Title: Board of Cty. Com'rs of Cty. of Wash. v. Maine Cr Co.
Citation: 343 A.2d 877
Docket Number: 
State: Maine
Issuer: Maine Supreme Court
Date: September 15, 1975

Board of Cty. Com'rs of Cty. of Wash. v. Maine Cr Co. Annotate this Case 343 A.2d 877 (1975) BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF the COUNTY OF WASHINGTON et al. v. MAINE CENTRAL RAILROAD COMPANY. Supreme Judicial Court of Maine. September 15, 1975. *878 Verrill, Dana Philbrick, Putnam & Williamson by Roger A. Putnam, Robert A. Moore, Portland, for appellants. Pierce, Atwood, Scribner, Allen & McKusick by Vincent L. McKusick, James G. Good, Scott W. Scully, Gen. Counsel, Maine Central R. Co., Portland, Horace S. Libby, Thomas R. Gibbon, Public Utilities Commission, Augusta, for appellees. Before DUFRESNE, C. J., and WEATHERBEE, POMEROY, WERNICK, ARCHIBALD and DELAHANTY, JJ. WERNICK, Justice. In July of 1973 the Maine Central Railroad Company advised the Public Utilities Commission that it proposed to close its Agency Station at Cherryfield, Maine and to place the traffic handled by it under the jurisdiction of the Railroad's Agencies at Ellsworth and Machias. Exercising its discretionary and investigatory powers, the Commission, after proper notice, held a public hearing on the matter on October 5, 1973 at Harrington, Maine. Only the Railroad entered an "appearance" as provided by P.U.C. Rule 4.3.[1] The Railroad presented oral testimony of four witnesses in support of its proposal. Eight other persons, some of them purported "appellants" here, were witnesses testifying in opposition to the closing. The Commission issued an Order on May 7, 1974 embodying various findings of fact and conclusions and granting the Railroad permission (subject to conditions not here material) to close the Cherryfield Agency and reroute traffic previously served by the Agency to Ellsworth and Machias. Purportedly pursuant to Rule 5 of the Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure, a "Petition for Reconsideration, Rehearing and Reopening"[2] was filed with the Commission on May 24, 1974 by the Board of County Commissioners within *879 and for the County of Washington, Jasper Wyman & Son, L. Ray Packing Co., A. L. Stewart & Sons, International Peat Moss, Inc., Handy Pinkham and the Inhabitants of the Town of Cherryfield. On June 14, 1974 the Commission denied the "Petition." Petitioners then filed, on June 26, 1974, a purported notice of "appeal" under 35 M.R.S.A. § 303.[3] It is this ostensible "appeal" which is now before us and which seeks our review of various deficiencies alleged to exist in the findings and conclusions of the Commission's Order. We dismiss the appeal for want of a qualified appellant.[4] The Commission's powers and the relationship of the Commission to the Courts is governed entirely by statute. Heath v. Maine Public Service Company, 161 Me. 217, 210 A.2d 701 (1965). Our fundamental inquiry, then, is whether under the overall statutory scheme establishing the manner of the Commission's functioning and of the review of its actions by the Courts, the persons purporting to be "appellants" here have such relationship to the proceedings as would confer upon them capacity to appeal to this Court under 35 M.R.S.A. § 303. 35 M.R.S.A. § 3 confers upon the Commission authority to ". . . make all necessary rules and regulations." 35 M.R.S.A. § 308 establishes that in proceedings before the Commission "the practice and rules of evidence shall be the same as in civil actions in the Superior Court except as otherwise provided." With certain exceptions not here applicable, an appeal from a final decision of the Commission "may be taken to the law court on questions of law in the same manner as an appeal from a judgment of the Superior Court in a civil action." 35 M.R.S.A. § 303 14 M.R.S.A. § 1851 further provides that "[i]n any civil case any party aggrieved by any judgment . . . may appeal therefrom to the law court . . . ." (emphasis supplied) Applying these statutory provisions to the instant record, we are convinced that the purported "appellants" were not the formal parties to the Commission proceedings who alone are entitled to appeal to this Court under 35 M.R.S.A. § 303. At the October 5, 1973 hearing none of the persons now seeking to be "appellants" entered an appearance either in accordance with P.U.C. Rule 4.3 or Rule 16.7.[5] Neither *880 did they seek to achieve intervenor status in accordance with P.U.C. Rules 3.6, 3.8 and 16.1.[6] They were, therefore, mere "Objectors" as defined in P.U.C. Rule 3.9,[7] and were not parties to the Commission proceeding within the contemplation of the P.U.C. Rules. Likewise, having failed to intervene under the provisions of Rule 24, M.R.C.P., as applied to Commission proceedings pursuant to 35 M.R.S.A. § 308, the purported "appellants" were not formal parties by operation of the Maine Rules of Civil Procedure.[8] Because they were not parties to the Commission proceedings those here seeking status as "appellants" lacked capacity to petition the Commission for reconsideration, rehearing and reopening pursuant to P.U.C. Rule 5. That Rule, governing the procedures for such petitions, specifies that copies of such petitions "shall be served on all parties" and that "[p]arties may apply to the Commission to reopen a proceeding. . . ." (emphasis supplied) The purported "appellants", here, were not "parties" (merely "objectors") under the P.U.C. Rules. For this same reason, they were barred from petitioning for rehearing under Superior Court procedures for new trials and amendments of judgments, as analogously applicable to Commission proceedings by virtue of 35 M.R.S.A. § 308. Rule 59(a) M.R.C.P. provides in pertinent part: "The justice before whom an action has been tried may on motion grant a new trial to all or any of the parties. . . ." (emphasis supplied) The nub of the instant situation, then, is that notwithstanding that they failed in any respect to achieve formal party status before the Commission, the purported "appellants" now seek the right to appeal to this Court under 35 M.R.S.A. § 303 from the Commission's denial of their ostensible *881 petition for rehearing.[9] They lack capacity to take such appeal. Under 35 M.R.S.A. § 303 and P.U.C. Rule 4.12[10] (promulgated pursuant to 35 M.R.S.A. § 3), appeals to this Court from decrees of the Commission must proceed as if from a judgment of the Superior Court in a civil action. Section 1851 of 14 M.R.S.A., governing appeals to us from the Superior Court, limits the opportunity to appeal to "any party aggrieved." (emphasis supplied) Rule 73 M. R.C.P., governing appeals to the Law Court, similarly makes clear that it contemplates that such appeals may be taken only by persons who were formal parties to the proceedings. It says: "A party may appeal . . . by filing a notice of appeal with the clerk." (emphasis supplied) We, therefore, conclude that those appearing before us as purported "appellants" (and who were merely "objectors" under P.U.C. Rule 3.9 before the Commission) are without capacity to prosecute this appeal. This holding is in accord with earlier decisions of this Court and the decisions of Courts in other jurisdictions. Following legislative guidance, this Court long ago announced that only parties to proceedings below have capacity to appear before it on appeal, Elwell v. Sylvester, 27 Me. 536 (1847); see also: Merrill v. Suffolk Bank, 31 Me. 57 (1849). Moreover, we cited this requirement in one of the early appeals to us from the Public Utilities Commission, In Re The Samoset Co., 125 Me. 141, 131 A. 692 (1926). Finally, we have always examined closely proceedings of the Commission to ensure that they comply with statutory and other standards. See: Eastern Maine Electric Cooperative, Inc. v. Maine Yankee Atomic Power Company, supra. Courts in other jurisdictions, petitioned for review by ostensible "appellants" situated similarly to those here, have reached conclusions paralleling ours. Mere appearance as a witness below was deemed insufficient by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in Appeal of Greco, 434 Pa. 431, 254 A.2d 6 (1969), to qualify an individual as a party, since "[a] party to the proceedings is one who is a party in a legal sense, and who has been made or has become such in some mode prescribed or recognized by the law, so that he is bound by the proceeding." Arsenal Board of Trade v. Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, 166 Pa.Super. 548, 72 A.2d 612, 615 (1950) See also Duke Power Co. v. Salisbury Zoning Board of Adjustment, 20 N.C.App. 730, 202 S.E.2d 607 (1974), cert. den. 285 N.C. 235, 204 S.E.2d 22 (1974). An individual not a party initially does not become *882 one by reason of petition for rehearing or appeal, Al Zeffiro Transfer and Storage Co. v. Pannsylvania Public Utility Commission, 195 Pa.Super. 214, 171 A.2d 800 (1961). The entry is: Appeal dismissed.[11] All Justices concurring.