Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca10-87-01150/USCOURTS-ca10-87-01150-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Interstate Commerce Commission
Respondent
Rocky Mountain Motor Tariff Bureau, Inc.
Petitioner

Document Text:

' 

F 1 LED 

U<1ited States Court of Appeals 

i'rn th ~ ir n.•i· 

. UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS 

TENTH CIRCUIT 

MAR - 2 1990 

ROBERT L. HOECKER 

Clerk 

ROCKY MOUNTAIN MOTOR TARIFF BUREAU, INC., 

Petitioner, 

v. 

INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION and 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 

Respondents. 

ORDER AND JUDGMENT* 

} 

} 

} 

} 

} Nos. 87-1150 

} 88-1873 

} (I&S M-30388} 

} (I&S 40110} 

} (Pet. for Review} 

} 

Before .LOGAN, ANDER~ON and EBEL, Circuit Judges. 

Petitioner Rocky Mountain Motor Tariff Bureau, Inc. ("RMB"} 

petitions for review of two orders of the Interstate Commerce 

Commission ("ICC"), rejecting two tariff proposals that affect 

single-line rates. RMB argues that its proposals are "changes in 

tariff structure," exempt from the ban on collective ratemaking 

* This order and judgment has no precedential value and shall 

not be cited, or used by any court within the Tenth Circuit, 

except for purposes of establishing the doctrines of the law of 

the case, res judicata, or collateral estoppel. 10th Cir. R. 

36.3 . 

Appellate Case: 87-1150 Document: 01019965778 Date Filed: 03/02/1990 Page: 1 
• 

for single-line rates under 49 u.s.c. 10706(b)(3)(D)(iii). 1 We 

disagree. 

In 1986, RMB submitted to the ICC a tariff proposal on behalf 

of its carrier members_ providing for a reduction in the rate basis 

f_actor in Tariff ICC RMB 583 ( "RMB 583") used to determine class 

rates on general commodity shipments moving to and .from the Salt 

River Project Navajo Electric Generating Plant near Page, Arizona. 

The proposal would reduce both single-line and joint-line class 

rates to and from the Generating Plant because the total rate 

basis would be reduced. RMB argues that the reduction in the rate 

basis factor is a change in tariff structure under section 

10706(b)(3)(D)(iii) because the proposed tariff could conceivably 

affect the 730 carriers participating in RMB's class rate tariff. 

RMB also argues that the tariff, as applied to single-line 

service, would eliminate the need for small carriers to obtain 

special concurrences from all carriers with which the small 

carriers might interline. 

In 1987, RMB filed another proposal on behalf of its member 

carriers to make the single-factor class rates in RMB 583 

applicable to and from several points in New Mexico and points in 

10 Western States, and to and from several points in Oregon and 

points in the continental United States. The proposed extensions 

of RMB 583's applicability would affect both single-line and 

l Section 10706(b}(3)(D}(iii} provides that the ban on 

collective ratemaking for single-line rates shall not apply to: 

changes in tariff structures if discussion of such 

changes is limited to industry average carrier costs and 

... does not include discussion of individual markets 

or particular single-line rates. 

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Appellate Case: 87-1150 Document: 01019965778 Date Filed: 03/02/1990 Page: 2 
joint-line service to and from the proposed points. RMB argues 

that its proposal is a change in tariff structure under 

10706(b)(3)(D)(iii) because it would reduce rates on thousands of 

commodities originating in and destined for more than 100,000 

points in the United States. 

We find that neither of RMB's proposals is a broad tariff 

restructuring contemplated by the exception to the ban on 

collective ratemaking for single-line rates. See Niagara Frontier 

Tariff Bureau v. United States, 826 F.2d 1186, 1191-92 (2d Cir. 

1987) (Niagara II) (tariff structure exemption encompasses "only a 

broad restructuring of the manner in which rate bureaus organize 

or calculate tariffs" and excludes "the aggregation of many 

individual and specific rate adjustments"); see also Clark & Reid 

Co. v. United States, 851 F.2d 1468, 1470 (D.C. Cir. 1988) 

(exception limited to "broad" restructurings); Central and 

Southern Motor Freight Tariff Ass'n v. United States, 843 F.2d 

886, 897 (6th Cir. 1988) ("Some limiting adjective, whether 

' broad' 'substantial' or 'significant,' must be used to prevent 

carriers from using the exception to swallow the rule."). 

Instead, RMB's proposals are of the type Congress intended to 

prohibit in its prohibitions against collective single-line 

ratemaking. 

Additionally, regardless of the definitional breadth of 

"changes in tariff structure,'' the exception expressly precludes 

''discussion of individual markets or particular single-line 

rates." Here, insofar as RMB's proposals are applicable to 

single-line service, they are market specific and pertain to 

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Appellate Case: 87-1150 Document: 01019965778 Date Filed: 03/02/1990 Page: 3 
1 

\ 

particular single-line rates. See Clark & Reid, 851 F.2d at 1470 

("We need not search for the essential meaning of 'changes in 

tariff structure,' for the exception explicitly precludes 

'discu~sion of individual markets or particular single-line 

rates."'). Moreover, RMB did not even consider industry average 

costs in its discussions of its two proposals let alone limit its 

discussion to that consideration as required in 

10706(b) (3) (D) (iii) . See Niagara II, 826 F.2d at 1191 (tariff 

restructure "exemption is restricted to industry average costs, 

and it specifically excludes collective discussion of individual 

markets"). 

In keeping with the relevant statutory guidelines, individual 

carriers may always file independent actions to change their 

single-line rates. Furthermore, RMB may resubmit the same 

propos.als- as ;Long as they eliminate the inclusion of single-line 

rates. 

Accordingly, the ICC's decisions are AFFIRMED. 

ENTERED FOR THE COURT 

David M. Ebel 

Circuit Judge 

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Appellate Case: 87-1150 Document: 01019965778 Date Filed: 03/02/1990 Page: 4