Union Pacific Railroad v. United States

132 F. Supp. 72, 1954 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3754
CourtDistrict Court, D. Nebraska
DecidedOctober 22, 1954
DocketCiv. A. No. 76-53
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 132 F. Supp. 72 (Union Pacific Railroad v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Nebraska primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Union Pacific Railroad v. United States, 132 F. Supp. 72, 1954 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3754 (D. Neb. 1954).

Opinions

COLLET, Circuit Judge.

The Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad Company, hereafter referred to as the Rio Grande, filed a complaint with the Interstate Commerce Commission requesting the Commission to order the Union Pacific Railroad Company (and other lines comprising the Union Pacific System, together with connecting carriers comprising, in all, 221 railroads, which will be referred to as the Union Pacific) to file joint rates over through routes with the Rio Grande for the transportation of freight from and to certain areas. The Commission granted the request as to certain types of freight with substantial territorial limitations. The Union Pacific brings this action to enjoin and set aside the order. A reference to a map of the United States will be helpful in understanding the following summarization of the facts.

The northern terminus of the Rio Grande is Ogden, Utah. From Ogden it runs south through Salt Lake City and Provo, Utah, then southeasterly and east, entering Colorado at about the south central part of that state, thence east and somewhat north through the central part of Colorado to Dotsero, west of Denver, where it divides, one branch going on east to Denver, the other swinging south and east to Pueblo, Colorado. From Denver the Rio Grande line runs south through Colorado Springs to Pueblo and Trinidad. Other lines serve territory in southern Utah, northwestern New Mexico, and southern Colorado. These latter lines are not of special importance in this action. At Denver, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, and Trinidad the Rio Grande maintains joint rates and through routes with lines other than the Union Pacific to 'destinations east and south of those points.

The Union Pacific (including connecting lines which were defendants in the I.C.C. proceedings) serves the greater part of the east, south and midwestern sections of the United States. Traffic involved in this action from those sections flowing westward over the Union Pacific and connecting lines converges at Denver 'and Cheyenne, Wyoming, then moves westwardly across the southern part of Wyoming to Ogden and Salt Lake City. One of its lines runs from Salt Lake City south to Provo, Utah, thence southwest to Los Angeles, California.

[75]*75The Union Pacific also serves the northwestern part of the United States, including that part of Utah north of Ogden, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. It is traffic from and to this latter territory, referred to herein as the northwest territory or area, which is the principal subject of the present controversy.

The Union Pacific maintains joint rates and through routes over its lines and with many connecting carriers from and to the northwest territory through Ogden and Salt Lake City, Cheyenne, Denver, and points east and south to the Atlantic Seaboard and the Gulf of Mexico. Por a comparatively short distance, from Ogden through Salt Lake City to Provo, where the Los Angeles line swings southwest, the Union Pacific and the Rio Grande parallel and serve some common points. To and from these points, joint rates and through routes are maintained by the Union Pacific over its lines with the northwest territory and the area east of Cheyenne and Denver served by the Union Pacific. The Union Pacific does not maintain joint through rates with the Rio Grande, with certain exceptions not material in this proceeding. Freight moving from the northwest territory to points in southern Utah and Colorado on the Rio Grande, finally destined to points east of the eastern termini of the Rio Grande, moves on the combination rate, consisting of the total of the Union Pacific rate to Ogden via Union Pacific and the Rio Grande rate from Ogden via Rio Grande to points on the Rio Grande. The same is true of the rates on shipments from points east of Denver to those points on the Rio Grande finally destined to the northwest territory. This combination of rates, or combination rate, as it is called, is considerably higher than a joint through rate. Freight moving from and to the northwest territory from and to all points east of Denver1 served by the Union Pacific and connecting carriers has the benefit of joint through’ rates via Union Pacific, with accompanying in-transit privileges en route, while freight originating on the Union Pacific in the northwest territory and moving to the area east of Denver, which is routed over the Rio Grande, pays the combination rate without in-transit privileges at points on the Rio Grande. The result is that practically all of the long-haul traffic originating in the northwest area and destined to the area east of Denver goes over the Union Pacific all the way on the lower joint and through rates. Since the formal record before the Commission consists of 1,957 pages of testimony, 57 exhibits and 74 verified statements, the foregoing statement is obviously only a salient outline of the basis for the Rio Grande’s complaint. For a complete understanding of the intricacies of the case by one un[76]*76familiar with the record, it will be necessary to refer to the extensive report and order of the Commission reported in 287 1. C.C. 611.

The Commission ordered the establishment of through routes and joint rates via Ogden or Salt Lake City by the Union Pacific with the Rio Grande for the transportation of granite and marble monuments in carloads from points of origin in Vermont and Georgia to destinations in the northwest area, and on ordinary livestock, fresh fruits and vegetables, dried beans, frozen poultry, frozen foods, butter and eggs, in carloads, from points of origin in the northwest territory to destinations “east of Denver.” The order is based upon three primary basic findings. First, that the through routes and joint rates are necessary and desirable in the public interest, in order to provide adequate and, more economic transportation; second, that the existing joint rates maintained by the Union Pacific are and will be unjust and unreasonable and unduly prejudicial to shippers and receivers of freight using or desiring to use the Rio Grande and unduly preferential to shippers and receivers of freight using the Union Pacific; third, that the maintenance by the Union Pacific of joint rates with the Bamberger Railroad between the northwest area and points on the Bamberger line between Ogden and Salt Lake City, while refusing to establish joint rates with the Rio Grande to and from the same points on the Rio Grande between Ogden and Salt Lake City, subjects the Rio Grande to discrimination in violation of Sec. 3(4) of the Interstate Commerce Act, 49 U.S.C.A. § 3(4). Finding No. 1 has heretofore been quoted in footnote 1. Findings 2 and 3 are set out below.2 To understand the import of these findings it is necessary to explain the factual theory upon which they are based.

First as to the finding that the rates ordered are necessary and desirable to provide adequate and more economic transportation. Located along the route of the Rio Grande, between Ogden on the west and Denver, Pueblo and Trinidad on the eastern termini, are a number of livestock feeders. Some of these are ranchers who graze and feed cattle and sheep. Others are operators of beet sugar plants which produce livestock feed as a by-product and feed the byproduct to livestock. These livestock feeders buy cattle and sheep in the northwest area, which are ultimately destined for the market, and ship them to points on the Rio Grande for feeding. Many of the principal livestock markets of the United States are located east of Denver.

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Bluebook (online)
132 F. Supp. 72, 1954 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3754, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/union-pacific-railroad-v-united-states-ned-1954.