Las Vegas Hacienda, Inc. And Henry F. Price v. Civil Aeronautics Board

298 F.2d 430
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedFebruary 23, 1962
Docket17081_1
StatusPublished
Cited by31 cases

This text of 298 F.2d 430 (Las Vegas Hacienda, Inc. And Henry F. Price v. Civil Aeronautics Board) 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
Las Vegas Hacienda, Inc. And Henry F. Price v. Civil Aeronautics Board, 298 F.2d 430 (9th Cir. 1962).

Opinion

BROWNING, Circuit Judge.

Las Vegas Hacienda, Inc. operates a resort hotel at Las Vegas, Nevada. Over a period of years it has advertised and sold in the Los Angeles area a “package tour” which includes a “free” airplane ride to and from Las Vegas. The transportation is provided in planes owned by Hacienda and operated by its employees through its “Flight Division,” managed by Henry F. Price. The Civil Aeronautics Board has held that Hacienda and Price are engaged in “the carriage by aircraft of persons or property as a common carrier for compensation or hire” in interstate commerce without the certificate of public convenience and necessity required by the Federal Aviation Act, and has ordered them to cease and desist.

Petitioners challenge both the Board’s power to issue the order, and the form in which the order is cast. As to the Board’s power, they argue that they are not subject to economic regulation under the Act because the transportation they provide is merely incidental to their resort hotel business. As to form, they argue that the Board’s order is so vague and general that it fails to give fair notice of the conduct which it prohibits. We conclude that the Board’s classification of Hacienda as a “common carrier for compensation or hire” required to be certificated is supported by substantial evidence and soundly based in law, and that the Board’s cease and desist order provides fair notice of what it prohibits when read in the light of the Board’s opinion. We further conclude that the record does not contain substantial evidence to support the Board’s order with respect to Price. This portion of the Board’s order is stricken, and the Board’s order is otherwise affirmed.

I

The Federal Aviation Act 1 provides for broad economic regulation 2 of “air transportation.” 3 The Civil Aeronautics Board is under an affirmative statutory duty to exercise its regulatory powers over “air transportation” so as to foster sound economic conditions, promote economical and efficient service at reasonable charges, and avoid destructive compe *433 titive practices. 4 The legislative history of the Act emphasizes the importance attached by the Congress to the achievement of these purposes. 5 Obviously the economic regulation contemplated by the statute can be effective only if the commercial activity to which it is made applicable — “air transportation” — represents a reasonably discrete market in practical business terms. The proper interpretation of this statutory term is therefore of crucial importance in the administration of the Act.

So far as here pertinent, the term “air transportation” is ultimately defined by the Act as “carriage by aircraft of persons or property as a common carrier for compensation or hire * * 6 The term “common carrier,” which is central in this statutory definition of “air transportation,” is an ancient one in our law and has been applied in many legal and factual contexts. It is not surprising that the numerous decisions defining the term are somewhat less than harmonious. The fact is that these precedents leave a considerable area of choice which the Board necessarily exercises in applying the broad definition of the statute to particular carriers to determine whether they are subject to regulation.

Whether the Board has chosen correctly in any given instance is, of course, subject to review by this court, for “[a]n agency may not finally decide the limits of its statutory power. That is a judicial function.” Social Security Board v. Nierotko, 327 U.S. 358, 369, 66 S.Ct. 637, 643, 90 L.Ed. 718 (1946). It is equally clear, however, that the Board’s *434 decisions in these cases involve the application of technical knowledge which the Board, and not the court, is presumed to have. We understand that in these circumstances we are to affirm the Board’s action if it has “ ‘warrant in the record’ and a reasonable basis in law.” N. L. R. B. v. Hearst Publications, 322 U.S. 111, 131, 64 S.Ct. 851, 88 L.Ed. 1170 (1944). And see N. L. R. B. v. Coca-Cola Bottling Co., 350 U.S. 264, 269, 76 S.Ct. 383, 100 L.Ed. 285 (1956); Swift & Co. v. United States, 316 U.S. 216, 224-225, 62 S.Ct. 948, 86 L.Ed. 1391 (1942); Shields v. Utah Idaho Central R. Co., 305 U.S. 177, 184-185, 59 S.Ct. 160, 83 L.Ed. 111 (1938).

The Board centered its inquiry-in the present case upon whether the alleged common carrier was engaged as a regular business in offering air transportation to the general public in the commercial market. The Board has taken the same approach in other cases. 7 This general emphasis is justified by the common law precedents, for the dominant factor in fixing common carrier status at common law is the presence of a “holding out” to transport the property or person of any member of the public who might choose to employ the proffered service. State of Washington ex rel. Stimson Lumber Co. v. Kuykendall, 275 U.S. 207, 211-212, 48 S.Ct. 41, 72 L.Ed. 241 (1927). The test which the Board applies is an objective one, relying upon what the carrier actually does rather than upon the label which the carrier attaches to its activity or the purpose which motivates it. 8 So long as the air carrier is competing commercially in the market for the patronage of the general public, the Board holds that it is immaterial that the service offered will be attractive only to a limited group; 9 or that it may be performed pursuant to special contract. 10 And it is also immaterial that in terms of the carrier’s own bookkeeping the transportation may be furnished at cost, 11 at a loss, 12 or even without charge. 13 The Board thus interprets the Act in a way which makes effective economic regulation under the statute possible by bringing within the regulatory scheme all those who compete in the commercial market in the business of offering air transportation to the public generally.

In the present case the record shows that over a period of years the petitioners have conducted regularly scheduled passenger flights from the Los Angeles area to Las Vegas. The flights were conducted in planes owned by Hacienda, *435

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298 F.2d 430, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/las-vegas-hacienda-inc-and-henry-f-price-v-civil-aeronautics-board-ca9-1962.