Truck Service, Inc. v. Louisiana Public Service Commission

268 So. 2d 666, 263 La. 588, 1972 La. LEXIS 5819
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedNovember 6, 1972
Docket52406
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 268 So. 2d 666 (Truck Service, Inc. v. Louisiana Public Service Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Truck Service, Inc. v. Louisiana Public Service Commission, 268 So. 2d 666, 263 La. 588, 1972 La. LEXIS 5819 (La. 1972).

Opinion

TATE, Justice.

The plaintiff (“Truck Service”) files judicial proceedings to question the issuance of a certificate of public convenience and necessity to another carrier. La. Const. Art. VI, Section 5. This other carrier (“A-l Equipment”) intervened. The intervenor and the Commission appeal from a judgment of the trial court annulling the certificate issued to A-l Equipment.

The basic facts adduced at the Commission hearings show:

Truck Service’s predecessor corporation was granted a certificate by the Commission in 1959 which permitted it to haul, inter alia, bauxite ore between East Baton Rouge Parish and Ascension Parish. In 1966, this permit was transferred to Truck Service, which acquired the assets of the predecessor corporation.

During this entire time and up to the Commission hearings in 1971, Truck Service had hauled bauxite ore only once. This was in 1959 or 1960, on which occasion it had performed its work through a hauling subcontract executed by A-l Equipment, the present applicant for another certificate.

The evidence shows, however, that this was the only intrastate hauling of bauxite ore during this period. A new need for such intrastate hauling has just developed because of the sale of large quantities of bauxite from government stockpiles in Baton Rouge.

A-l Equipment is a holder of an interstate certificate to haul bauxite ore. Pursuant to this permit, it has engaged in extensive interstate bauxite hauling with shippers in Baton Rouge and Ascension Parishes. In 1971 it applied to the state’s Commission for an additional permit to haul bauxite ore intrastate.

At the hearings, A-l Equipment produced substantial evidence that it is well equipped to perform intrastate bauxite hauling. It also produced a shipper witness who testified, generally, that A-l Equipment could perform such intrastate hauling and that Truck Service could not. (By stipulation, it is conceded that only Truck Service and — if the issuance is here sustained — A-l Equipment have the only common carrier certificates from the Commission authorizing the intrastate hauling of bauxite ore.)

At the Commission hearings, Truck Service opposed the issuance of a competing certificate to A-l Equipment. Its opposition and its present application for judicial review is founded upon the provision of La.R.S. 45 :164 that: “ * * * No new or additional certificate shall be granted over a route where there is an existing *594 certificate, unless it be clearly shown that the public convenience and necessity would be materially promoted thereby. * * * ”

The principles are well settled for judicial review of Commission orders granting certificates of public convenience and necessity under this provision:

The applicant has the burden of clearly showing that the public convenience and necessity would be materially promoted by the issuance of a certificate to it. Hearin Tank Lines, Inc. v. Louisiana Public Service Commission, 247 La. 826, 174 So.2d 644 (1965); Saia Motor Freight Line v. Louisiana Public Service Commission, 243 La. 787, 147 So.2d 390 (1962); Herrin Transportation Co. v. Louisiana Public Service Commission, 241 La. 174, 127 So.2d 541 (1961). A ruling of the Commission granting or denying .a new certificate must be supported by some factual evidence, in the absence of which the order is deemed unreasonable, arbitrary, and unwarranted. Louisiana Gas Service Co. v. Louisiana Public Service Commission, 256 La. 536, 237 So.2d 369 (1970); Texas & N. O. R. Co. v. Louisiana Public Service Commission, 235 La. 973, 106 So.2d 438 (1958).

On the other hand, when there is some evidence upon which the Commission could reasonably base its determination, then the usual rule applies that the orders of the Commission and of other administrative bodies exercising discretionary authority are accorded great weight and will not be overturned in the absence of a showing that the administrative action is arbitrary and capricious. Hearin Tank Lines, Inc. v. Louisiana Public Service Commission, 247 La. 826, 174 So.2d 644 (1965). As there stated, 174 So.2d 646-647; “ * * *, if the applicant adduces evidence before the commission which clearly shows that the public convenience and necessity would be materially'promoted by the issuance of the certificate, it is immaterial whether the evidence making this clear showing is termed ‘adequate’ or is termed ‘substantial’.” • i

In annulling the order of the Commission, the district court held that no evideuce was introduced at the Commission hearings to prove that Truck Service was'-' not fully capable of hauling bauxite as now needed. Thus, the trial court held, •' there was no proof that hauling services' provided through an additional certificate would materially promote the public convenience and necessity.

In so holding, the trial court discounted the testimony of the purchasing agent of the shippers, who testified that Truck Service was not equipped to perform the total scope of the work involved in intrastate hauling of massive quantities of bauxite per government specifications from the Baton Rouge to the Ascension sites, a new contract for which had just been *596 awarded. This witness was equally positive that A-l Equipment could perform this massive intrastate bauxite hauling, on the basis of its past performance of extensive interstate hauling.

The trial court discounted this shipper’s testimony because, under cross-examination, he admitted that he had no facts based on “past performance", to judge Truck Service’s capacity to perform the work. The witness, however, explained that he had no basis “on past performance” to judge of Truck Service’s ability to perform intrastate bauxite services now needed, simply because Truck Service had never engaged in any bauxite hauling to his knowledge. This witness also testified that, when Truck Service had entered a bid to perform the present massive intrastate hauliijg, he had not accepted it, based upon his analysis of source information in connection with the evaluation of competing bids by A-l Equipment and Truck Service.

In our opinion, in overturning the Commission order our trial brother overlooked the totality of the shippers’ purchasing agent’s testimony, as well as reasonable factual inferences the Commission could draw from other factual evidence before it.

We reverse, because we are unable to say that the Commission erred in holding that, by the evidence before it, it was “clearly shown that the public convenience and necessity would be materially promoted” by the issuance of the certificate to A-1 Equipment, La.R.S. 45:164. The following evidence before the Commission supplies a reasonable factual basis for the Commission’s holding to such effect:

1. Although Truck Service and its predecessor had held a certificate to haul bauxite since 1959, it had in fact only exercised its rights under the certificate once (in about 1960), and then it had utilized the services and equipment of the present applicant, A-l Equipment, through a subcontract. Truck Service had not engaged in the extensive interstate

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Eagle Water, Inc. v. Louisiana Public Service Commission
947 So. 2d 28 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 2007)
Wst Elec. Coop., Inc. v. La. Public Service Com'n
671 So. 2d 908 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1996)
Southern Message Serv. v. LA. PUBLIC SERV. COM'N
554 So. 2d 47 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1989)
CTS Enterprises, Inc. v. Public Service Com'n
540 So. 2d 275 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1989)
Southern Message Service, Inc. v. Louisiana Public Service Commission
520 So. 2d 734 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1988)
Miller Transporters v. Public Serv. Com'n
518 So. 2d 1018 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1988)
Ken-Go Services, Inc. v. LOUISIANA PUBLIC SERVICE COM'N.
483 So. 2d 141 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1986)
South Ark. Vacuum Ser. v. La. Pub. Serv. Com'n
457 So. 2d 655 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1984)
M & G Fleet Serv. v. La. Pub. Serv. Com'n
443 So. 2d 574 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1983)
Florane v. Louisiana Public Service Com'n
433 So. 2d 120 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1983)
Louisiana & Arkansas Railway Co. v. Louisiana Public Service Commission
410 So. 2d 1118 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1982)
Dreher Contracting & Etc. v. La. Public Service Com'n
396 So. 2d 1265 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1981)
Cent. La. Elec. v. La. Public Service Com'n
370 So. 2d 497 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1979)
Central Louisiana Electric Co. v. Louisiana Public Service Commission
370 So. 2d 497 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1979)
La. Power & Light v. La. Public Service Com'n
358 So. 2d 623 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1978)
B & M Trucking, Inc. v. Louisiana Public Serv.
353 So. 2d 1323 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1977)
La. Power & Light Co. v. La. Public Serv. Com'n.
343 So. 2d 1040 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1977)
Baton Rouge Water Works Co. v. La. Pub. Serv. Comm.
342 So. 2d 609 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1977)
Southern Sugar Transport, Inc. v. Louisiana Public Service Commission
324 So. 2d 435 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1975)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
268 So. 2d 666, 263 La. 588, 1972 La. LEXIS 5819, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/truck-service-inc-v-louisiana-public-service-commission-la-1972.