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Timestamp: 2020-05-30 21:14:13
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Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 13', '§ 13', '§ 13', '§ 13', '§ 13', '§ 13', '§ 13', '§ 1', '§ 13', '§ 13', '§ 13', '§ 13', '§ 13', '§ 13', '§ 13']

US Supreme Court Decisions On-Line> Volume 376 > SOUTHERN RAILWAY CO. V. NORTH CAROLINA, 376 U. S. 93 (1964)
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210 F.Supp. 675, reversed. chanrobles.com-red
Thereafter, the railway company filed a petition with the Interstate Commerce Commission pursuant to § 13a(2) chanrobles.com-red
of the Interstate Commerce Act, [Footnote 1] seeking authority to discontinue operation of the trains. After a hearing at which several protestants, including the State of North Carolina, appeared, the examiner recommended that the petition be granted. Division 3 of the Commission agreed with the examiner, and ordered discontinuance of the trains. The Division issued a report in which it found, inter alia, that the trains, which in 1948 had carried 56,739 passengers, carried only 14,776 passengers in chanrobles.com-red
After a petition for reconsideration by the entire Commission had been denied, the protestants instituted an action in a three-judge District Court seeking to set aside the order of the Commission. The court held, first, that it was erroneous as a matter of law for the Commission to order discontinuance of passenger trains under the provisions of § 13a(2) without first determining whether, once the profits from freight operations on chanrobles.com-red
The court reached its conclusion that the Commission had erred in not taking into account profits from freight operations along the Greensboro-Goldsboro line primarily in reliance upon this Court's decisions in Public Service Comm. of Utah v. United States, 356 U. S. 421, and Chicago, Milwaukee, St. P. & P.R. Co. v. Illinois, 355 U. S. 300. Both those cases dealt with § 13(4), which requires the Commission to change intrastate rates wherever such rates are found to discriminate against interstate commerce. This Court held in those cases that the Commission could not authorize higher intrastate rates either for passenger or freight operations without first taking into account the revenues derived by the carrier from the totality of intrastate operations. In 1958, the year in which § 13a(2) was enacted, § 13(4) was amended to chanrobles.com-red
But when § 13(4) was amended in 1958 as a result of the two decisions relied on by the District Court, Congress was simply reaffirming what it conceived as the original intent of the section. [Footnote 4] There is therefore no reason to chanrobles.com-red
The legislative history clearly indicates that Congress, in enacting § 13a(2), was addressing itself to a problem quite distinct from that reflected by overall unprofitable operation of an entire segment of railroad line. The Commission already had authority prior to 1958, under §§ 1(18)-(20), [Footnote 5] to authorize discontinuance of all services on any given intrastate line where continuance of chanrobles.com-red
such services would impose an undue burden on interstate commerce. Colorado v. United States, 271 U. S. 153. However, the Commission totally lacked power to discontinue particular trains or services while leaving the remaining services in operation. It was precisely this gap which § 13a(2) was intended to fill. New Jersey v. New York, S. & W. R. Co., 372 U. S. 1, 372 U. S. 5-6. As both the House and Senate Committee Reports on the legislation which became § 13a(2) make clear, Congress was primarily concerned with the problems posed by passenger services for which significant public demand no longer existed and which were consistently deficit-producing, thus forcing the carriers to subsidize their operation out of freight profits. [Footnote 6] Far from permitting the carrier's need for discontinuance of passenger services to be balanced against profits from other operations conducted chanrobles.com-red
The bill as originally reported by the Senate Committee would have applied the net loss standard to both interstate and intrastate operations, the Committee Report having concluded that state regulatory bodies required chanrobles.com-red
"the maintenance of uneconomic and unnecessary services and facilities." [Footnote 11] The bill was amended on the Senate floor to limit the Commission's discontinuance authority to interstate trains, [Footnote 12] and the House version of the bill was similarly limited. [Footnote 13] In conference, however, the Commission's authority over intrastate trains was restored and, except for differences in the procedures prerequisite to a hearing in the case of a wholly intrastate train, [Footnote 14] the Commission was required to apply the same standard to interstate and intrastate operations in determining whether discontinuance of a train or service is justified. [Footnote 15] Contrary to the suggestion of the District Court that its interpretation of § 13a(2) must be accepted to avoid "requir[ing] the intrastate operations to bear more than their share," 210 F.Supp. at 680, the statutory scheme which Congress has embodied in § 13a thus prescribes precisely the same substantive standard to govern discontinuance of either interstate or intrastate operations. [Footnote 16] chanrobles.com-red
This Court has long recognized that the Commission may properly give varying weights to the overall prosperity chanrobles.com-red
Whatever room there may be for differing views as to the wisdom of the policy reflected in § 13a(2), it is the duty of the Commission to effectuate the statutory scheme. We cannot agree with the District Court that the Commission departed in any respect from that duty chanrobles.com-red
The Court sustains the ICC in interpreting this provision to mean that, in determining whether an unprofitable intrastate passenger train shall be discontinued, the Commission need give: (1) "little or no weight" to the overall prosperity of the carrier, ante at 376 U. S. 96, and (2) no consideration whatsoever to the profitability of "the intrastate operations of the carrier as a whole, or any particular segment thereof," ante at 376 U. S. 104. [Footnote 2/1] In my view the standards employed by the Commission were not the proper ones. Consequently, without intimating any opinion as to the merits of the discontinuance application, I would remand the chanrobles.com-red
The case turns upon the language and purpose of § 13a(2) of the Interstate Commerce Act. This section was first enacted as part of the Transportation Act of 1958. It is true, as the Court points out, that this legislation reflects concern with "the worsening railroad situation." Ante at 101, n 6. But it is far from accurate to conclude that Congress was oblivious of the needs of the passenger public and of the primary responsibility of chanrobles.com-red
In this case, the State of North Carolina points out that, between 1951 and 1956, of 44 requests for discontinuance of intrastate passenger trains, some emanating from appellant Southern Railway, 42 were approved by the State. Indeed, on the line between Greensboro and Goldsboro, Southern operated three pairs of passenger trains until September, 1954. The State, on Southern's application, authorized discontinuance of one pair of trains in 1954 and another pair in 1958. The two trains in question, No. 13 and No. 16, are the last remaining pair of east-west passenger trains between the two communities. They are the only interconnecting service at Greensboro for passengers from Goldsboro and intermediate points with north-south trains on Southern's main line. For such passengers, they furnish a convenient overnight pullman chanrobles.com-red
210 F.Supp. 675, 684. I cannot comprehend how the Commission can achieve a proper balance without fully considering the railroad's relevant profit data. The issues -- whether the public need will allow discontinuance of the chanrobles.com-red
passenger service and whether continued operation will unduly burden interstate commerce -- are interrelated. Under any common sense view of the statute, the amount of the railroad's financial loss on the two intrastate passenger trains cannot be considered in isolation from its freight profits on that line, its intrastate profits, or its overall prosperity. The words "unjust" and "undue" clearly indicate that Congress intended that the mere fact that a particular passenger train is operating at a loss -- i.e., is a burden -- would not, in itself, justify discontinuance of that train. The burden must be "unjust" and "undue," and whether this is so cannot be determined except in light of the total circumstances. The final determination must be made by balancing all the relevant factors -- "the effort being to decide what fairness to all concerned demands." Colorado v. United States, 271 U. S. 153, 271 U. S. 169. As the decisions of this Court plainly indicate, this does not mean that discontinuance is prohibited unless intrastate passenger and freight service, considered together, show a net loss, or overall profits are substantially impaired. Colorado v. United States, supra; Transit Comm'n v. United States, 284 U. S. 360. Rather, freight profits and overall profits are merely factors to be considered by the Commission in determining whether the particular passenger loss constitutes an unjust and undue burden on interstate commerce when balanced against the public need. [Footnote 2/2] Such profits may not be the controlling factors, but, when presented, they are to be considered. chanrobles.com-red
355 U.S. at 355 U. S. 307-308 chanrobles.com-red
Finally, the legislative history of § 13a(2) plainly demonstrates that the Court has mistaken the intent of Congress. The bill initially considered by the Senate chanrobles.com-red
Id. at 10848. (Emphasis added.) Senator Smathers, a sponsor of the proposed bill, did not deny the accuracy of Senator Javits' interpretation. Indeed, chanrobles.com-red
Id. at 12547-12548. The deleting amendment prevailed in the House, and, at Conference, the "net loss" provision of the Senate bill was abandoned in favor of the House proposal. Congress, therefore, in acting on the recommendations of Senator Javits and Congressman Harris, specifically rejected the proposed net loss standard. The Court today, however, appears to adopt in substantial measure the rejected standard. [Footnote 2/4] If, as the Court holds, the Commission need chanrobles.com-red
give "little or no weight" to the overall prosperity of the carrier, and no consideration whatever to the profitability of its total intrastate operations, it would seem that the governing criterion in determining whether interstate commerce is unduly burdened is the "net loss" on a particular passenger train. [Footnote 2/5] This certainly does not allow the chanrobles.com-red
The requirement that the Commission consider such factors certainly does not mean that it is precluded from chanrobles.com-red
See the statement of the hearing examiner set forth in 376 U. S. infra.
The ICC has never been precluded from authorizing abandonment of an uneconomic branch line (as distinguished from the particular trains) merely because the remainder of the railroad's intrastate operations were profitable. See 376 U. S. supra.