Louisville & Nashville Railroad v. Commonwealth Ex Rel. Kentucky Railroad Commission

300 S.W.2d 777
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976)
DecidedApril 26, 1957
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 300 S.W.2d 777 (Louisville & Nashville Railroad v. Commonwealth Ex Rel. Kentucky Railroad Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976) primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Louisville & Nashville Railroad v. Commonwealth Ex Rel. Kentucky Railroad Commission, 300 S.W.2d 777 (Ky. 1957).

Opinion

MONTGOMERY, Judge.

This appeal is from a judgment upon an order of the Railroad Commission of Kentucky in favor of the Kentucky Utilities Company, Inc., reducing the freight rate on fine coal and awarding reparation in the aggregate sum of $235,799.18, plus further reparation to be determined by the Commission. The appellants are the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company, Illinois Central Railroad Company, Southern Railway Company, The Cincinnati, New Orleans and Texas Pacific Railway Company, and Kentucky & Tennessee Railway.

Complaint was made on February 11, 1954, to the Railroad Commission by Kentucky Utilities Company, Inc., that the freight rates charged by appellants on fine coal were unjust and unreasonable. In its Docket No. 728, Kentucky Utilities Company, Inc. v. Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company, et al., the Commission ordered a reduction in such rates and made an award of reparation. Appellants refused to comply with the order and award. The Railroad Commission, proceeding under KRS 276.370, obtained a judgment upholding its action.

In essence, the grounds urged for reversal of the judgment are: (1) the trial court failed to make specific findings of fact and state separately its conclusions of law as required by CR 52.01; and (2) there was no substantive evidence upon which to base the judgment. The second ground contains a further objection that certain evidence considered by the Commission was incompetent.

*779 The Commission made findings of fact and stated conclusions of law in its report and order as twice supplemented and amended. These, together with the evidence considered by the Commission, were filed in the circuit court. No other evidence was introduced. The trial court in the judgment rendered found that “the findings, orders and award, as amended, are supported by substantial evidence”. Appellants contend that such a finding by the trial court is insufficient under CR 52.01.

The Railroad Commission is an administrative body acting in a legislative capacity under constitutional authorization. Kentucky Constitution Section 209. Illinois Cent. R. Co. v. Paducah Brewery Co., 157 Ky. 357, 163 S.W. 239; Louisville & N. R. Co. v. Greenbrier Distillery Co., 170 Ky. 775, 187 S.W. 296; City of Middlesboro v. Louisville & N. R. Co., Ky., 252 S.W.2d 680; Prentis v. Atlantic Coast Line Co., 211 U.S. 210, 29 S.Ct. 67, 53 L.Ed. 150. The review of the action of such an administrative body is limited to determining whether there is substantial evidence to support its findings and conclusions. Thus, the trial court had one question to decide: whether there was substantial evidence upon which to base the findings, order, and award of the Railroad Commission. For further discussion on this point, and cases governing other types of administrative boards, see Railroad Commission of Kentucky v. Illinois Cent. R. Co., Ky., 265 S.W.2d 797. Specific findings of fact are unnecessary in such cases. Despatch Shops, Inc., v. Railroad Retirement Board, D.C., 60 F.Supp. 106, affirmed 2 Cir., 154 F.2d 417; In re Chicago, M., St. P. & P. R. Co. (Abrams v. Scandrett), 7 Cir., 138 F.2d 433; State of Illinois v. United States, D.C.N.D.Ill., 146 F.Supp. 195. The trial court, in upholding the report of the Commission, made the only necessary determination.

The Railroad Commission in its report found that the appellants had been charging an unjust and unreasonable rate on fine coal delivered to the Kentucky Utilities plant near Tyrone, Kentucky. Fine coal, for the purpose of this opinion, is coal three inches in diameter, or smaller. In determining the sufficiency of the evidence to support the findings, it is necessary to review the testimony introduced before the Commission.

The Kentucky Utilities Company is engaged in the business of generating, transmitting, and distributing electric energy in 75 counties in Kentucky, joined by interconnections with other generators of electric energy. The three largest steam generating plants of the several operated by the company are located near Pineville in eastern Kentucky, at South Carrollton on the Green River in western Kentucky, and at Tyrone on the Kentucky River in central Kentucky. The delivered cost of coal is the major item in the operation of a steam generating plant. The railroads received 52% of the cost of the coal for' transporting it. The average freight charges paid by the complainant on coal for the week ending just prior to the filing of the complaint were $1 per ton for Green River, $1.38 per ton for Pineville, and $3.18 per ton for Tyrone. The average freight charge paid on coal moving to Tyrone in 1953 was $3.03 per ton. With the exception of the mines served by Kentucky & Tennessee Railway in the Pine Knot group, all of the railroads charged the same rate of fine coal to Tyrone as on coal of other sizes. The fine coal rate charged by the Kentucky & Tennessee Railway to Tyrone was 37‡ lower than the rate on other sizes. This lower rate was described as a “missionary rate” to assist the Stearns Coal & Lumber Company, owner of the Kentucky & Tennessee Railway, in stimulating some business for its mines. The lower rate failed to have the desired effect and appellants contend that it should not have been considered.

The rates prevailing when the complaint was filed, the new rates prescribed, and the reductions ordered are shown by the following table:

*780

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Bluebook (online)
300 S.W.2d 777, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/louisville-nashville-railroad-v-commonwealth-ex-rel-kentucky-railroad-kyctapphigh-1957.