Nebco, Inc. v. Burlington Northern, Inc.

326 N.W.2d 167, 212 Neb. 804, 1982 Neb. LEXIS 1298
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 12, 1982
DocketNo. 44400
StatusPublished

This text of 326 N.W.2d 167 (Nebco, Inc. v. Burlington Northern, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Nebco, Inc. v. Burlington Northern, Inc., 326 N.W.2d 167, 212 Neb. 804, 1982 Neb. LEXIS 1298 (Neb. 1982).

Opinion

Per Curiam.

This is an appeal from an order of the Nebraska Public Service Commission (NPSC) sustaining a complaint of Nebco, Inc., a Nebraska corporation, doing business as Ready Mixed Concrete Company (Nebco), that Burlington Northern, Inc. (BN), violated the provisions of Neb. Rev. Stat. § 75-126 (Reissue 1981) in discriminating against Nebco by refusing to absorb the switching charges, of the Omaha, Lincoln & Beatrice Railway Company (OLB) on carload lots of sand and gravel delivered to Nebco. The NPSC found BN had discriminated and ordered that Nebco not be required to pay BN $10,604.63 in switching charges for services rendered by OLB during 1978.

Section 75-126 provides in part: “(1) Except as otherwise provided in this section, no common carrier shall:

“(a) Charge, demand, collect, or receive from any person a greater or less compensation for any services rendered than it charges, demands, collects, or receives from any other person for doing a like or contemporaneous service;
“(b) Make or give any undue or unreasonable preference or advantage to any particular person;
“(c) Subject any type of traffic to any undue or unreasonable prejudice, delay, or disadvantage in any respect whatsoever; Provided, that all types of perishable freight and livestock shall have precedence in shipment;
“(d) Charge or receive any greater compensation in the aggregate for the transportation of a like kind of property or passengers for a shorter than for a longer distance over the same line or route, except as'the commission may prescribe in special cases to [806]*806prevent manifest injuries; Provided, that no manifest injustice shall be imposed upon any person at intermediate points; and provided further, that nothing herein shall prevent the commission from making group or emergency rates;
“(e) Demand, charge, or collect, by any device whatsoever, a lesser or greater compensation for any service rendered than that filed with or prescribed by the commission; or
“(f) Change any rate, schedule, or classification in any manner whatsoever before application has been made to the commission and permission granted for that purpose.”

BN’s principal defenses are that BN’s absorption rate of switching charges conforms to previous orders of the NPSC and that the NPSC’s order amounted to an order of a rebate of an approved rate which NPSC had no authority to make.

A summary of the facts will assist in understanding the issues. OLB, a small railroad operating in Lincoln, offers switching services to other railroads by delivering railroad cars to customers who have places of business along its tracks. OLB is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nebco. Up until April 3, 1978, OLB’s established and approved tariff for switching sand and gravel to points west of 27th Street was $9.79 per car when the same shipper tendered lots of 10 cars or more on the same day; east of 27th Street the tariff was $15.65 per car under the same conditions. Nebco’s plant is located west of 27th Street. These switching charges had previously been approved by the NPSC and were included in BN’s intrastate tariff, and it required BN to absorb these switching charges. Whether or not a line railroad absorbs switching charges of another line railroad is a voluntary matter between the railroads involved. BN and the Union Pacific absorb switching charges on a reciprocal basis. The record shows that BN absorbed switching charges when it interlined with the [807]*807Union Pacific and the latter performed switching services for BN in deliveries of sand and gravel to Capital Concrete Company, Nebco’s competitor in Lincoln. The evidence indicated that this gave Capital a competitive advantage of 15 cents per cubic yard in the sale of mixed concrete.

On January 19, 1978, OLB applied to NPSC to increase its switching charges west of 27th Street to $15.65 per car. On March 20, 1978, after a hearing, the NPSC approved the requested increase which was to become effective April 3, 1978. Thereafter, BN absorbed switching charges on shipments to Nebco only to the extent it had previously done, at $9.79 per car, and billed Nebco for the difference. Nebco declined to pay and this action resulted.

In connection with the positions taken by the parties, it is necessary to note some matters regarding the proceeding before the NPSC involving the January 19, 1978, application. Five railroads filed objections to the increase, including BN. The NPSC’s opinion and findings in that matter included the following: “After the hearing opened the applicant [OLB] amended the application be [sic] deleting that portion of the original application which could be interpreted to mean that the application included the request that the Nebraska Railroads should increase their absorption to the same as these charges. Shortly after this amendment the attorney for the protestants withdrew their protest and left the room. ... It was not known why the five Nebraska Railroads would not agree to absorb switching charges to the same extent as they do among themselves, but since a request to raise the absorption figures accordingly was not included in the amended application, the Commission cannot deal with that problem at this point.”

Thereafter, pursuant to another application and hearing, NPSC required BN to absorb OLB’s switching charges in the amount set in the 1978 order. [808]*808The new order became effective February 13, 1979.

Nebco, as we have already indicated, contended that BN’s refusal to absorb OLB’s switching charges as it does for other railroads is discriminatory and that NPSC has authority to correct the discrimination. As legal authority for this position, it relies upon the language of the statute we have earlier quoted and cases decided thereunder, and, in particular, upon our opinion in Myers v. Blair Tel. Co., 194 Neb. 55, 230 N.W.2d 190 (1975). It further argues that discrimination cannot be determined in advance but can only be done in light of a particular set of facts. It cites the provisions of Neb. Rev. Stat. § 75-118.01 (Reissue 1981) which, among other things, gives the NPSC authority to determine the validity of tariffs.

BN, on the other hand, argues that when the NPSC prescribes a rate scale, it exercises a legislative function and may not repeal or modify it retroactively. BN relies upon Arizona Grocery v. Atchison Ry., 284 U.S. 370, 52 S. Ct. 183, 76 L. Ed. 348 (1932), and Farmers Union Livestock Commission v. Union P. R. Co., 135 Neb. 689, 283 N.W. 498 (1939).

In Myers, this court upheld the action of the NPSC reducing retroactively previously approved rates. In so doing we relied upon § 75-126(1) (c), which provides: “(1) Except as otherwise provided in this section, no common carrier shall: ... (c) Subject any type of traffic to any undue or unreasonable prejudice, delay, or disadvantage in any respect whatsoever . . . .” We also relied upon the authority granted the commission by the Constitution.

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Related

Farmers Union Livestock Commission v. Union Pacific Railroad
283 N.W. 498 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 1939)
Myers v. Blair Telephone Co.
230 N.W.2d 190 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 1975)

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Bluebook (online)
326 N.W.2d 167, 212 Neb. 804, 1982 Neb. LEXIS 1298, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nebco-inc-v-burlington-northern-inc-neb-1982.