations on rate-making power that prohibit the deprivation of property without due process of law, or the taking of private property for public use without just compensation, both of which questions are subject to an independent judicial review. See, also, Judge McDermott’s discussion in Denver Union Stock Yard Co. v. United States (D.C.) 57 F.(2d) 735.

With this in mind we consider seriatim the particular errors charged by the plaintiff.

(1) That the Secretary excluded from the rate base the value of the railroad trackage of the plaintiff, the loading and unloading docks, pens and alleys adjacent thereto, together with the 8.985 acres of land whereon the said facilities are situated.

These facilities are owned by the plaintiff, but leased to the railroads serving the stockyards, under an agreement whereby the railroads pay the plaintiff for the use of the property, cost of maintenance, repairs, and renewals of tracks, and taxes and assessments.

Section 201, 7 U.S.C.A., section 301 of the'Packers and Stockyards Act, supra, defines a stockyard service as “services or facilities furnished at a stockyard in connection with the receiving, * * * marketing, feeding, watering, holding, delivery, shipment, weighing, or handling in commerce, of livestock.”

It may be assumed that railroad facilities are indispensable, or at least highly desirable and convenient for the operation of a modern stockyard; for this reason it is claimed that the value of the above property belonging to the stock yard company should be included in the rate base. The Secretary excluded these items, because, according to subsection 5 of section 15 of the Interstate Commerce Act (49 U.S.C.A. § 15(5), the carrier is obligated to deliver livestock at destination free off cars in a suitable place where the consignee can take delivery, all without extra charge, and accordingly held them to be transportation and not yard' facilities.

The locomotives and transportation equipment, etc., essential to the performance of this service, are furnished by the several railroads, yet plaintiff claims the right to charge for it. If this is a stockyard service, the inquiry naturally arises, Where does it begin? By a parity of reasoning it could be extended to include the transportation of livestock from the farm or range to the stockyard.

In Covington Stock-yard Co. v. Keith, 139 U.S. 128, 11 S.Ct. 461, 35 L.Ed. 73, it was held that a railroad company is required to provide all facilities for the discharging of livestock after it reaches the place to which it is consigned and that the full performance of this public duty requires the aid of inclosed yards, into which the stock can be safely and effectively delivered. And, furthermore, that a special charge cannot be made in addition to the transportation charge for merely receiving or delivering such stock in and through yards provided for that purpose.

This case was affirmed in United States v. Union Stock Yard Co., 226 U.S. 286, 33 S.Ct. 83, 57 L.Ed. 226, which calls attention to the provisions of the Interstate Commerce Commission Act that all switches, spurs, tracks, and terminal facilities of every kind used or necessary in the transportation of persons or property and: grounds used or necessary in the transportation or delivery of any of said property,, are transportation facilities; the test being; the character of the service rendered.

In Allied Packers v. Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. Co., 161 I.C.C. 641, at pages 643, 644, the Commission held the unloading of stock into the unloading chutes at a. stockyard, even though performed by stockyárd employees, to be subject to the jurisdiction of the Commission and that the; [87]*87assessment of a charge for the use of stockyard facilities cannot deprive the Commission.of its jurisdiction.

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

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
21 F. Supp. 83, 1937 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1326, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/denver-union-stock-yard-co-v-united-states-cod-1937.