Motor Transport Co. v. Public Service Commission

287 N.W. 727, 232 Wis. 418, 1939 Wisc. LEXIS 283
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 12, 1939
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 287 N.W. 727 (Motor Transport Co. v. Public Service Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wisconsin Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Motor Transport Co. v. Public Service Commission, 287 N.W. 727, 232 Wis. 418, 1939 Wisc. LEXIS 283 (Wis. 1939).

Opinion

Rosenberry, C. J.

If the Public Service Commission on the 24th day of July, 1934, upon the whole record might have entered an order denying the plaintiff operating rights between Port Washington and Milwaukee and intermediate points, it seems clear that the order of the commission made *420 on rehearing was correctly sustained by the circuit court. (Sec. 196.39, Stats.) This conclusion leads to a consideration of the order of July 24, 1934. The plaintiff had acquired the capital stock of the Sheboygan Transit Company and desired tO' have a new certificate issued to it authorizing the plaintiff to conduct the transportation business theretofore conducted by the Sheboygan Transit Company. On December 7, 1933, pursuant to the application of the plaintiff, the Public Service Commission issued to the plaintiff Common Carrier Certificate No. CC — 130 but with the following restriction:

“No intermediate service between Sheboygan and Milwaukee.”

Under date of February 22, 1934, the plaintiff filed with the Public Service Commission an application for a hearing—

“so that our rights will be clearly defined and also so that we will know how tO' apply our tariff between all points served by this company and Port Washington.”

Pursuant to that application a hearing was had upon which the commission filed an opinion which was in part as follows:

“At the time of hearing it was attempted to show the intention of the predecessor companies with relation to the operation into Port Washington. The commission ruled in that connection that testimony could not be received to show the intention of the predecessor company operations but that the determination of the matter, as stated above, must be based upon the records of the commission. The Motor Transport Company and the Port Washington Truck Lines have submitted briefs in lieu of additional testimony and oral argument and it appears from examination and study of the commission records that the applicant in this matter does have operating rights into Port Washington.
“The Port Washington Truck Line sets forth that such an operation was never contemplated by the predecessor companies of Motor Transport Company. It appears, however, that Certificate BC-145 included therein the operation into Port Washington. It further appears that on January 29, *421 1930, the then holder of Certificate BC-145 desired to assign said operations to the Sheboygan Transit Company, a corporation organized to take over the operations as conducted under BC-145. At the time of the hearing, which was held at Sheboygan on February 21, 1930, the then holder of Certificate BC-145 testified that he was operating for one firm in Port Washington, and that he did have the authority to so operate. The representative of the Port Washington Truck Line stated that as long as the operations did not contémplate service into' Port Washington any objection he might have could be waived. .However, this same representative heard the testimony concerning the Port Washington operation and acquiesced when questioned concerning it. The commission on March 8, 1934, entered an order authorizing transportation ‘between Sheboygan and Milwaukee on Highway 141 and County Trunk B into Port Washington Road.’ The exhibit, however, did not set forth Port Washington as a termini, and merely set forth Sheboygan and Milwaukee.
“The commission is of the opinion that the determination of operating rights of the Motor Transport Company is conditioned upon this commission’s interpretation of Certificate BC-413 of the Sheboygan Transit Company for surely Certificate BC-145 authorized said transportation, and any doubt that may arise as to the operating ■ rights would naturally arise by reason of the omission of Port Washington from the operating schedule in Certificate BC-413. The commission’s determination must be based upon its interpretation of the language used in Certificate BC — 413 ‘between Sheboygan and Milwaukee on Highway 141 and County Trunk B into Port Washington Road,’ and in this connection this commission agrees with the contentions set forth in the applicant’s brief that ‘the term “between Sheboygan and Milwaukee” is restrictive only to the length of the operation, and does not restrict such operation to Sheboygan and Milwaukee.’
“The commission in many instances in specifically authorizing operations set forth transportation between two municipalities serving all intermediate points. However, in the absence of the statement that all intermediate points are to be served, this commission restates that the correct interpretation of the certificate as herein questioned, authorizes trans *422 portation to all intermediate municipalities unless otherwise specifically excepted.
“The commission finds that the Motor Transport Company, the successor to Rudolph Grandlic and the Sheboygan Transit Company, operating under Certificates BC-145 and BC-413, respectively, is by virtue of its succession of operating rights entitled to serve Port Washington.”

Upon the basis of the opinion on July 24, 1934, the commission made the following order:

“It is therefore ordered, that Certificate CC-130 be amended in the manner and to the extent hereinbefore outlined.”

The Port Washington Truck Line being interested in the controversy filed a motion for a rehearing, and a rehearing was had on August 23, 1934. Upon the rehearing one Rudolph Grandlic appeared. On the original hearing he had testified as follows:

“Q. You propose to operate between Sheboygan and Milwaukee the route as set out as the route between Sheboygan and Milwaukee on highway 141 County Trunk B into the Port Washington road. Does that mean you propose to serve Port Washington? A. I have been serving out of Sheboygan. I have the authority to stop at Port Washington from Milwaukee. There is a man running between the Port and Milwaukee.”

Upon the rehearing, he testified that the word “the” was supposed to be “no,” and that he had no- authority between Port Washington and Milwaukee. , On the original hearing he had also testified as follows:

“Q. At the present time you are carrying freight from Milwaukee to Port Washington? A. For one firm, National.”

On the rehearing he testified:

“They asked me, ‘At the present time you are carrying freight from Sheboygan to Port Washington?’ I said, ‘For one firm, the National Box & Specialty Company.’ ”

*423 The word “National” refers to the National Box & Specialty Company located at Sheboygan.

There was other testimony with respect to these corrections, and testimony to the effect that the predecessor of the plaintiff had not carried freight between Milwaukee and Port Washington.

Upon the rehearing the commission filed an opinion in the course of which the commission said:

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

Related

Wilcox v. City of Pittsburgh
121 F.2d 835 (Third Circuit, 1941)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
287 N.W. 727, 232 Wis. 418, 1939 Wisc. LEXIS 283, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/motor-transport-co-v-public-service-commission-wis-1939.