Interstate Commerce Commission v. Appleyard

371 F. Supp. 168, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12708
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. North Carolina
DecidedJanuary 18, 1974
DocketNo. C-216-WS-69
StatusPublished

This text of 371 F. Supp. 168 (Interstate Commerce Commission v. Appleyard) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Interstate Commerce Commission v. Appleyard, 371 F. Supp. 168, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12708 (M.D.N.C. 1974).

Opinion

FINDINGS OF FACT, CONCLUSIONS OF LAW AND OPINION

GORDON, Chief Judge.

This cause having come on for consideration by the Court upon the complaint of the plaintiff, the answers of the defendants, the pleadings, the evidence and exhibits presented at the trial on October 15, 1973, the briefs and representations of the parties, and the Court having considered each of the foregoing, now pursuant to Rule 52 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, makes it Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law.

Findings of Fact

1. This is a civil action brought by the Interstate Commerce Commission under the provisions of Part II of the Interstate Commerce Act (49 U.S.Code, § 301 et seq.), and particularly 49 U.S.Code § 322(b) and under the general laws and rules relative to suits in equity arising under the Constitution and laws of the United States. By its complaint, the plaintiff seeks to perpetually and permanently enjoin the defendant George T. Appleyard, III, from transporting or holding out to transport property by motor vehicle in interstate commerce over public highways for compensation as a common or contract carrier until such time, if at all, as appropriate authority to engage in such transportation has been obtained, and that James W. Cain and Michael Parkhurst be perpetually enjoined and restrained from, in any manner, directly or indirectly, acting in concert or participating with said George T. Appleyard, III, or others, in the unlawful transportation of property in interstate commerce.

2. By order entered and filed on January 13, 1972, the defendant, Michael Parkhurst, was perpetually enjoined and restrained from, in any manner, directly or indirectly, knowingly acting in concert or participating with defendant George T. Appleyard, III, or others, in the unlawful transportation of property in interstate commerce.

3. The defendant, George T. Apple-yard, III, was and is a resident of the State of North Carolina, at Winston-Salem, which is in the Middle District of North Carolina; that he is and was engaged in the transportation of property in interstate commerce by motor vehicle, for compensation, on public highways, as a for-hire carrier within the Middle District of North Carolina; that he in fact did perform the transportation set out in Paragraph V of plaintiff’s complaint, without having first obtained a certificate of public convenience and necessity, a permit, or other authority from the Interstate Commerce Commission (Final Pre-Trial Order entered April 20, 1972.)

4. The defendant James W. Cain was a resident of the State of California when this suit was filed; that at that time he was the manager of Overdrive Magazine; that he did in fact deal with defendant George T. Appleyard, III, on behalf of said magazine in making arrangements with defendant Appleyard for the transportation of a shipment of chipboard in interstate commerce as detailed in Paragraph Y of plaintiff’s complaint. (Final Pre-Trial Order entered April -20, 1972.)

5. The defendants George T. Apple-yard, III, and James W. Cain, or either [170]*170of them, have never been granted a certificate of public convenience and necessity or a permit or any other form of operating authority by the Interstate Commerce Commission. (Final PreTrial Order entered April 20, 1972.)

6. The defendant George T. Apple-yard, III, has acknowledged to representatives of the Interstate Commerce Commission that he has engaged in other acts of unauthorized transportation, that he plans to continue such operations and that both he and the defendant James W. Cain have and continue to claim a legal right to engage in the transportation of regulated commodities without first obtaining appropriate operating authority from the Interstate Commerce Commission. (Response to Requests for Admissions filed by defendant George T. Appleyard, III, on or about June 18, 1970, Response to Requests for Admissions filed by defendant James W. Cain on or about July 25, 1970, and Final Pre-Trial Order entered April 20, 1972.)

7. In view of the past and present conduct of the defendants, George T. Appleyard, III, and James W. Cain, and of their continued claims that the operations and transportation hereinabove described was not and is not in violation of the law, it is apparent that there is a likelihood of a continuation of such conduct in the future.

DISCUSSION

Superficially, this case is as cut and dried as any which has come before the Court in some time. Yet, it should not be inferred that the action is viewed as frivolous, for, to the contrary, defendants’ position has much equitable appeal and engenders sympathy from fair minded men. Defendants have lucidly and comprehensively presented the plight of the truck-tractor, owner-operator (the little man, if you will), caught up in the seemingly inscrutable web of Interstate Commerce Commission (I.C. C.) regulations. This is not meant to imply that plaintiff’s position is unreasonable or shocking to the Court’s conscience, for the Court should not and will not come to defendants’ aid on the facts of this controversy.

In their brief, page 23, defendants state: “Very recently the [Supreme] Court has used substantive due process under the Fourteenth Amendment to strike down abortion laws in Texas and Georgia. Roe v. Wade, 41 Law Week 4213 [410 U.S. 113, 93 S.Ct. 705, 35 L.Ed.2d 147] (1973); Doe v. Bolton, 41 Law Week 4233 [410 U.S. 179, 93 S.Ct. 739, 35 L.Ed.2d 201] (1973).” Upon this and other older authority, defendants contend that the Court should invoke substantive due process and refuse to enforce certain I.C.C. regulations which they deem to be unfair. To do so, defendants argue, would not place the Court in the position of sitting as a “superlegislature”, because the Court is asked only to disapprove of I.C.C. regulations and policy, and not legislation.

With these premises the Court cannot agree. As recently as December 5, 1973, in North Dakota State Board of Pharmacy v. Snyder’s Drug Stores, Inc., 414 U.S. 156, 94 S.Ct. 407, 38 L.Ed.2d 379, the • Supreme Court in no uncertain terms emphasized that substantive due process has been permanently consigned to the trash bin of legal history.

“Liggett, [Liggett Co. v. Baldridge, 278 U.S. 105, 49 S.Ct. 57, 73 L.Ed. 204], decided in 1928, belongs in that vintage of decisions which exalted substantive due process by striking down state legislation which a majority of the Court deemed unwise.” Snyder’s Drug Stores, Inc., supra, 94 S.Ct. at 412.

That the Court is asked here to review federal agency regulations rather than a state or federal statute is immaterial. By virtue of 49 U.S.C. § 322(b), the regulations of the I.C.C. have the force and effect of statutory law and must be so treated by the Court.

In Ferguson v. Skrupa, 372 U.S. 726, 83 S.Ct.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Louis K. Liggett Co. v. Baldridge
278 U.S. 105 (Supreme Court, 1928)
Ferguson v. Skrupa
372 U.S. 726 (Supreme Court, 1963)
Roe v. Wade
410 U.S. 113 (Supreme Court, 1973)
Doe v. Bolton
410 U.S. 179 (Supreme Court, 1973)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
371 F. Supp. 168, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12708, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/interstate-commerce-commission-v-appleyard-ncmd-1974.