Village and Citizens of Grenville v. State Corp. Com'n

206 P.2d 259, 53 N.M. 259
CourtNew Mexico Supreme Court
DecidedMay 9, 1949
DocketNo. 5162.
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 206 P.2d 259 (Village and Citizens of Grenville v. State Corp. Com'n) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Village and Citizens of Grenville v. State Corp. Com'n, 206 P.2d 259, 53 N.M. 259 (N.M. 1949).

Opinion

BRICE, Chief Justice.

Upon the entry of an order by the New Mexico' State Corporation Commission (hereinafter called Commission), which authorized the respondents to close the railway and express station at the village of Grenville, in Union County, New Mexico, the cause was removed to this court.

In 1941 we determined that the ‘respondents need not employ a regular agent to operate the station at the village of Grenville, provided they would employ a caretaker who would perform the services for the public which were specifically'set out in our order; for the details of which reference is made to our opinion in that case. This arrangement was proposed by respondents, and acquiesced in by this court. Petition of Town of Grenville (Petition of Colorado & Southern Railway Company), 46 N.M. 3, 119 P.2d 632, hereafter referred to as “The Grenville Case.” Now it is proposed to close the station for all purposes.

The village of Grenville filed an application to require the respondents to comply with the order of this court as entered in the Grenville case, which it is alleged has been violated; and respondents petition for permission to dispense with the caretaker and to close the station.

The case was heard by the Commission and findings of fact and conclusions of law were made and entered, followed by an order authorizing respondents to close the Grenville Station. After this decision of the Commission the cause has been removed to this court for trial de novo as provided by Sec. 7 of Art. 11 of this state’s Constitution.

The respondents would not object to continuing the services we required of them in the Grenville case, except for a controversy resulting from a contract with the order of railroad telegraphers, which as interpreted by the National Railroad Adjustment Board, requires the services of an agent-telegrapher at this station if the services which we required to be performed by a caretaker are continued.

The decision in the Grenville case was made November 21, 1941. No serious objection was made to the order until September 23, 1947, on which date the order of Railroad Telegraphers (hereafter referred to as the O. R. T.) filed a complaint with the National Railroad Adjustment Board, a tribunal established by the Congress, Title 45 U.S.C.A. § 153, for set- , tling controversies between carriers and their employees. We need not go into the jurisdiction of this board. It is sufficient to say that their determination of a question involving contractual relations between carriers and their employees (in this case the O. R. T.) is binding on both parties. The contention of the O. R. T. before the Adjustment Board was that under the contract between it and the respondents, the latter were not permitted to use a mere caretaker to do the work of an agent-telegrapher, and that such was the work provided for in our order in the Grenville case. The Adjustment Board after a hearing rendered a decision in which it held that the work we permitted to be done by a caretaker at Grenville was the work of a station agent under the contract mentioned and therefore the respondents had violated their union labor contract. As a result of this decision the respondents must either close the station altogether or place there a regular agent-telegrapher to perform the work, unless our order can be modified so that a caretaker’s services can be beneficially used. The present cost of a caretaker is $360 a year, whereas the expense of furnishing an agent-telegrapher will be approximately $3600.

The question is whether it is reasonable and lawful to require the respondents to continue the employment of a caretaker because of the effect of the Adjustment Board’s decision. Seward v. Denver & R. G. R. Co., 17 N.M. 557, 131 P. 980, 46 L. R.A.,N.S., 242.

Caretakers have been approved as sufficient in similar cases, Kurn v. State, 179 Okl. 440, 66 P.2d 52; Thompson v. Nebraska State Railroad Comm., 142 Neb. 477, 6 N.W.2d 607; In re Application of the Union Pac. R. Co., 64 Idaho 529, 134 P.2d 599; Illinois Central R. Co. v. Illinois Commerce Comm., 375 Ill. 585, 32 N.E.2d 146; and we would have no difficulty in approving our conclusion in the Grenville case if a new question had not arisen since the entry of the original order.

The respondents and this court were of the opinion that our order in the Grenville case was just and reasonable; that the citizens of Grenville and the adjacent territory were entitled to the services provided for therein. Now we must weigh the inconvenience that the new conditions will entail to the public as against the increased cost of operating the station by respondents, and endeavor to arrive at a just decision.

The fact that the station may be operated at a loss is a principal factor, but ■not the only one, that must be taken into consideration in making our decision. The inconvenience to the public is just as important, and in some cases more important than the loss factor, if the carrier’s general business is not unreasonably affected. In so large a business ordinarily some stations, or operations, will not produce a profit; but convenience of the public may outweigh the loss factor. Village of Millersburg v. Public Utilities Comm., 137 Ohio St. 75, 27 N.E.2d 1020; Atlantic Coast Line R. Co. v. North Carolina Corporation Comm., 206 U. S. 1, 27 S.Ct. 585, 51 L.Ed. 933, 11 Ann.Cas. 398. We stated in the Seward case, supra [17 N.M. 557, 131 P. 993]:

“The Constitution does not confer upon the Corporation Commission the right to arbitrarily establish a station or to require a station agent regardless of the expense entailed upon the company, or the benefit to be derived by the public. It is only authorized to make such an order in this regard, as ‘the public interests demand, and as may be reasonable and just.’ It is not to consider alone the interests of the public affected, by the order, but must determine whether or not, taking into consideration both the interests of the public and the expense entailed upon the railroad company, the order is just and reasonable. * * * ”

The carload shipments to and from Grenville averaged annually 319 from January 1, 1942, to and including 11 months of 1947, approximately six years. If we exclude the 104 carloads of road construction material shipped in the year of 1945 (which were unusual shipments), the average would be about 301 carloads per annum. Of these all but about two percent of the total were livestock shipments. The total freight on carload lots was $10,300 average per annum. Excluding the unusual shipment of road materials which probably will not occur against for many years, the carload shipments averaged 301 per annum, of which ninety-eight percent was livestock.

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206 P.2d 259, 53 N.M. 259, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/village-and-citizens-of-grenville-v-state-corp-comn-nm-1949.