United States v. Toledo, Peoria & Western Railroad

280 F. Supp. 243, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10049
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Indiana
DecidedJanuary 25, 1968
DocketCiv. Nos. 378, 381
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 280 F. Supp. 243 (United States v. Toledo, Peoria & Western Railroad) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Indiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Toledo, Peoria & Western Railroad, 280 F. Supp. 243, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10049 (N.D. Ind. 1968).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION AND JUDGMENT

ESCHBACH, District Judge.

This proceeding is a consolidation of three actions filed against the defendant Toledo, Peoria & Western Railroad Company on January 3, 1967 and two actions filed against the defendant Pennsylvania Railroad 'Company on January 18, 1967. In these actions, the Government seeks to recover statutory penalties of $250 each for alleged violations of 45 U.S.C. § 9, which is also known as the Power or Train Brakes Safety Appliance Act of 1958. The parties have stipulated that these five actions present an identical question of law and that a determination of one of these actions will be a binding determination of the other four. The parties have also stipulated that the Government’s second claim against Pennsylvania is typical of the five. The parties have entered into a detailed stipulation of the facts governing these cases and have filed briefs in support of their positions. The stipulations and briefs have been considered by the Court. The Court finds that the defendants have violated 45 U.S.C. § 9 and that the Government is therefore entitled to recovery of the statutory penalties.

These actions arise from a joint freight service which these two defendant railroads have established between East Peoria, Illinois, and Logansport, Indiana. The train which is involved in the Government’s second claim against Pennsylvania was a part of this service. The train was made up at East Peoria, which is on the line of Toledo. The train was manned by a Toledo crew as far as Effner, Indiana, which is the corporate boundary between the two railroads. At Effner, the Toledo crew disembarked, and a Pennsylvania crew boarded the train. No other change to the train was made at Effner. The brakes of the train were not inspected at Effner. The Pennsylvania crew then took the train over Pennsylvania lines to Logansport, Indiana. The operation just described is typical of the eastbound portion of this service. The westbound portion is identical except that the events happen in reverse. A Toledo crew replaces the Pennsylvania crew at Effner for the run into East Peoria. Again, no brake inspection is made at Effner. The violations of 45 U.S.C. § 9 alleged by the Government arise from the failure to make brake inspections at Effner.

Under 45 U.S.C. § 9, Congress instructed the Interstate Commerce Commission to

“ * * ':i adopt and put into effect the rules, standards, and instructions of the Association of American Railroads * * for the installation, inspection, maintenance and repair of all power or train brakes for common carriers engaged in interstate commerce by railroad.”

[246]*246This same section then empowered the Interstate Commerce Commission to change these regulations, after hearing. But the section then adds the following proviso:

“Provided, however, That such rules or standards or instructions or changes therein shall be promulgated solely for the purpose of achieving safety."

Acting in accordance with the Congressional mandate, the Interstate Commerce Commission adopted the rules of the American Association of Railroads for the inspection of train brakes. These regulations appear in 49 C.F.R., beginning at § 132.10. The regulation which is most directly applicable to these cases is 49 C.F.R. § 132.12, which inter alia defines a particular inspection procedure known as the “initial terminal road train air brake tests.” The parties have stipulated that these tests were not performed at Effner. The regulation provides that these tests must be performed

“* * * at points: (1) Where a train is originally made up (Initial Terminal); (2) Where train consist is changed other than by adding or removing a solid block of cars and train brake system remains charged; (3) Where train is received in interchange.”

Neither of the events specified in items (1) and (2) of this regulation occur at Effner. The parties agree that the sole question presented by these eases is whether Effner, which is the point where these trains cross the corporate boundary and where crews of one railroad replace crews of the other, but where no other change to the train takes place, is the point where the trains are “received in interchange” for the purpose of the above regulation requiring inspection of brakes. The Court finds that Effner is the point where the trains are “received in interchange.” Failure to make the brake inspections required by 49 C.F.R. § 132.12 at Effner therefore constitutes a violation of 45 U.S.C. § 9.

The Government contends that the corporate boundary has long been understood as the “interchange” point for purposes of the Safety Appliance Acts and that this interpretation is the one best suited to give effect to the Congressional purpose of achieving safety in railroad operations. The railroads contend first that the definition of “interchange” applicable to these cases is the definition given in Rule 7 of the Car Service Rules of the American Association of Railroads. This rule provides in essence that the parties may designate the point of interchange by agreement. The railroad defendants in these cases contend that they have designated East Peoria as the point of interchange on westbound trains and Logansport as the point of interchange on eastbound trains. The railroads contend second that the corporate boundary is only a fiction used for accounting purposes, and designation of that point as the point of interchange would lead to results not consistent with the legislative purpose of achieving safety. The railroads contend finally that if 45 U.S.C. § 9 does require an inspection at the corporate boundary, the statute is so arbitrary and unreasonable that it deprives the defendants of property without due process of law in the instant case.

Historically, the Safety Appliance Acts have been interpreted as attaching great significance to the corporate boundary. 45 U.S.C. § 3 makes it lawful for a railroad to refuse, under certain circumstances, cars which are delivered to it “from connecting lines” without proper brakes. 45 U.S.C. § 13 complements this section by making it unlawful for a railroad to haul a defective ear upon its lines. A proviso in 45 U.S.C. § 13 permits a railroad to haul a defective car from the point where the defect is discovered to the first available repair point, but this proviso is applicable only where

“such equipment shall have become defective or insecure while such car was being used by such carrier upon its line of railroad * *

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
280 F. Supp. 243, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10049, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-toledo-peoria-western-railroad-innd-1968.