Purolator Security, Inc. v. Commonwealth

378 A.2d 1020, 32 Pa. Commw. 175, 1977 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 1075
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedOctober 17, 1977
DocketAppeals, Nos. 787 and 824 C.D. 1976
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 378 A.2d 1020 (Purolator Security, Inc. v. Commonwealth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Purolator Security, Inc. v. Commonwealth, 378 A.2d 1020, 32 Pa. Commw. 175, 1977 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 1075 (Pa. Ct. App. 1977).

Opinions

Opinion by

Judge Blatt,

Purolator Security, Inc. and Brinks, Incorporated (appellants) have each appealed from an order of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) which held that WEB, Inc.’s (intervening appellee) activities had been within the scope of its certificated authority. These appeals have been consolidated.

In 1951, Ray Slater applied for, and after a hearing, was granted, a certificate of public convenience1 which authorized him:

To transport, as a Class B carrier, property between points in the city and county of Philadelphia. (Emphasis added.)

[178]*178In 1972, the Slater certificate was purchased by L & E Transportation Company, which transferred the certificate to WFB in 1974. When WFB began operating an armored transportation service, the appellants filed complaints with the PUC alleging that such a service was beyond the scope of the certificate of authority then held by WFB. The PUC dismissed the appellants’ complaints and this appeal followed.

Our scope of review here is limited by Section 1107 of the Public Utility Law,2 66 P.S. §1437, which provides, inter alia, as follows:

The order of the commission shall not be vacated or set aside, either in whole or in part, except for error of law or lack of evidence to support the finding, determination, or order of the commission, or violation of constitutional rights.

In W. J. Dillner Transfer Co. v. Public Utility Commission, 175 Pa. Superior Ct. 461, 467, 107 A.2d 159, 162 (1954), it was held that

the Commission, as an administrative agency, is peculiarly fitted to interpret its own orders, especially where the question raised concerns the extent and limit of transportation rights granted a carrier under a certificate issued by the Commission. In recognition of this principle a court will not set aside a construction placed upon its own orders by an administrative agency unless the result is clearly erroneous, arbitrary, and unsupported by evidence. (Citations omitted.)

Accord, T. M. Zimmerman Co. v. Public Utility Commission, 195 Pa. Superior Ct. 77, 169 A.2d 322 (1961).

Where, as here, the PUC is required to determine the extent of the authority granted in a certificate of [179]*179public convenience, “the type of service contemplated at the time of the original application is a significant consideration.” Ferry v. Public Utility Commission, 192 Pa. Superior Ct. 331, 336, 162 A.2d 266, 269 (1960) (citations omitted); accord, T. M. Zimmerman Co., supra.

At the hearing held on his application for a certificate of public convenience in 1951, Slater testified, in part, as follows:

Q. What type of special service are you presently rendering and do you propose to render in the transportation you perform?
A. Do a bit of rigging and a type of special hauling.
Q. Are you equipped to perform that operation?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What type of property are you transporting and will you transport if this application is granted?
A. General commodities.
Q. Could you give that in a little bit more detail. In other words, what type of property have you been transporting over the years as to less truckload, truckload, crated, and so forth?
A. Steel, steel products, rubber plant products, cloth, groceries, ship supplies, electrical supplies, machinery. I would say we touch near everything.
Q. Are some of those crated vessels, uncrated?
A. Crated, drums of oil, lots of stuff put up in paper bags, lots in cartons.
Q. Others are uncrated?
A. Others uncrated.

In the order appealed from here, the PUC found that, in 1951, Slater had

[180]*180intended to haul all types of general commodities, including: rubber goods, waterproofing goods, Army, Navy and Marine cloth, steel and steel products, automatic sprinklers and parts, antifreeze, motors, auto parts, food machinery parts, flooring, general machinery, iron and iron works, wood block, tanks, pumps, brewery tanks, candy machinery, brick, lime, stone, bath tubs, plaster, wool, tile, cranes, shovels, derricks, diggers, ditch diggers, garage doors, step rails, printing ink, automatic air guns, hammers, drills, tractors, bull dozers, cranes, dock equipment, poles, railroad equipment, leather goods, plaster, scaffolding, jacks, etc.

Slater also testified at the 1951 hearing that he had 10 pieces of equipment (tractors, semi-trailers, and straight stake trailers) and that some tractors had special equipment attached (two power winches, one pole trailer and two low-bed trailers). The PUC, in its present order, stated that the possession of this equipment indicated that Slater intended to provide specialized transportation services which required specialized equipment and specialized handling. The PUC then concluded that

a review of the record indicates that Ray Slater applied for and was granted the right to transport ‘near everything’ whether it involves general hauling or specialized hauling.

The issue here is whether or not the PUC properly determined that WFB’s certificate of public convenience, authorizing the transportation of property, includes the authority to transport monies, securities and other valuables.

In Ferry v. Public Utility Commission, supra, the issue was whether or not a certificate of authority which authorized the transportation of property included the authority to transport liquid fuel and gaso[181]*181line.3 The PUC in that case held that no such authority was included, and our Superior Court, in affirming, stated as follows:

Appellant contends here that the word ‘property’ as contained in his certificate of authority gave him the right to transport any type of property except as to the specific limitations contained in said certificate. He urges that the term ‘property’ should be used in its generic sense and that, therefore, no limitations should be placed on it. Such construction, of course, would lead to chaos in the transportation industry. Certificated carriers of one commodity would discover that, regardless of the service offered to the public, its field of certification would be invaded by another carrier and that he, in turn, could invade a field of transportation never contemplated by him.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
378 A.2d 1020, 32 Pa. Commw. 175, 1977 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 1075, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/purolator-security-inc-v-commonwealth-pacommwct-1977.