Garrett Freightlines, Inc. v. United States

353 F. Supp. 1329
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Washington
DecidedJanuary 24, 1973
DocketCiv. No. 514-72C2
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 353 F. Supp. 1329 (Garrett Freightlines, Inc. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Garrett Freightlines, Inc. v. United States, 353 F. Supp. 1329 (W.D. Wash. 1973).

Opinion

DECISION

EAST, District Judge:

The Plaintiffs, Garrett Freightlines, Inc., O.N.C. Motor Freight System and Silver Eagle Company (Plaintiffs) seek through these proceedings to set aside and annul an order of the Intervenor-Defendant Interstate Commerce Commission (Commission), made and entered pursuant to the provisions of Section 5 (2) of the Interstate Commerce Act, 49 U.S.C. and authorizing the IntervenorDefendant. Puget Sound Truck Lines, Inc. (Puget Sound), to purchase and put in operation certain motor operating rights of the Intervenor-Defendant, South Bend Transfer, Inc. (South Bend).

Commission, Puget Sound and South Bend urge the validity of the Commission’s order.1

JURISDICTION

We note this Court’s jurisdiction under 49 U.S.C. Sections 17(9), 305(g), 305 (h) and 28 U.S.C. Sections 1336, 1398 and 2284.

FACTS

South Bend, prior to the sale, held operating authority from the Commission to transport freight between such points as Portland, Oregon and Cosmopolis, Washington. Puget Sound, on the other hand, has held Commission authority for some time to transport freight between Cosmopolis and such other points in the State of Washington as Everett, Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia and Aberdeen. Through the purchase of South Bend’s authority and connecting or tacking2 it with its own existing authority at the common point of Cosmopolis, Puget Sound is now able to render a through service for shippers between the various points in Washington and Portland, Oregon.

The Commission made extensive findings of fact as to the past satisfactory service history of Puget Sound and South Bend under their respective authorities, the economic reasons for the sale and purchase arrangement and approved the same. Suffice, here the service under the respective authorities had been for many years and was active and virile.

The Commission’s order of August 25, 1971, the only order of the Commission in the proceedings that is challenged, was an amendatory order entered by Division 3, an Appellate Division, amending the [1331]*1331decision and order of Review Board Number 5, dated January 28, 1971 which affirmed the order of the Hearing Examiner, served August 14, 1970. That amendatory order provided, inter alia:

“It appearing, . . . applicants seeks (sic) reconsideration only insofar as the Review Board affirmed the recommended order of the Hearing Examiner which imposed a tacking restriction on the unified operating rights resulting from the transaction;” (sale and purchase arrangement)
“It further appearing, that under present policy, grants of authority will not be encumbered with restrictions against tacking unless protestants show, which they have not on this record, that they will be materially and adversely affected by the failure to impose such restriction,' Rawlings Extension-Emporia, 78 M.C.C. 636, and Fox-Smythe Transp. Co. Extension— Oklahoma, 106 M.C.C. 1; and that the said restriction should be eliminated from the decision and order of January 28, 1971;”
“It is ordered, That the petition, to the extent it seeks reconsideration be, and it is hereby, granted, the proceeding be, and it is hereby, reopened, and that the findings in the Decision and Order of January 28, 1971, be, and they are hereby modified to reflect approval of the transaction without the tacking restriction;” and
“It is further ordered, That the decision and order of January 28, 1971, as modified herein, shall be effective 35 days from the date this order is served.”

The Hearing Examiner’s findings and order generally approved the sale-purchase arrangement and authorized Puget Sound to put into operation the joint authorities, however with tacking restriction at Cosmopolis. The basis of the tacking restriction was Puget Sound’s failure to prove a public necessity and convenience for the through route, as expounded in Braswell Motor Freight Lines, Inc. v. United States, 275 F.Supp. 98 (D.C.W.D.Tex.1967), affirmed P.C. 389 U.S. 569, 88 S.Ct. 692, 19 L.Ed.2d 779.

PLAINTIFFS’ OBJECTIONS

The plaintiffs are three motor carriers operating between Portland, Oregon and points in Washington, including some points now served by Puget Sound, and challenge the Commission’s decision and order thereunder on the sole ground that Puget Sound, as a single entity holding the two authorities, cannot now provide the through service.3 They contend that the Commission’s decision and order thereunder is unlawful:

First, because Puget Sound has failed to prove, and the Commission has failed to find, a public convenience and necessity for the "new” proposed through service arising from the tacking privilege. They cite as authority Braswell, supra, at p. 102:

“It is clear that in a Section 5(2) case involving a proposed new service, the applicant must show a public need for the service proposed. Otherwise, existing services are entitled to protection from the establishment of additional competition. This rule certainly applies to this case and there must be an equivalent of the showing of public convenience and necessity where an applicant seeks new operating authority in a Section 207. proceeding. Since the public interest requires that carriers already in a territory be protected, it is immaterial whether the attempt to invade is made through an [1332]*1332application under Section 5 or one under Section 207. * * * ” (italics supplied) Similarly, Key et al. v. United States, 263 F.Supp. 544 (D.C.Ind.1966).

Therefore, the Commission acted “arbitrarily, capriciously and abused its discretion” in erasing the tacking restriction via the amendatory order of August 25, 1971.

Secondly, the Commission acted “arbitrarily, capriciously and abused its discretion” in removing the tacking restriction when the Examiner had found, and it failed to find, that the operations at Cosmopolis between Puget Sound and South Bend were dormant, prior to the sale-purchase arrangement, in the sense that they had never interlined any traffic under their respective authorities. The Examiner had found such dormancy and therefore, under all past Commission precedents, a tacking restriction would have to be imposed.

DISCUSSION

We consider Plaintiffs’ second contention without merit. True, the Commission may well require a showing of public necessity for and ability to perform when a long-sleeping authority is attempted to be put into service by a proposed purchaser. But that is a far cry from the policy of the Commission, in line with its obligation under the National Transportation Policy, 49 U.S.C., preceding Section 1, to permit one acquiring entity to completely service its own and newly acquired active, virile authorities by a tacking program.

There is no authority that the non-use, or non-implementation of the continuing statutory privilege of interlining by two separately held active authorities constitutes a waiver of that privilege or a “dormant” authority in any sense.

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353 F. Supp. 1329, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/garrett-freightlines-inc-v-united-states-wawd-1973.