Dolese Bros. Co. v. St. Louis-S. F. R. Co.

86 P.2d 800, 184 Okla. 269
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedJanuary 24, 1939
DocketNo. 26768.
StatusPublished

This text of 86 P.2d 800 (Dolese Bros. Co. v. St. Louis-S. F. R. Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dolese Bros. Co. v. St. Louis-S. F. R. Co., 86 P.2d 800, 184 Okla. 269 (Okla. 1939).

Opinion

RILEY, J.

This is an appeal from an order of the Corporation Commission dismissing the complaint of plaintiff in error wherein they claim that by the location of a switch or sidetrack on the St. Louis & S. F. Railway Company’s line about 4.25 miles east of the town of Sulphur, serving the Makins Sand & Gravel Company, a shipper of sand, gravel, and like material used largely in building and highway construction industries, and failure to list said sidetrack in its general mileage table as a shipping point, and treating said siding as within the switching limits of the town of Sulphur, and by application of single or joint line rates on shipments of sand and gravel from Makins’ plant based on distance from Sulphur, and that the Frisco and Santa Fe Railroad companies, by assessing single line rates based on distance from Sulphur for transportation of sand and gravel moving from the Makins plant to points on the Santa Fe north of Purcell, worked an unjust and unfair discrimination against complainant. The complaint in effect charges that the failure of the Frisco Company to list said siding as a separate shipping point is and has been in direct violation of the laws of the state of Oklahoma, and lawful *270 general orders of the Corporation Commission.

It appears that complainant is a corporation engaged in the preparation and sale of crushed stone, sand, and gravel used in the construction of roads, buildings, etc. It operates a stone crushing plant at a spur or siding on the Santa Fe about 12.2 miles south of Davis, Okla., junction point on the Santa Fe. The Frisco maintains a branch line running 8.8 miles west from Scullin, on its main line, west to Sulphur. The Santa Fe maintains a branch line running 9.4 miles east from Davis on its main line to Sulphur. There is no physical connection between the two lines at Sulphur so that freight tendered to and accepted by the Frisco at Sulphur for shipment to points on the Santa Fe north of Purcell and south of Oklahoma City must move east from Sulphur to Scullin and north via Frisco to Ada, and thence west and north on the Santa Fe. The Frisco may accept such shipment at single line rates based upon mileage from Sulphur west and north over the Santa Fe, subject to the right of the Santa Fe to refuse to handle the shipment at such rate, in which case Frisco may accept such shipment at joint line rates, provided it obtains from the shipper written consent thereto. In case it fails to require such written consent, if it accepts such shipment, it must protect the lower or shortest line haul rate. The practice of the Santa Fe in accepting shipment of sand, gravel, etc., from the Frisco destined for points on its line north of Purcell, as of from Sulphur, at rates based upon mileage west from and north from Sulphur, the shortest line haul, resulted in the Makins Company being granted a rate of lower than Dolese Bros. Company was charged by about six cents per ton to two points on the Santa Fe main line north of Purcell, viz., Noble and Brit-ton, and to some seven other points on branch lines of the Santa Fe the same difference in rates applied.

■ Complainant asserted that such practice was a violation of the laws of the state and prayed for an order commanding the railroad companies to cease and desist from such practices, and in the future to publish mileage to be applied from the sidetrack upon which Makins’ plant is located in the S. W. Lines Mileage Table.

The commission, after hearing, denied the application, and Dolese Brothers Company appeals.

The Frisco Company presents its separate motion to dismiss the appeal upon the grounds:

(1) That the order complained of is not an appealable order; and

(2) The state is a necessary party ap-pellee.

In support of said motion the cases of Atchison, T. & S. F. Ry. Co. v. State, 28 Okla. 797, 115 P. 872; Atchison, T. & S. F. Ry. Co. v. State, 40 Okla. 411, 138 P. 1026, and kindred cases, are cited.

In Atchison, T. & S. F. Ry. Co. v. State, 28 Okla. 797, 115 P. 872, it was held that under section 20, art. 9, of the Constitution, an appeal may be taken by any corporation whose rates, charges, or classification of traffic, schedule facilities, conveniences or service are affected by any order of the Corporation Commission, and confers appellate jurisdiction upon the Supreme Court in all actions before the Corporation Commission wherein it is sought to regulate the management and operation of transportation companies within the state in the interest of persons who use such companies for the transportation of themselves or their property, but does not apply to actions for the correction of abuses disconnected from such services.

Substantially the same question was involved in Atchison, T. & S. F. Ry. Co. v. State ex rel., 40 Okla. 411, 138 P. 1026.

The order sought by the complainant in this case is one which if granted would affect rates, charges, etc., directly connected with transportation services rendered ■ and to be rendered by the railroad companies respecting an industry in which complainant is engaged, and directly affecting rates on commodities produced and shipped by complainant. Had the order been granted, the the right of the railroad company affected to an appeal could not with reason be questioned. It follows that an appeal lies from an order denying a correction of the alleged abuse.

The motion to dismiss the appeal must be, and is, denied.

August 14, 1912, the Corporation Commission, in cause No. 1617, then pending before the commission, entered what is termed Order No. 616. Theretofore each carrier had issued its individual mileage or distance tables, resulting in great confusion in determining proper freight charges when shipments moved over lines of two or more carriers.

In the order it is stated that in the other states joint distance tables were published. The commission then found that such a table should be issued in Oklahoma. It is *271 then said that at the hearing all the carriers evidenced a desire to issue a mileage table. The order then reads:

“If an order issues, it must be specific in its terms. The commission will not at present time issue an order, but will give the carriers until the 15th day of September to submit to the commission proof copy of a joint distance or mileage table in accordance with the outline given below.”

The material parts of the outline given are:

“In the issuance of a mileage table * * * such rules, regulations and examples necessary for the proper handling of a mileage table should first appear in the book to be followed by an alphabetical index of every station, sidetrack and junction point. This should be followed by the mileage table proper which should, in so far as possible, show the railroads in alphabetical order and under each railroad there should appear upon the left and right-hand side of a double page or upon the left-hand side of a single page in geographical order every station, sidetrack, junction point, and terminal of said carrier’s lines, and at the top of the page show junction point, state line point and terminal, together with the principal cities and towns in Oklahoma. The table should be so arranged that a line drawn from top to bottom under the junction or terminal would show the distance between such points.

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Related

Atchison, T. & S. F. Ry. Co. v. State
1911 OK 220 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1911)
St. Louis-S. F. R. Co. v. State
1921 OK 141 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1921)
Atchison, T. & S. F. Ry. Co. v. State Ex Rel. West
1914 OK 68 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1914)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
86 P.2d 800, 184 Okla. 269, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dolese-bros-co-v-st-louis-s-f-r-co-okla-1939.