Groendyke Transport, Inc. v. New Mexico State Corp. Commission

514 P.2d 50, 85 N.M. 531
CourtNew Mexico Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 7, 1973
DocketNo. 9636
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 514 P.2d 50 (Groendyke Transport, Inc. v. New Mexico State Corp. Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Groendyke Transport, Inc. v. New Mexico State Corp. Commission, 514 P.2d 50, 85 N.M. 531 (N.M. 1973).

Opinion

OPINION

OMAN, Justice.

Plaintiff, Groendyke Transport, Inc., hereinafter called Groendyke, appeals from a judgment of the district court affirming an order of the New Mexico State Corporation Commission, hereinafter called the Commission. By this order, entered on March 4, 1971, the Commission dismissed Groendyke’s complaint filed with the Commission on February 6, 1970, by which it sought to have the Commission declare as invalid the Commission’s certificate of public convenience and necessity No. 953-1, hereinafter referred to as the certificate. This certificate is now held by defendant in intervention, Steere Tank Lines, Inc., hereinafter called Steere.

Groendyke’s position before the Commission, the district court and this court on this appeal was and is that the certificate is null and void because notice of the hearing on the application for the certificate, conducted by the Commission on December 5, 1950 failed to comply with the requirements of Art. XI, § 8 of the Constitution of New Mexico and §§ 64-27-8 and 17, N. M.S.A.1953 (2nd Repl.Vol. 9, pt. 2, 1972). We disagree and affirm the judgment of the district court.

Briefly the pertinent facts are:

(1) On October 26, 1950, Steere’s predecessor filed application for the certificate. On October 27, 1950, the Commission mailed to the applicant a notice with a request that this notice be published in some newspaper one time, not less than five days before the hearing date. This notice recited that the Commission had set November 17, 1950 as the date for the public hearing to be held on the application.

(2) On November 13, 1950, the Commission gave notice by telegram and letter to the applicant that the setting oh November 17 had been vacated, that the hearing would be conducted on December 5, and that: “All interested parties are being notified of this postponement.” Notice of the hearing on December 5 was mailed by the Commission to a number of common carriers operating in the area proposed to be served by the applicant, as well as to other interested parties. One of the common carriers so notified was Groendyke’s predecessor, who appeared at the hearing on December 5, along with many others, and participated in the proceedings.

(3) The notice of hearing, which the Commission had requested be published in some newspaper, was published in a newspaper on November 21, 1950, but the date of hearing as shown therein was not changed from November 17 to December 5.

(4) The Commission entered its order effective December 13, 1950, by which it granted the application for the certificate. It was this order which Groendyke attacked in its complaint filed with the Commission on February 6, 1970.

(5) Upon the entry of the Commission’s order of March 4, 1971, dismissing its complaint, Groendyke filed suit in the district court pursuant to § 64-27-68, N.M.S.A. 1953 (2nd Repl.Vol. 9, pt. 2, 1972), whereby it sought to have this March 4 order of the Commission vacated and set aside. The district court entered judgment affirming the Commission’s order of March 4, and Groendyke has taken this appeal from that judgment.

Groendyke predicates its position solely upon the fact that the notice published in a newspaper on November 21, 1950 erroneously recited that the hearing would be conducted on November 17, 1950, rather than on the rescheduled date of December 5, 1950. It relies primarily for support of its position upon the above stated sections of our constitution and statutes and the opinions of this court in Groendyke Transp., Inc. v. New Mexico St. Corp. Com’n, 80 N.M. 509, 458 P.2d 584 (1969) and Groendyke Transp., Inc. v. New Mexico St. Corp. Com’n, 79 N.M. 60, 439 P.2d 709 (1968).

The relevant portions of our constitutional and statutory provisions are:

“The commission [State Corporation Commission] shall determine no question nor issue any order in relation to the matters specified in the preceding section, until after a public hearing held upon ten [10] days’ notice to the parties concerned, except in case of default after such notice. * * * ”
N.M. Constitution, Art. XI, § 8.
“ * * *. The commission, upon the filing of an application for such certificate, shall fix a time and place for hearing thereon, which shall be not less than ten (10) days after such filing. The commission shall cause notice of such hearing to be served at least five (5) days before the hearing upon any officer or owner of every common carrier that is operating, or has applied for a certificate to operate, in the territory proposed to be served by the applicant, and on other interested parties as determined by the commission, * *

Section 64-27-8, supra. Section 64-27-17, supra, contains a substantially identical provision.

It is apparent, and Groendyke concedes, that neither the constitution nor the statutes require notice by newspaper publication. The requirements are that notice be given to or served upon “the parties concerned,” which, under the statutes, consists of “every common carrier that is operating or has applied for a certificate to operate in the territory proposed to be served by the applicant, and on other interested parties as determined by the commission.”

However, Groendyke contends that: “Although not yet codified, in December of 1950 when the application of Steere Tank Lines, Inc. was first proposed before the Commission, the Commission had already adopted a firm and standard practice of requiring all carrier applicants to publish notice of the time and place of the hearing on their applications * * * in a newspaper of general circulation in the counties in which they proposed to start operations.”

The record before us fails to support this contention. In fact it affirmatively appears from the record that the rules and regulations of the Commission which were effective in 1950 had been adopted July 1, 1949, and did not provide for publication of notice in a newspaper. The first rule of the Commission to require such publication was adopted in 1956.

As indicated above, notice of the hearing was given by letter to the parties concerned, to wit, common carriers operating in the territory proposed to be served by the applicant (including Groendyke’s predecessor) and other interested parties as determined by the Commission. It is true the record before us does not reflect that “every common carrier” then operating, or which had applied for a certificate to operate, in the territory proposed to be served by the applicant was served with notice by letter, but neither does it reflect that they were not so served. Groendyke offered no evidence to show that any common carrier then operating, or which had applied for a certificate to operate in the territory, or any other interested party, was not given notice of the hearing by letter.

Insofar as notice of hearing is concerned, we held in Groendyke Transp., Inc. v. New Mexico St. Corp. Com’n, 79 N.M. 60,

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514 P.2d 50, 85 N.M. 531, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/groendyke-transport-inc-v-new-mexico-state-corp-commission-nm-1973.