National Association of Motor Bus Owners v. Claude S. Brinegar, Secretary of the Department of Transportation

483 F.2d 1294, 157 U.S. App. D.C. 291
CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
DecidedAugust 22, 1973
Docket71-1268
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 483 F.2d 1294 (National Association of Motor Bus Owners v. Claude S. Brinegar, Secretary of the Department of Transportation) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
National Association of Motor Bus Owners v. Claude S. Brinegar, Secretary of the Department of Transportation, 483 F.2d 1294, 157 U.S. App. D.C. 291 (D.C. Cir. 1973).

Opinions

ROBB, Circuit Judge:

In this action for declaratory judgment and injunctive relief the appellants challenge regulations promulgated by the Secretary of Transportation and the Acting Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration. The regulations, issued under section 204 of the Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 19661 (80 Stat. 729, 15 U.S.C. § 1424 (1970)) govern the sale and use of re-grooved tires.2 The complaint alleges that the regulations are (a) beyond the authority of the Administrator, (b) vague, uncertain and ambiguous, and (c) arbitrary, unreasonable and an abuse of discretion. On cross motions for summary judgment the District Court rejected these contentions and entered a judgment for the defendants.

Appellant National Association of Motor Bus Owners (NAMBO) is the national trade organization for the intercity bus industry. Its members engage in the transportation of persons and property in interstate commerce by motor vehicles pursuant to authority issued by the Interstate Commerce Commission under the Interstate Commerce Act.

Appellant American Trucking Associations, Inc. (ATA), an intervenor in the District Court, is the national organization of the trucking industry. It is an affiliation of fifty-one state trucking associations whose members consist of for-hire and private motor carriers. Most of the for-hire carriers operate pursuant to authority issued by the Interstate Commerce Commission.

The appellants American Transit Association (Transit), Milwaukee & Suburban Transport Corp. (Suburban), and City Transit Company (City Transit), also intervened in the District Court. Transit is a national voluntary trade association for the local transit industry.

City Transit operates motor buses exclusively in the intrastate transportation of passengers within and around the city of Dayton, Ohio, and in charter operations wholly within the state of Ohio and by local authorities in Ohio. City Transit purchases tire mileage from the B. F. Goodrich Company pursuant to a contract under which an employee of Goodrich, working in City Transit’s garages, regrooves tires used by City Transit.

Suburban operates motor buses exclusively in the intrastate transportation of passengers for compensation in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and adjacent areas. It conducts its business under a Common Motor Carrier Certificate issued by the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin. The company regrooves its own bus tires for use on its own buses operating wholly in intrastate commerce within the state of Wisconsin.

I.

In order that the challenged regulations and the contentions of the parties may be viewed in focus a summary of the relevant parts of the statute and their legislative history is necessary.

On October 19, 1965, a tire safety bill was introduced in the Senate (S. 2669, 89th Cong., 2d Sess.). When reported out of committee as the “Tire Safety [1297]*1297Act of 1966” this bill provided, with respect to regrooved tires:

No person, firm, or corporation shall sell, offer for sale, or introduce for sale or deliver for introduction in interstate commerce any tire or motor vehicle equipped with any tire which has been regrooved, except that the Secretary may by order permit the sale of regrooved tires or motor vehicles equipped with such tires which he finds are designed and constructed in a manner consistent with the purposes of this Act. S.Rep. No. 1089, 89th Cong., 2d Sess. 45 (1966).

The bill also, among other things, required the Secretary3 to promulgate minimum safety performance standards, maximum permissible load standards, and labeling requirements for tires, and to investigate the feasibility of grading requirements. (S.Rep. No. 1089, 89th Cong., 2d Sess. 33-36, 40 (1966)). In the bill, “motor vehicle” was defined to mean “passenger cars and station wagons” other than certain special purpose vehicles such as racing cars. (Id. at 33). According to the Senate Commerce Committee, the regrooved tire provision was inserted into the bill because:

[T]he committee concluded that the practice of regrooving passenger car tires, in which an iron or tread design device is used to cut into the under-tread of a smooth tire carcass to produce a new tread design — a universally condemned practice — should be prohibited by this bill. However, the Secretary would be given the authority to permit the regrooving of any tires which he finds are designed and constructed so as to permit safe re-grooving. S.Rep. No. 1089, 89th Cong., 2d Sess. 5 (1966).

The tire safety bill was enacted by the Senate with the regrooved tire provision unchanged (112 Cong.Rec. 6925 (1966)). But neither this bill nor a tire safety bill introduced in the House of Representatives which contained a similar prohibition (H.R. 1366, 89th Cong., 2d Sess. (1966)) ever reached the House floor.

During the same session a traffic safety bill, a more comprehensive measure than the tire safety bills, was also before each House. The Senate version (S. 3005) authorized the promulgation of “motor vehicle safety standards” for “motor vehicles and motor vehicle equipment”. (S.Rep. No. 1301, 89th Cong., 2d Sess. 25 (1966). The bill, which made no separate provision for tires, defined “motor vehicle” to mean:

[A]ny vehicle driven or drawn by mechanical power primarily for use on the public roads, streets, and highways, other than (1) a vehicle subject to safety regulations under part II of the Interstate Commerce Act, as amended (49 U.S.C. 301 et seq.), or under the Transportation of Explosives Act as amended (18 U.S.C. 831-835), and (2) a vehicle or ear operated exclusively on a rail or rails. S. Rep. No. 1301, 89th Cong., 2d Sess. 24 (1966).

The bill was passed by the Senate without substantial change. (112 Cong.Rec. 14256 (1966)).

' The traffic safety bill on the House side (H.R. 13228) differed in certain respects from the Senate provision. First, it contained a separate title on tire safety, designated as Title II. This title provided that standards promulgated in Title I (which, as in the Senate bill, dealt generally with vehicle and equipment safety standards) require that tires be properly labeled and, further, that all new ears be equipped with tires which are adequate when the vehicle is fully loaded. The Secretary was also di[1298]*1298rected to establish a tire grading system (H.Rep. No. 1776, 89th Cong., 2d Sess. 9 (1966)). The tire safety title did not deal specifically with regrooved tires.

The House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce explained the need for a separate title pertaining to tires:

In a number of bills which have been introduced in both Houses as well as in a bill which has passed the Senate (S. 2669) the necessity for standards for tires was considered as an independent problem and without reference to its relationship to the total traffic safety problem. S. 2669 is confined only to the improvement of tires for passenger cars and station wagons.

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483 F.2d 1294, 157 U.S. App. D.C. 291, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/national-association-of-motor-bus-owners-v-claude-s-brinegar-secretary-cadc-1973.