Western Motor Freight, Inc. v. State

1975 OK 62, 534 P.2d 926, 1975 Okla. LEXIS 396
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedApril 22, 1975
DocketNo. 47320
StatusPublished

This text of 1975 OK 62 (Western Motor Freight, Inc. v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Western Motor Freight, Inc. v. State, 1975 OK 62, 534 P.2d 926, 1975 Okla. LEXIS 396 (Okla. 1975).

Opinion

BERRY, Justice:

This is an appeal by Western Motor Freight, Inc., appellant herein, from order of Corporation Commission.

Maurice Smith Ausley, II, doing business as Ausley Motor Freight, applied for authority to operate as a regular route motor common carrier, in intrastate and interstate commerce, over the following routes:

[ 1] Between Gotebo, Oklahoma, and Snyder, Oklahoma, over fixed route serving intermediate points of Lone Wolf, Granite, Hollis, Duke, and Altus, Oklahoma, and off-route points of Hobart, Mangum, Olustee, and El Dorado, Oklahoma;

[ 2] Between Gotebo, Oklahoma, and Frederick, Oklahoma, over fixed route serving intermediate points of Babbs, Roosevelt, Mountain Park and Snyder, Oklahoma, in addition to points presently authorized to be served;

[ 3] Between Mangum and Duke, Oklahoma;

[ 4] Between Lone Wolf and Altus, Oklahoma, serving intermediate points of Blair and Lugert, Oklahoma;

[ 5] An alternative route between Oklahoma City and Elgin, Oklahoma, serving no intermediate points ;

[ 6] An alternative route between Oklahoma City and Altus serving no intermediate points.

In his application Ausley further requested the Commission unitize the new authority with prior authority held by Aus-ley so as to permit through service from Oklahoma City to towns in the new service area.

Hearing was held and Western appeared and protested the application.

Western had prior authority to operate over same routes and had authority to conduct through operation from Oklahoma City to cities and towns within the new service area.

The Commission entered its order No. 103149 granting Ausley the new authority. It subsequently entered its order No. 103352, correcting order No. 103149 to provide that the new authority was unitized with prior authorities held by Ausley.

On appeal Western first contends the proceedings before the Corporation [928]*928Commission were void ab initio for lack of proper and required notice to the public. 47 O.S.1971 § 166, piovides in part:

“In order for the public and all interested parties to receive proper notice, in addition to any notice the Commission may prescribe, the Commission shall circulate, on its own docket form, notice of all applications for * * * certificates * * * to operate as a motor carrier which have been filed and are pending. Such notice shall be published at least fifteen (15) days prior to the date of hearing and shall show * * *”

Western does not contend the Commission failed to comply with the notice requirements of the statute, but does contend the Commission failed to comply with its rule which requires notice of application relating to motor carrier authority to be published in a newspaper “published in the county seat or largest city of each county in which is located a city, or town proposed to be served.”

Notice of the application and hearing was published in Harmon, Greer, Jackson, Kiowa, Comanche, Caddo and Grady Counties.

Western contends Ausley sought new routes to new points from towns presently served in Tillman, Oklahoma, Canadian, and Cleveland Counties and contends the Commission’s rule requires notice of application and hearing to be published in these counties.

It contends failure to publish the notice in these counties deprived the public of its opportunity to appear at hearing, and, even though Western may have waived its right to object to lack of notice, the public has not waived its right to notice.

Ausley contends the rule does not require publication in the named counties because he does not propose to serve any new cities or towns in these counties. He further contends Western has waived its right to raise this objection.

We conclude Western has waived its right to raise this objection.

Two separate hearings were held before a referee and the case was then argued before the Commission. Western’s officers and attorney participated in such proceedings without raising issue of lack of notice.

In Oklahoma Users, etc. v. Southwestern Bell Tel. Co., Okl., 289 P.2d 968, we stated:

sion, 82 Okl. 160, 199 P. 396, followed in guish this case, on principle, from City of Bartlesville v. Corporation Commission, 82 Okl. 160, 100 P. 396, followed in Consumers’ Gas Co. v. Corporation Commission, 95 Okl. 57, 219 P. 126 * * * There * * * this Court held that the appellant’s participation in the hearing, out of which the order issued, constituted a waiver of the ‘defect of notice’, if any. Protestants make no effort to distinguish the facts in this case * * * and we see no such distinction. If Order No. 29443 be considered a general order for which the constitutional provision * * * requires publication notice, it may be doubted that such order is valid without that notice, or that such defect can be waived for the public by litigants such as the Protestants herein. However, on the basis of the Bartlesville Case and under the rule that a litigant cannot try a case in this Court on a theory foreign, or altogether different, from that on which it was tried in the trial tribunal * * * we do not think the proposition relied on by Protestants for reversal is now before us. Nor do we think Order No. 29443 should herein be disturbed on that ground.”

Western next contends the Commission’s order is not supported by substantial evidence.

In this regard it contends 47 O.S.1971 § 166, creates a presumption, in absence of competent evidence to the contrary, that intrastate carriers operating under existing certificates are rendering adequate service between points, or within areas, authorized to be served by them. It further contends the statute imposes burden of proof to show otherwise upon the applicant.

[929]*929Under this contention it argues there was no substantial evidence to support the order insofar as it unitized new authority with prior authorities so as to allow Ausley to provide through service from Oklahoma City to points within the new service area.

In this regard it argues the major issue in the proceedings was rapidity of service available from Western.

Two businessmen from Altus, four from Snyder, one from Hollis, and one from Mountain Park testified average delivery time from Oklahoma City aboard Western was between 4 and 14 days with some deliveries taking up to 20 days. Their testimony was to effect they specified delivery by an express company which served area if they needed fast delivery and this was not satisfactory because express company charged higher rates for shipments over 200 pounds.

The Secretary for the Retail Merchants Association in Mangum, Oklahoma, [who was also manager of the town Chamber of Commerce] presented a resolution signed by 12 retail merchants in Mangum. The resolution stated need for freight truck service to Mangum and Greer counties, that Western’s service was insufficient, and requested Ausley’s application be granted.

A sales representative from a paper company in Oklahoma City testified shipments into area averaged seven days for delivery with some taking as long as ten days. He testified paper products are bulky and customers need to receive them on regular basis due to storage problems. He testified competition owns own trucks and customers will purchase from competition if his company is unable to deliver.

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Related

Application of Choctaw Express Co.
1953 OK 44 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1953)
Consumers Gas Co. v. Corporation Commission
1923 OK 609 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1923)
City of Bartlesville v. Corporation Commission
1921 OK 223 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1921)
Chicago, R. I. & P. Ry. Co. v. State
1927 OK 202 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1927)
Enid Transfer Storage Co., Inc. v. State
1947 OK 355 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1947)
Lee Way Motor Freight, Inc. v. State
1963 OK 237 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1963)

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Bluebook (online)
1975 OK 62, 534 P.2d 926, 1975 Okla. LEXIS 396, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/western-motor-freight-inc-v-state-okla-1975.