Source: http://openjurist.org/108/f3d/401/mst-express-v-department-of-transportation
Timestamp: 2015-07-31 01:19:23
Document Index: 676753502

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 31144', '§ 553', '§ 31144', '§ 31144', '§ 31144', '§ 31144', 'art 385', '§ 385', '§ 385', '§ 385']

108 F3d 401 Mst Express v. Department of Transportation | OpenJurist
108 F. 3d 401 - Mst Express v. Department of Transportation Home
108 F3d 401 Mst Express v. Department of Transportation 108 F.3d 401
323 U.S.App.D.C. 347
MST EXPRESS and Truckers United for Safety, Petitioners,v.DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION and Federal HighwayAdministration, Respondents.
Argued Dec. 3, 1996.Decided March 18, 1997.Rehearing Denied Nov. 5, 1997.
Anthony J. McMahon, Trenton, NJ, argued the cause and filed the briefs for petitioners.
Edward R. Cohen, Attorney, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC, argued the cause for respondents, with whom Frank W. Hunger, Assistant Attorney General, and Robert S. Greenspan, Attorney, were on the brief.
MST Express and Truckers United for Safety petition for review of an order in which the Federal Highway Administration denied both their administrative petition for review of MST's "conditional" safety rating and their challenge to the lawfulness of the FHWA's safety regulation procedures. The petitioners contend that the agency improperly relied upon an unpublished regulation to determine MST's safety fitness rating, contrary to the requirements of 49 U.S.C. § 31144 and of the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. § 553, and failed to develop specific deadlines for making safety fitness determinations, as required by 49 U.S.C. § 31144(a)(1)(C). The petitioners also contend that the evaluation procedure set out in the agency's unpublished regulation is not [323 U.S.App.D.C. 348] administered even-handedly and is therefore arbitrary and capricious.
We conclude that FHWA has indeed failed to meet its statutory obligation under 49 U.S.C. § 31144 to prescribe by regulation a means of determining whether an owner or operator of a commercial motor vehicle satisfies the agency's safety fitness requirements. Although the FHWA has developed a method for making safety rating determinations, this method was not promulgated through notice and comment rulemaking. Because the FHWA relied upon an improperly promulgated regulation when it determined MST's safety rating, MST's rating cannot stand. Accordingly, without reaching the petitioners' other objections, we vacate the agency's decision giving MST a conditional safety rating.
The Motor Carrier Safety Act directs the Secretary of Transportation (who has delegated the responsibility to the FHWA) to "prescribe regulations establishing a procedure to decide on the safety fitness of owners and operators of commercial motor vehicles, including persons seeking new or additional operating authority...." 49 U.S.C. § 31144(a)(1). This procedure is to include:
(A) specific initial and continuing requirements to be met by the owners, operators, and persons to prove safety fitness;
(B) a means of deciding whether the owners, operators, and persons meet the safety fitness requirements under clause (A) of this paragraph; and
(C) specific time deadlines for action by the Secretary in making fitness decisions.
49 U.S.C. § 31144(a)(1). This case concerns primarily the second of these three requirements. The petitioners argue that this statute requires notice and comment rulemaking, and the FHWA does not contest that interpretation.
In accordance with the statutory directive quoted above, the FHWA promulgated through notice and comment rulemaking procedures the Motor Carrier Safety Regulations codified at 49 C.F.R. Part 385. These regulations provide that the FHWA shall assign to a motor carrier a safety rating--satisfactory, conditional, or unsatisfactory--in this way:
Following a safety or compliance review of a motor carrier operation, the FHWA, using the factors prescribed in § 385.7, shall determine whether the present operations of the motor carrier are consistent with the safety fitness standard set forth in § 385.5, and assign a safety rating accordingly.
49 C.F.R. § 385.9. Section 385.7 lists a number of factors that the agency considers in determining a motor carrier's safety rating, such as the adequacy of safety management controls; the frequency and severity of regulatory violations; the number and severity of violations of state safety rules; and the frequency of accidents and "hazardous materials incidents." Section 385.5 makes the resulting safety rating a functio