Henslin v. Roaasti Trucking Inc.

69 F.3d 995, 95 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 8531, 1995 U.S. App. LEXIS 31116
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedNovember 3, 1995
DocketNos. 93-16469, 93-16891
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 69 F.3d 995 (Henslin v. Roaasti Trucking Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Henslin v. Roaasti Trucking Inc., 69 F.3d 995, 95 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 8531, 1995 U.S. App. LEXIS 31116 (9th Cir. 1995).

Opinion

KLEINFELD, Circuit Judge:

The question in this ease is whether the exemption of agricultural commodities in the ICC statute regulating trucking eliminates federal question jurisdiction over truckers’ claims for unpaid shipping bills for agricultural commodities. We conclude that it does.

I. Facts.

Ms. Henslin owns a trucking company. She hauled onions, eanteloupes, carrots, and other produce for defendants. In all eases, the shipper or consignee paid the broker who hired Ms. Henslin, but the broker went out of business and did not pay her. She sued the shippers and consignees. The substantive question was whether they would get stuck paying twice, or she would get stuck hauling their produce and not getting paid. She, the shippers, and the consignees were innocent victims of the brokers’ business failures. Ms. Henslin’s claims were in various amounts, ranging from about $1,800 to $20,-000, adding up to about $22,000 total. Her jurisdictional basis for being in district court was federal question, not diversity. Her basis for federal question jurisdiction was that the charges were regulated by the ICC.

The district court granted summary judgment against Ms. Henslin’s claims for lack of federal question jurisdiction. In one of the appealed cases the opinion was published, at Henslin v. Roaasti Trucking, Inc., 815 F.Supp. 1347 (E.D.Cal.1993). We affirm.

II. Analysis.

We review summary judgment de novo. Warren v. City of Carlsbad, 58 F.3d 439, 441 (9th Cir.1995).

For many decades, the federal government has regulated commercial trucking. Motor Carrier Act of 1980, H.R. No. 1069, 96th Cong., 2d Sess. 2 (1980), reprinted in 1980 U.S.C.C.A.N. 2283, 2284. Generally, rates are regulated, 49 U.S.C. § 10701, discounts to some but not all shippers are prohibited, 49 U.S.C. § 10741, carriers must charge the rates stated in their published tariffs, 49 U.S.C. § 10761, and liability of a shipper or consignor to pay the carrier is a matter of federal law. 49 U.S.C. § 10744. That im[997]*997plies that there is federal question jurisdiction in a lawsuit to collect unpaid freight bills, so the carrier can sue in federal court regardless of whether the $50,000 diversity requirement in 28 U.S.C. § 1332 is met. Thurston Motor Lines, Inc. v. Jordan K. Rand, Ltd., 460 U.S. 533, 103 S.Ct. 1343, 75 L.Ed.2d 260 (1983).

In the Motor Carrier Act of 1980, Congress reduced the extent of regulation of certain kinds of shipping. In particular, Congress clarified the nature of an exemption it had provided for transportation of agricultural commodities. See Motor Carrier Act of 1980, H.R. No. 1069, 96th Cong., 2d Sess. 32 (1980), reprinted in 1980 U.S.C.C.A.N. 2283, 2314. Some commodities were exempt from regulation, and Congress sought to assure that mixing exempt and regulated commodities in the same truckload would not deprive the exempt commodities of their exemption, or the regulated commodities of their regulation. Id. at 2316. Congress was concerned that because courts had construed mixing to affect regulatory status, tracks were being driven across the country partly empty, wasting work and fuel. Id.

The ICC has general jurisdiction over transportation by motor carrier, subject to various exemptions. 49 U.S.C. § 10521 et seq. One exemption is for transportation of agricultural commodities:

(a) The Interstate Commerce Commission does not have jurisdiction under this sub-chapter over—
(6) transportation by motor vehicle of—
(B) agricultural and horticultural commodities (other than manufactured products thereof);
******

49 U.S.C. § 10526(a). Note that this statute exempts “transportation.” The old wording was different, exempting the “motor vehicle.” The statute prior to the 1980 amendment exempted “a motor vehicle carrying, for compensation, only property and that property consists of— ... (B) agricultural or horticultural commodities.” 49 U.S.C. § 10526(a), amended by P.L. 96-296, § 21(a), 94 Stat. 810 (1980).

Ms. Henslin does not dispute that her trucks were carrying agricultural products for the firms she sued. She argues that because her tracking company is a regulated carrier, she can claim federal question jurisdiction, regardless of whether the commodity she carries is exempt. Her theory is that the shipper of agricultural commodities can use an ICC regulated carrier, or else use an unregulated tracker, and take the bad with the good either way. The exemption of unregulated commodities, in her view, is what enables the shipper to use a nonregulated carrier, but it does not eliminate federal jurisdiction where the shipper elects to hire a certificated carrier.

She relies on a 1956 Fourth Circuit case, Fawley Motor Lines v. Cavalier Poultry Corp., 235 F.2d 416 (4th Cir.1956), for the proposition that the exemption is of vehicles engaged in transporting agricultural commodities, not of the rates for the transportation. Fawley held that if a truck is used to carry nonexempt property, tariffs must be filed and observed for agricultural commodities carried in the track.

We do not think the 1980 statute permits the construction Ms. Henslin urges. The statute construed by Fawley is no longer in effect. Ms. Henslin carried the canteloupes and other agricultural commodities under the 1980 statute. The pre-1980 exemption was of a “motor vehicle.” That permitted the construction that the exemption was only of the motor vehicle, not of the transportation of particular goods. If the truck was nonexempt for some other reason, then the transportation of agricultural commodities was not exempt. Ms. Henslin’s argument that because her tracks are regulated, her rate is too, cannot survive the Congressional alteration of the exemption from “motor vehicle” to “transportation.”

Now that Congress has exempted the “transportation,” it does not matter whether the track is in some respect not exempt. The “transportation” is exempt regardless of whether the track is exempt. Congress sought to facilitate efficient shipment of agricultural commodities, whether in mixed or [998]

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69 F.3d 995, 95 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 8531, 1995 U.S. App. LEXIS 31116, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/henslin-v-roaasti-trucking-inc-ca9-1995.