McDowall Transport, Inc. v. United States

130 F. Supp. 681, 1955 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3890, 1955 WL 76305
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Florida
DecidedApril 21, 1955
DocketCiv. No. 623
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 130 F. Supp. 681 (McDowall Transport, Inc. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McDowall Transport, Inc. v. United States, 130 F. Supp. 681, 1955 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3890, 1955 WL 76305 (S.D. Fla. 1955).

Opinion

SIMPSON, District Judge.

Before us on final hearing is McDowall .Transport, Inc.’s suit to enjoin as unlawful a cease and desist order of the Interstate Commerce Commission in its Docket MC-C-1355.

The issue before the Interstate Commerce Commission was limited to a determination of whether or not McDowall Transport, Inc., could legally transport “Frozen Fruit and Frozen Fruit Concentrate” by virtue of authority issued to it by the Commission to transport “Canned Fruit and Canned Fruit Juices, in Containers, over Irregular Routes” from and to the points described in its Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity in Docket No. MC-98390 (Sub. No. 7).

The Commission held that this question must be answered in the negative and entered the complained-of order.

Our review in this proceeding is limited to a review of the attacked order, the evidence and findings supporting it, and is of necessity confined to the interpretation placed by the Commission upon a certificate of its own creation. Section 10(e), Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C.A. § 1009.

A clear statement of the applicable principles is found in Malone Freight Lines, Inc. v. United States, D. C., 107 F.Supp. 946, 949, affirmed per curiam 344 U.S. 925, 73 S.Ct. 497, 97 L.Ed. 712, wherein the Court, speaking through District Judge Seyboum H. Lynne, stated:

“There can be no question but that a motor common carrier can operate in interstate commerce only under a certificate of authority issued by the Interstate Commerce Commission or that the certificate shall specify the service to be rendered, the routes and territories where operations may be conducted or that from time to time the Commission may add such other reasonable terms, conditions and limitations as the public convenience and necessity may require. Nor is there any doubt but that the general control of motor carriers is left to the continuous supervision and regulation of the Commission or that the Commission should first resolve those questions of law and fact peculiar to its own sphere of competence.
“Our function does not involve a de novo construction of the certificate or a re-evaluation of the undisputed facts relating to the services being performed under the pretended warrant of its authority. We are not concerned with the weight of the evidence. The scope of our review is necessarily confined to the interpretation placed by the Commission upon a certificate of its own creation. We are bound by that interpretation unless we are persuaded that it was capricious or arbitrary, that it constituted an abuse of discretion, or that it did violence to some established principle of law. It is beyond our province to consider ‘the soundness of the reasoning by which its conclusions were reached’ ”.

[683]*683The issues before us then, are the following:

1. Was the order of the Commission arbitrary?

2. Was the order of the Commission capricious ?

3. Did the order constitute an abuse of discretion?

4. Did the order do violence to some established principle of law?

We conclude that each of these questions should be answered in the negative and the complaint dismissed.

The decision of the Commission contains ample findings supporting the complained-of order. We set forth some of the pertinent findings here, with a reference to the sheet number of the decision where the finding appears, as found in the copy thereof attached to the complaint. They are:

“1. In handling this commodity (frozen concentrate) low-temperature refrigeration is the primary preservative and is absolutely essential for the retention of the flavor of the product and for any prolonged storage. (Sheets 4 and 5.)
“2. The concentrate is packed in hermetically-sealed cans only because this type of container is the most convenient method known. Experimentation with other methods of packing, including plastic bags which are not hermetically sealed, has been made and so long as the temperature is kept at the proper level, the commodity remains undamaged. (Sheet 5.)
“3. In the case of frozen concentrate fermentation is*piwented only by freezing and continued temperature control. (Sheet 5.)
“4. The freezing of the concentrate is the preservative and not the container. (Sheet 7.)
“5. The can is utilized as a container merely for convenience and contributes in no material respect, other than as a container, to the preservation of the commodity (frozen concentrate). (Sheet 7.)
“6. Preservation (of frozen concentrate) is accomplished solely by the process of freezing and continued temperature control and deterioration and spoilage is retarded only so long as the commodity remains under refrigeration at low temperature. (Sheet 7.)”

There was no dispute between the parties at the hearing before the Commission as to the difference in the processes used to produce and preserve canned single-strength citrus juice on the one hand and frozen citrus juice concentrate on the other. This evidence may be summarized. In both processes the fruit is cleaned and the juice is extracted and purified by similar methods. At this point, the similarity ends. Pasteurization at high temperature and hermetical sealing in cans or jars is the essential process involved in the single-strength juice operation. Preservation is accomplished by sealing at high temperature.

Fruit juice concentrate, on the other hand, is the result of a complex extraction and evaporation process of fruit juices, in a partial vacuum, at low temperatures. A small quantity of fresh fruit juice is then added, the resultant product is hermetically sealed in cans, and frozen. In handling this commodity, low temperature refrigeration is the primary preservative, and is essential for retention of the flavor of the product and for any prolonged storage. The concentrate is packed in sealed cans for convenience, and not in order to preserve it. Other methods of packaging, including plastic bags which are not hermetically sealed, have been successfully used. Provided proper low temperature is maintained, the commodity remains undamaged. The can is used as a container for convenience only, not for preservation. Freezing and maintenance at low temperature only are essential to preservation.

From the quoted findings, as supported by the evidence above summarized. [684]*684the Commission concluded that frozen fruit and frozen fruit juice concentrates, packaged in cans, are not “canned” within the meaning of the word “canned” as used by the Commission in the McDowall certificate, construed in the light of prior' Commission decisions. The Commission found that McDowall’s authority to transport “canned fruit and canned fruit juices” does not include authority to transport frozen fruits or frozen fruit juice concentrates packaged in cans, and issued the order of March 13, 1953, sought to be enjoined by this suit.

. The reasonableness of the Commission’s order on this record is demonstrated by a review of earlier decisions of the Commission defining the word “canned”, when used in rate orders and motor carrier certificates.

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130 F. Supp. 681, 1955 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3890, 1955 WL 76305, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcdowall-transport-inc-v-united-states-flsd-1955.