Southern Ry. Co. v. Shealy

18 F.2d 784, 1927 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1104
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. South Carolina
DecidedMarch 31, 1927
DocketNo. 369
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 18 F.2d 784 (Southern Ry. Co. v. Shealy) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. South Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Southern Ry. Co. v. Shealy, 18 F.2d 784, 1927 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1104 (southcarolinaed 1927).

Opinion

WATKINS, District Judge.

This is a suit in equity, brought by Southern Railway Company against the South Carolina' Railroad Commission and its individual members, and the Attorney General and Assistant Attorney General of the state, to enjoin the enforcement of an order of the Commission requiring the railway company to switch, receive, and deliver over and upon three of its side tracks at Union, S. C., carloads of freight tendered it by the Buffalo, Union-Carolina Railroad. A temporary restraining order was granted by the District Judge, and an interlocutory injunction was ordered by the court of three judges constituted for the trial of the cause. By consent of the parties the testimony was ordered to be taken by a special master, and has been so taken and reported, and the cause is now before us for final hearing.

The bill sets out in detail a number of specifications to show the illegality of the order of the Commission. These may be briefly summed up under the following subdivisions:

(1) That the order contravenes the commerce clause of the United States Constitution and the Interstate Commerce Commission Act, as amended by the Transportation Act of 1920 (41 Stat. 456).

(2) That it violates the provisions of the Constitution of South Carolina and the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the 'Constitution of the United States, by depriving the railroad of its property without due process of law or just compensation, and by denying it the equal protection of the laws.

(3) That the order is too vague and indefinite to be of any force; that it is unreasonable and oppressive, and its enforcement would serve no public interest.

Along with the testimony taken orally before the special master is submitted the record and testimony produced at the hearing before the Railroad Commission. This body consists of seven members, of whom four concurred in the order, while three, including the chairman, dissented. A copy of the petition of the Buffalo, Union-Carolina Railroad is set out in full at the foot of this opinion.1 No opinion was filed, nor was there any discussion of the facts, nor any statement of the grounds upon which the order of the Commission was based, further than that due notice had been given to the interested parties, that the hearing was had and the testimony taken, and counsel heard in argument for both sides. The order passed was as follows:

“The matter has been considered, and on July 2, 1925, a majority of the Commission adopted the following resolution: ‘Resolved that the petition of the Buffalo, Union-Carolina Railroad filed with the South Carolina Railroad Commission on February 10, 1925, be granted.’ In view of the above facts, the majority of the Commission issues the following- order:

“ ‘It is ordered that Southern Railway Company comply with the petition of the Buffalo, Union-Carolina Railroad hereinabove referred to, a certified copy of which is herewith attached and made a part of this order. This order to remain in effect until the further orders of the Commission.’ ”

To this decision the chairman filed a dissenting opinion, reviewing the facts of, the ease in detail, and outlining with much force the reasons for his dissent, which was concurred in by two other commissioners. It will be observed that the order is general in its terms, and does not purport to limit the requirement to intrastate traffic.

As relates to the pertinent facts in the case, there is no considerable controversy. The Buffalo, Union-Carolina Railroad is a short line, extending from Pride, where it connects with the Seaboard Air Line Railway, through Union to Buffalo, all within the state of South Carolina. The distance from Pride to Union is 16 miles, and from Union to Buffalo about 4 miles. At the latter place is a large cotton-manufacturing plant known as the Union-Buffalo Mills. This corporation owns all, or substantially all, of the stock of the railroad. This railroad is engaged in both intrastate and interstate transportation, a considerable proportion of its business being of the latter character. It has terminals in the city of Union, but not as expensive nor as conveniently situated to the center of business as those of the Southern Railway Company. It exchanges traffic with the Seaboard Rail'way at Pride. The Southern Railway operates a total of 6,971.8 miles in numerous states, of which 1,127 miles are located within the state of South Carolina, and is, of course, engaged in both intrastate and interstate transportation. One of its main lines extends from Columbia, through Union, to Spartanburg, and then on west through Ashe-ville, North Carolina. At Carlisle, 13 miles from Union, it intersects, and there exchanges freight, with the Seaboard Air Line Railway. Carlisle is two miles from Pride via Seaboard. It will thus be seen that the freight moving to or from Union via,, the Seaboard could move [786]*786by the Southern at from one to five miles less distance than by the Buffalo, Union-Carolina Railroad, depending upon the direction from which the freight came. In such case the freight charge would be the same or less than if transported over the last named road.

There is no dispute of the fact that the three tracks in the city of Union, which are the subject of this controversy, are the property of the Southern Railway Company, and were constructed and are maintained by it at its own exclusive expense. There is no contention, nor any evidence, that it has by any written agreement assigned these tracks or any portion thereof to the use of any particular shipper or consignee. There are several industrial or assigned sidings operated by the Southern at Union under contract to serve adjacent industries. The contracts in such cases are essentially different from the leases executed by the railway company to those having warehouses near the tracks in question. Track 1 branches off of the main line of the Southern Railway near Main street and extends 631 feet in a northerly direction west of the freight depot. From it carload freight not destined for an industrial or assigned siding is unloaded into wagons or trucks. The railroad company owns the property on both sides of this track, which it designates as its team track, and the evidence shows it in fact to be a track of that character. A number of stores have been built near this track under leases from the railroad company, but in each case there is space for a wagon way between these and this side track, and this passageway is regularly used by such vehicles and trucks for ingress and egress to and from the ears placed on the track for delivery of freight. Carloads of freight consigned to lessees, having stores near the track, are usually (and always, when practicable, without interfering with the general service of delivery to other points on the track) placed directly opposite the store or warehouse to be served, and in such ease the freight is delivered direct over portable or extension platforms, thrown across the intervening space, and removed when the unloading is completed, or otherwise, as the exigencies of the general service of the track may require. Delivery to these stores and warehouses, however, may be and sometimes is made at other points along the track, from which the freight is transported by wagon or truck.

The written leases in all cases designate this track as a team or house track. One of the leases is for a fixed period of five years, though most of them reserve the right to the railroad company to require the removal of the structures and reclaim possession of the leased premises upon 60 days’ notice.

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Bluebook (online)
18 F.2d 784, 1927 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1104, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/southern-ry-co-v-shealy-southcarolinaed-1927.