Dow Jones & Co. v. United States Postal Service

379 F. Supp. 1167, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7422
CourtDistrict Court, D. Delaware
DecidedJuly 26, 1974
DocketCiv. A. No. 74-20
StatusPublished

This text of 379 F. Supp. 1167 (Dow Jones & Co. v. United States Postal Service) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Delaware primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dow Jones & Co. v. United States Postal Service, 379 F. Supp. 1167, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7422 (D. Del. 1974).

Opinion

OPINION

LATCHUM, Chief Judge.

Dow Jones & Company, Inc. (“Dow Jones”) has brought this action for injunctive and declaratory relief against the United States Postal Service1 (“Postal Service”) on the ground that the action of the Director of the Office of Mail Classification of the Postal Service (“the Director”) in revoking certain original second class mailing privileges heretofore held by its publication, the Wall Street Journal (“the Journal”), was illegal.

Dow Jones is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of Delaware. Primarily a business news service, it is the publisher of the Journal, a newspaper printed daily, except for Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays.

The Journal is published in four regional editions. The Eastern Edition is printed in Chicopee, Massachusetts, South Brunswick, New Jersey, and Silver Springs, Maryland. The Midwest Edition is printed in Chicago and Highland, Illinois, and in Cleveland, Ohio. The Southwest Edition is printed in Dallas, Texas, and the Pacific Coast Edition is printed in Palo Alto and Riverside, California.

The Journal has been the beneficiary of second class mailing privileges since 1889. In that year the Journal was granted an original second class entry permit in New York City. In 1929 Dow Jones commenced publication of the Pacific Coast Edition of the Journal in San Francisco,2 and the Postal Service granted this edition an original second class entry permit in the same year. In 1948 Dow Jones commenced publishing the Southwest Edition of the Journal in Dallas and was granted an original second class entry permit in that year. In 1951 Dow Jones purchased the Chicago Journal of Commerce and LaSalle Street Journal which was thereafter converted to the Midwest Edition of the Journal. The original second class entry permit held by its predecessor was transferred to the Journal.

Prior to 1967, second class postal rates were identical for qualifying publications 3 regardless of whether the entry permit was for original entry or additional entry. In that year the law was changed to restrict the extremely favorable “in county” second class mailing rate to publications granted an original second class entry permit.4 “In county” mailings, as the term suggests, occur when a qualifying publication is mailed to an address located in the same county where the publication is entered as second class mail.5 In 1971 the [1170]*1170Director notified Dow Jones of his intent to revoke the Journal’s original second class entry permits for Chicago, Dallas and Palo Alto on the ground that a publication is entitled to only one original second class entry permit, and that a determination had been made that the four regional editions of the Journal are in reality one publication within the meaning of the relevant statutes.

Dow Jones appealed the Director’s decision to the Administrative Law Judge, pursuant to 39 CFR § 954.8, who ruled in favor of the Postal Service. An appeal was taken to the Judicial Officer, pursuant to 39 CFR § 954.15, who affirmed the decision of the Administrative Law Judge. Dow Jones then commenced the instant action. Since the decision of the Judicial Officer is deemed final administrative action by 39 CFR § 954.15, Dow Jones has exhausted its administrative remedies and this Court has jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1339 and 2201, 5 U.S.C. § 702 and 39 U. S.C. § 409. Both parties have moved for summary judgment. Since the issue of whether the administrative findings of fact are supported by substantial evidence presents only a question of law, summary judgment is appropriate. Dredge Corp. v. Penny, 338 F.2d 456 (C.A.9, 1964); Denison v. Udall, 248 F. Supp. 942 (D.Ariz.1965); Henrikson v. Udall, 229 F.Supp. 510 (N.D.Cal.1964), aff’d 350 F.2d 949 (C.A.9, 1965), cert, den. 384 U.S. 940, 86 S.Ct. 1457, 16 L. Ed.2d 538 (1966). Consequently, the Court will now consider each legal issue raised.

1. Do 39 U.S.C. §§ 4352 & 4354 permit a single publication to have more than one original second class entry permit?

Because this issue is essentially a question of statutory interpretation, the Court will substitute its judgment for that of the administrative tribunal. American Ship Building Co. v. N.L.R.B., 380 U.S. 300, 85 S.Ct. 955, 13 L.Ed.2d 855 (1965). In so doing, the Court concludes that the Administrative Law Judge’s interpretation was correct and that the statutes contemplate granting only one original second class entry permit per publication.

39 U.S.C. § 4352 provides:

“(a) Upon application in the form prescribed by him the Postmaster General shall enter as second class mail, at the Post Office where the office of publication is maintained, any publication which is entitled under sections 4353-4357 of this title to be classified as second class mail. A publication entered at one post office may also upon application be entered by him at another post office.”

The Court concludes that § 4352(a) contemplates limiting a publication to one original second class entry permit “at the Post Office where the office of publication is maintained,” and that where a publication is printed in more than one location, the second sentence of § 4352(a) authorizes the Postal Service to grant the publication an additional second class entry permit.

The Court is led to this conclusion by the language of § 4352(a) itself and its predecessor statute, by the relationship between 39 U.S.C. § 4358 and 39 U.S.C. § 4359, and by the Postal Service’s long-standing interpretation of those statutes.

First, while the present language of 39 U.S.C. § 4352(a) 6 suggests, but does [1171]*1171not make explicit, that a distinction is made between original and additional second class entry permits, the predecessor statute was more emphatic:

“Each application for entry of a publication as second-class matter shall be accompanied with a fee of $100. . . . , and each request for additional entry of a publication as second-class matter shall be accompanied with a fee of $10; . . .

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United States v. Shreveport Grain & Elevator Co.
287 U.S. 77 (Supreme Court, 1932)
Denison v. Udall
248 F. Supp. 942 (D. Arizona, 1965)
Henrikson v. Udall
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Dredge Corp. v. Penny
338 F.2d 456 (Ninth Circuit, 1964)

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Bluebook (online)
379 F. Supp. 1167, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7422, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dow-jones-co-v-united-states-postal-service-ded-1974.