Case Title: White v. Exeter Drilling Co.

Citation: 

Docket Number: 

State: wyoming

Court: Wyoming Supreme Court

Date: 1987-01-30T00:00:00Z

Document:
White v. Exeter Drilling Co.1987 WY 11731 P.2d 1193Case Number: 87-1Decided: 01/30/1987Supreme Court of Wyoming
KEITH O. WHITE, D/B/A 
WHITE TRUCKING, INC., PETITIONER,

 
 
v.

 
 
EXETER DRILLING COMPANY, 
RESPONDENT.

 
 
Appeal from the Public 
Service Commission.

 
 
Stephen H. Kline of 
Kline, Buck & Asay, Cheyenne, for 
petitioner.

 
 
David Evans of Rooney, 
Bagley, Hickey, Evans & Statkus, Cheyenne, for respondent.

 
 
Before THOMAS, C.J., and BROWN, CARDINE, URBIGKIT 
and MACY, JJ.

 
 
PER 
CURIAM.

 
 

[¶1.]     By appellee's motion to 
dismiss, and this court's jurisdiction review, this case presents a foundational 
issue of the jurisdiction of the Wyoming Public Service Commission to cite for 
hearing and enter a money judgment against a nonregulated shipper upon complaint 
of the regulated carrier for contended underpayment of freight charges for 
hauling oil field equipment.

 
 

[¶2.]     We are presented with a 
claim filed with the Public Service Commission by a regulated carrier seeking a 
money judgment against its customer, wherein contendably it undercharged filed 
intrastate freight tariffs in prior years, alleging a deficiency owing from the 
customer. In finding that the certificated freight carrier has no standing to 
litigate with its customer in the Public Service Commission forum, and that the 
Public Service Commission does not have jurisdiction to award damages against a 
noncertificated customer, we approve the dismissal order of the Public Service 
Commission by dismissal of this appeal.

 
 

[¶3.]     Factually, this case 
follows a similar controversy presently being litigated by a carrier, thus far 
unsuccessfully, in the federal courts, by seeking an interpretation of Wyoming 
statutes to determine the effect of filed freight tariffs. This case then was 
filed by White Trucking, Inc., as a "Complaint" before the Public Service 
Commission, naming Exeter Drilling Company, its customer, as respondent. White 
claimed underpayment of freight charges as determinable from a filed tariff, and 
requested an order validating the tariff as enforceable, and that the Commission 
require

 
 
"Exeter Drilling to remit 
to the complainant the sum of One Hundred Twenty-one Thousand Three Hundred and 
Thirty Dollars and Sixty-eight Cents ($121,330.68) to compensate Complainant for 
that deficiency existing between the tariff rate and the amount paid [for the 
years 1983-1986]."

 
 

[¶4.]     The court finds, as a 
principle simply stated, that White lacks standing to litigate its claimed 
undercollection for freight services with Exeter, a nonregulated business 
entity, in the Public Service Commission forum, and that the Public Service 
Commission lacks jurisdiction over Exeter, and lacks jurisdiction to render a 
money judgment.

 
 

[¶5.]     Applicable Wyoming 
statutes do not alter the general principle of the administrative agency's 
restricted power and authority. Neither do they provide the required authority 
for the utility commission to enter a money judgment in behalf of the 
certificated carrier against the customer for contended under-collection of 
tariff-scheduled minimum charges.

 
 
"The commission shall 
have general and exclusive power to regulate and supervise every public utility 
within the state in accordance with the provisions of this act." Section 
37-2-112, W.S. 1977.

 
 
"Whenever any Wyoming 
public utility has a controversy with any 
other person and all the parties to such controversy agree in writing to submit such 
controversy to the commission as arbitrators, the commission may act as such 
arbitrators, and after due notice to all parties interested may proceed to hear 
such controversy, and their award shall be final." (Emphasis added.) Section 
37-2-113, W.S. 1977.

 
 
These statutes are the 
authority provided, and the requested relief does not fit within the provisions 
established by the legislature. Public Service Commission v. Formal Complaint of 
WWZ Company, Wyo., 641 P.2d 183 (1982); Phillips Petroleum Company v. Public 
Service Commission, Wyo., 545 P.2d 1167 (1976); Tri-County Electric Association, 
Inc. v. City of Gillette, Wyo., 525 P.2d 3 (1974); Straube v. Bowling Green Gas 
Company, 360 Mo. 132, 227 S.W.2d 666, 18 A.L.R.2d 1335 (1950); 64 Am.Jur.2d 
Public Utilities § 232, at 739.

 
 

[¶6.]     By recognizing that the 
Public Service Commission was without jurisdiction, we conclude that this court 
has no power to review the substantive issues presented in a circumstance where 
the agency lacked capacity to adjudicate.

 
 

[¶7.]     Therefore, we dismiss 
this appeal.