Southwestern Greyhound Lines, Inc. v. Railroad Commission

208 S.W.2d 593, 1947 Tex. App. LEXIS 1068, 1947 WL 55607
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 29, 1947
DocketNo. 9644
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 208 S.W.2d 593 (Southwestern Greyhound Lines, Inc. v. Railroad Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Southwestern Greyhound Lines, Inc. v. Railroad Commission, 208 S.W.2d 593, 1947 Tex. App. LEXIS 1068, 1947 WL 55607 (Tex. Ct. App. 1947).

Opinion

HUGHES, Justice.

The Southwestern Greyhound Lines, Inc., and Pacific Greyhound Lines, appellants, sued the Railroad Commission, hereafter called Commission, and All American Bus Lines, Inc., hereafter called appellee, to set aside an order of the Commission granting appellee a certificate of convenience and necessity to operate a motor carrier service between Dallas and El Paso and between El Paso and the Texas-New Mexico border.

Appellee’s application for such certificate was filed on June 24, 1944, and hearings were held by the Commission during that year, the last hearing being held on December 19, 1944. The Commission entered its order granting the application on November 15, 1945. Appellants filed their motion for a rehearing and to reopen the hearings [595]*595on December 1, 1945. The Commission overruled such motion on December 22, 1945, and on December 23, 1945, issued its Motor Bus Certificate No. 1238 to appellee.

The case was tried before the court, without a jury, and resulted in a judgment denying appellants the relief sought.

Appellants are existing carriers operating over the same routes included in the certificate issued appellee.

Appellants first complain that there was no evidence to support the finding of the Commission that the service capable of being rendered by appellants (existing carriers) was not reasonably adequate or as otherwise stated by appellants that since there was no evidence of the inability of appellants, as existing carriers, to provide any additional service which might be required, as of the date of appellee’s certificate, the order of the Commission must be set aside under the so-called mandatory provisions of Sections 6 and 7 of Article 911a, Vernon’s Ann.Civ.St.

Without detailing the evidence in support of this point, we find it to be without dispute in showing that appellants had sufficient money, credit and physical properties to enable them at some time to furnish all the additional services required as of the date of the issuance of appellee’s certificate.

We have held contrary to appellants’ legal contention in the recent case of Kerrville Bus Co. v. Continental Bus System, Tex.Civ.App., 208 S.W.2d 586, and upon the authority of that decision the point under consideration is overruled.

The Commission made the following finding: “The Commission finds from the record and evidence that generally crowded conditions prevailed on many buses operating between Dallas and Fort Worth and the Texas-New Mexico State Line through El Paso, serving points intermediate to the extent of the capacity of busses operated by the carriers but the service was inadequate, that public necessity and convenience required additional equipment which the carriers did not supply, and the existing affected carriers did not conclusively establish that they had busses available from any source to immediately eliminate the standing of passengers or the waiting and delay experienced by some passengers in securing transportation.”

In finding that appellants did not “conclusively establish” their ability to immediately remedy the existing inadequate service, appellants complain that the Commission erroneously placed the burden of proof upon them and that the burden of proof placed upon them was erroneous.

Under Sec. 6, Art. 911a, Vernon’s Ann. Civ.St., it is made the duty of the Commission to ascertain and determine the public necessity for and public convenience to be promoted by granting an application to render motor bus service over the highways as a common carrier “after considering * * * the service * * * capable of being rendered * *

The most direct method for the Commission to obtain information upon this subject would be to inquire of the protesting existing carriers, since it is a matter which usually would be within their peculiar knowledge. Under appellants’ theory as to burden of proof, they could, upon such inquiry being made, sit silent and rely upon the supposed burden on the part of the applicant to show that they were incapable of rendering further or additional service. We do not have this question before us and no court probably ever will because no existing carrier would ever take such position before the Commission.

“Service capable of being rendered” is made a factor in determining the requisite public convenience and necessity by virtue of the statute alone and such statute also prescribes the treatment to be accorded this factor in consideration by the Commission, and upon an affirmative finding, permissive authority to deny the application. Sec. 7, Art. 911a, Vernon’s Ann.Civ. St.

The question before us, then, under the law, is whether or not the Commission has discharged its duty in considering the service capable of being rendered, and whether abuse of discretion is shown in not denying appellee’s application.

In the first place it will be presumed that the Commission considered all of the evidence before it. Appellants de[596]*596vote about 18 pages of their brief in summarizing the evidence upon this point. Such an abundance of testimony could not have been overlooked by the Commission. We are not driven to reliance upon this presumption, however, for the reason that the record affirmatively shows that such evidence was considered. We quote from the order of the Commission granting ap-pellee’s certificate: “The protestants relied upon their witnesses to * * * show protestants were wholly capable of ren•dering completely adequate service upon modification of emergency situations imposed by the war.”

And in stating the issues before the Commission it said: “And finally whether the existing facilities furnished by existing ■carriers can be immediately augmented by those carriers to adequately serve the public necessity and convenience.”

Reference is also here made to that portion of the Commission’s order copied first above.

It is apparent from the face of this record that the Commission thoroughly considered the service capable of being rendered by appellants. This was all the law required it to do.

Appellants seize upon the word “conclusively” used by the Commission in that portion of the order first copied above and would have us hold that its presence in the order constitutes a violation of the fundamental rules of administrative law. It has been stated many times by our courts that the Commission is an expert, technical 'body which devotes its time and talents to the administration of some of our largest and most complex businesses.* While it is .a quasi judicial body, it is not a court; its members need not be attorneys. Its actions, proceedings and orders are not subject to the same critical scrutiny as would be accorded those of a court.

In our opinion the effect of the language used by the Commission was that upon due and statutorily required consideration the Commission was not satisfied ■with the-ability of appellants to render additional required service to the extent that :it should deny appellee’s application. This was a matter purely within its discretionary powers and with the exercise of which the courts may not interfere, unless the action be arbitrary or unreasonable. Shupee v. Railroad Commission, 123 Tex. 521, 73 S.W.2d 505. The Commission’s action was upheld in Railroad Commission v. Metro Bus Lines, 144 Tex.

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Bluebook (online)
208 S.W.2d 593, 1947 Tex. App. LEXIS 1068, 1947 WL 55607, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/southwestern-greyhound-lines-inc-v-railroad-commission-texapp-1947.