United States v. Grand Trunk Western Railroad

95 F.R.D. 463
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Michigan
DecidedJanuary 28, 1981
DocketNo. K78-678 CA4
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 95 F.R.D. 463 (United States v. Grand Trunk Western Railroad) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Grand Trunk Western Railroad, 95 F.R.D. 463 (W.D. Mich. 1981).

Opinion

OPINION

BENJAMIN F. GIBSON, District Judge.

This matter comes before this Court pursuant to a motion to suppress, motions to intervene, and a motion to strike the proposed joint answer of the prospective intervening parties brought by various parties. A hearing was held on December 19, 1980, to consider defendant’s motion to suppress certain evidence seized by a Government agent in late-1975. The motions to intervene and the motion to strike have been briefed fully and this Court has decided the issues presented therein without the benefit of oral argument. For all of the reasons which follow, the Court denies defendant’s motion to suppress, grants the prospective intervening parties’ motions to intervene, and denies the Government’s motion to strike the intervening parties’ proposed joint answer.

Motion to Suppress

The defendant’s motion to suppress focuses on certain documentary evidence seized at various times during the period beginning November 12, 1975, and ending December 30, 1975. The defendant contends that the Government’s agent, Glen W. Hoover, seized these records (1) without first having secured an appropriate search warrant, (2) as a result of a “general” search instead of a search more limited in scope, (3) through misrepresentation of the purpose of his search, (4) without statutory authority to inspect and photocopy the defendant’s records in the course of enforcing Interstate Commerce Commission regulations or the Interstate Commerce Act, and (5) without obtaining consent from the defendant before conducting his search, or if consent may have existed at one point, that consent was vitiated by Hoover’s misrepresentation of the purpose of or authority to conduct the search. The Government’s position is that (1) Hoover was acting with the authority vested in him by applicable statutes and regulations governing enforcement of the ICC regulations and orders, and (2) the defendant consented to the various searches and seizures. The Government abandoned its consent issue, relying instead at the oral argument on its agent’s authority to conduct the search from which the defendant here seeks relief. In rebuttal, the defendant has contended that (1) the statute in existence at the time of Hoover’s search did not confer on him any powers to conduct such a warrantless search, (2) the Government cannot promulgate regulations to give agents such as Hoover powers to conduct these types of searches when Congress allegedly did not intend to give such powers to these agents, and (3) the Government cannot prove any consent by the defendant to Hoover’s search by “clear and convincing proof.”

The defendant has not convinced the Court that the Government’s agent exercised any powers beyond those to which he was entitled. In 49 U.S.C. § 20(5), which existed in 1975 when Hoover conducted his searches of the defendant’s premises), agents such as Hoover were accorded powers to conduct certain types of searches of carriers regulated by the ICC. The statute reads, in relevant part:

[465]*465The Commission or any duly authorized special agent, accountant, or examiner thereof shall at all times have authority to inspect and copy any and all ... documents ... of such carriers ... as the Commission deems relevant to such person’s relation to or transactions with such carrier. The Commission or its duly authorized special agents, accountants, or examiners shall at all times have access to all lands, buildings, or equipment of such carriers ... and shall have authority under its order to inspect and examine any and all such land, buildings, and equipment.... [Emphasis supplied.]

Counsel for the defendant has presented no authority stating that the Interstate Commerce Commission itself may not commission certain agents to carry out the powers conferred in 49 U.S.C. § 20(5), the then-existing version» of those powers. This Court has not found authority for such a proposition either. Yet, this effectively is what the ICC has done in promulgating and continually implementing 49 C.F.R. § 1000.5(e) (1967), renewed in 49 C.F.R. § 1000.5(c) (1973). This regulation, which was in effect at the time Hoover searched the defendant’s premises, provides, in relevant part:

Definition of special agents, accountants, and examiners. The duties of the following described employees or positions, and such other employees of the Commission as the Chairman shall specify in writing, include those of special agent, accountant or examiner, and they are hereby authorized to inspect and copy records and to inspect and examine lands, buildings, and equipment in the same manner and to the same extent as special agents, accountants, and examiners:
Railroad Service Agents (Operations) .... [Emphasis supplied.]

Therefore, it appears as though the ICC expressly conferred in Hoover, as a Railroad Service Agent, the powers given by Congress to “special agents, accountants, and examiners.” The obvious question, then, is: “Did the ICC, in promulgating 49 C.F.R. § 1000.5(c), exceed Congress’s mandate?” This Court is of the opinion that it did not. The Congress clearly gave the Commission itself the powers which it also desired to give to special classes of employees. The Commission may duly appoint certain of its employees as agents for the purposes of carrying out the powers conferred on it by Congress. This is clearly what the ICC has done in promulgating this regulation, and the Court cannot find anything constitutionally or statutorily infirm in doing that. Accordingly, this Court finds that Glen W. Hoover was an agent empowered with the authority to conduct searches or inspections under 49 U.S.C. § 20(5), and the product of his searches of the defendant’s premises in late-1975 cannot be suppressed on this ground alone.

This Court’s opinion in this regard is supported further by the recodified version of 49 U.S.C. § 20(5), now found in 49 U.S.C. § 11144(b) (1978). The new version of this statute substitutes “[t]he Commission, or an employee designated by the Commission,” for “[t]he Commission or any duly authorized special agent, accountant, or examiner thereof.” The section of the recodifying statute entitled “Legislative Purpose and Construction” states:

Sections 1 and 2 of this Act restate, without substantive change, laws enacted before May 16, 1978, that were replaced by those sections. Those sections may not be construed as making a substantive change in the laws replaced. [Emphasis supplied.]

Act of October 17, 1978, Pub.L. 95-473, § 3, 92 Stat. 1466 (1978). The newer statute, 49 U.S.C. § 11144, is part of Section 1 of the new Act.

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Bluebook (online)
95 F.R.D. 463, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-grand-trunk-western-railroad-miwd-1981.