Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/312/195/
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 02:29:56+00:00

Document:
Justia › US Law › US Case Law › US Supreme Court › Volume 312 › Armour & Co. v. Alton R. Co.
Armour & Company v. Alton Railroad Co.
Upon the basis of the allegations of a complaint filed in the District Court in this case, wherein a packer seeks to compel railroad companies to deliver shipments of livestock at such a location and in such manner that it need not pay a "yardage charge" to a stockyard company (contrary to a custom of long standing), held that, as determination of many complex transportation problems was prerequisite to a decision, the cause was within the primary jurisdiction of the Interstate Commerce Commission, and the complaint was properly dismissed. Pp. 312 U. S. 200, 312 U. S. 202.
Certiorari, 311 U.S. 627, to review the affirmance of a judgment dismissing a bill of complaint, 27 F.Supp. 625.
Armour and Company, one of the packers, is correct in its contention that, under the facts of this case the railroads must deliver its shipments of livestock at such a location and in such a manner that it need pay no "yardage charge" to the Stock Yards Company. The case is here on certiorari (311 U.S. 627) from the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, [Footnote 2] which affirmed a District Court order dismissing Armour's complaint against the railroads. [Footnote 3] The ground on which the Circuit Court affirmed was that the issues involved presented administrative problems, necessitating primary resort to the Interstate Commerce Commission. [Footnote 4] The sole question we find it necessary to decide is whether the Circuit Court was correct in this conclusion.
But respondents contend, and both courts below held, that the issues tendered by the complaint are not so simple as petitioner would have them seem. Their view is that adjudication of the issues presented relates to such complex transportation problems that determination of the legal questions must necessarily be preceded by the consideration of extensive evidence in a specialized field, and that decision of such questions is by statute vested exclusively in the Interstate Commerce Commission. [Footnote 6] Since the cause was dismissed without answer or evidence, it is on the basis of the allegations of the complaint that we must apply the controlling law.
turn, paid to the Stock Yards Company. [Footnote 7] This charge, however, does not include payment for use of the facilities after unloading and before delivery to consignees, or for any services then performed. To cover these items, the Stock Yards Company collects an additional charge, since 1921 contained in a tariff filed with the Secretary of Agriculture, [Footnote 8] and it is this charge which is at the root of the present controversy.
Stock Yards Company and that Company, over petitioner's protest, continued to exact the controverted charge. The railroad companies knew that delivery to petitioner would only be made by the Stock Yards Company on Company property and with no means of egress save by crossing other property of the Company, for which privilege a charge would be exacted.
"continuously refused to provide or establish by lease or otherwise at their said common station, Union Stock Yards, Illinois, any depot or platforms, pens or facilities"
"to provide reasonably convenient, accessible and safe unloading pens at the said common depot or station at which such livestock could be tendered to plaintiff,"
"failing to afford to plaintiff an opportunity of receiving its livestock and of removing the same with reasonable promptness from the unloading pens used by defendants at Union Stock Yards, Chicago, Illinois, or from any point at which delivery thereof is tendered. . . ."
"That the carrier has received from the shipper . . . the livestock . . . consigned and destined as indicated below, which the carrier agrees to carry to its usual place of delivery at said destination. . . ."
The usual place of delivery for livestock shipped to Union Stock Yards, Chicago, Illinois, and indeed the only place of delivery ever utilized at that station so far as the complaint shows, is the public stockyards.
free of any charges other than those filed with the Interstate Commerce Commission, a mandatory injunction to require such delivery, and an accounting for those charges paid under protest.
First. At what point did the common carriers' duty to transport come to an end? Neither the statute nor any applicable principle of governing law can be said to mark this boundary under all circumstances and conditions and in all cases.
is a part of that reasonable transportation rate determination of which is committed to the jurisdiction of the Interstate Commerce Commission. And, before such longstanding transportation customs can be held illegal, it is, of course, necessary that evidence be heard.
Third. If the railroad delivers through the public stockyards, and petitioner's position is sustained, the railroad must necessarily absorb the additional charge. Under the complaint, this would be upon the basis that the railroad had not fully performed its transportation service. Yet the tariff charges for shipping petitioner's livestock were based upon the longstanding custom in which petitioner and the other packers had acquiesced. The railroad is entitled to receive, and the shipper is required under the statute to pay, a just and reasonable rate. A court judgment in favor of petitioner would reduce the compensation of the railroads for the performance of their services, and would, in effect, constitute a readjustment of their rate schedules.
Fourth. If, as petitioner insists, it is the duty of the railroads to provide terminal facilities which they do not now own, possess, or control, a drastic change might have to be accomplished by them. Property might have to be acquired, expensive facilities might have to be secured, and, correspondingly, rates might have to be adjusted. The need for such steps raises a transportation problem of the greatest magnitude, involving many intricate considerations such as must always play a part in evaluating a claim that new depots and facilities are necessary.
for whom respondents have transported livestock. Whether or not such a refund would amount to a discrimination should be determined by studies such as those the Interstate Commerce Commission is especially empowered to make.
Sixth. The complaint alleges that petitioner is willing to accept delivery at any point in the station area. What the station area embraces is not defined. Whether there is property in the area on which the railroads could erect pens is not shown. To decide this issue would require a court to define the boundaries of a station named in a tariff approved by the Interstate Commerce Commission.
See Adams v. Mills, 286 U. S. 397; Atchison, T. & S.F. Ry. v. United States, 295 U. S. 193.
The District Court, in addition to relying on this ground, held that the complaint should be dismissed for failure to join the Stock Yards Company as a defendant, and for failure to obtain consent of court to bring suit against railroads which were in receivership. We express no opinion on the correctness of those holdings.
"nothing in this chapter contained shall in any way abridge or alter the remedies now existing at common law or by statute, but the provisions of this chapter are in addition to such remedies. . . ."
Cf. Texas & Pacific Ry. v. Abilene Cotton Oil Co., 204 U. S. 426; Mitchell Coal & Coke Co. v. Pennsylvania R. Co., 230 U. S. 247.
Special statutory provision requires railroads delivering at public stockyards to unload the livestock. "Transportation . . . of ordinary livestock . . . destined to or received at public stockyards shall include . . . delivery . . . into suitable pens. . . ." 49 U.S.C. § 15(5).
Packers & Stockyards Act, 42 Stat. 159, 7 U.S.C. § 181 et seq. Before 1921, this charge was fixed by the Stock Yards Company itself.
Cf. Texas & Pacific Ry. v. Abilene Cotton Oil Co., 204 U. S. 426; Mitchell Coal & Coke Co. v. Pennsylvania R. Co., 230 U. S. 247; United States v. American Sheet & Tin Plate Co., 301 U. S. 402. Petitioner relies on Covington Stock-Yards Co. v. Keith, 139 U. S. 128. But that case, a suit originally instituted before Congress adopted the Interstate Commerce Act, is not determinative of the respective jurisdictions of the courts and the Commission in this case.
For instances where this Court has referred to the Commission's reports as indicative of the administrative problems involved in particular cases, see Loomis v. Lehigh Valley R. Co., 240 U. S. 43, 240 U. S. 50-51; Northern Pacific Ry. Co. v. Solum, 247 U. S. 477, 247 U. S. 483.

References: v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 § 15
 § 181
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v.