Opinion ID: 399941
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: ICC Jurisdiction

Text: 14 Under 49 U.S.C. § 10705(b) (Supp. III 1979), the ICC can prescribe rate divisions when the parties agree to unreasonable rates in violation of § 10701, and § 10705(e) allows the ICC to take such action when a complaint is filed. Illinois Terminal asserts that the ICC lacks jurisdiction in this case because the ICC was not asked to make a reasonableness determination in the instant case, and only a petition for a declaratory order, rather than a complaint, was filed. Illinois Terminal argues that there is no statute authorizing the ICC to interpret contract terms, and therefore this matter should have been litigated in a court. 15 The ICC acted properly in hearing this case. The Administrative Procedure Act authorizes agencies to issue declaratory orders to remove uncertainty. 5 U.S.C. § 554(e) (1976). 3 Of course, § 554(e) does not allow an agency to issue a declaratory order on any subject matter; there must be some underlying authority. The ICC concedes that § 10705 is not the source of that authority. Nevertheless, courts have long recognized that interpretation of terms of art is within the special province or primary jurisdiction of the ICC and therefore should, in the first instance, be decided by the ICC. United States v. Western Pacific Railroad Co., 352 U.S. 59, 62-66, 69-70, 77 S.Ct. 161, 164, 166, 168, 1 L.Ed.2d 126 (1956); United States v. Great Northern Railway Co., 337 F.2d 243, 246 (8th Cir. 1964). The Supreme Court has stated, (T)he question of tariff construction, as well as that of the reasonableness of the tariff as applied, was within the exclusive primary jurisdiction of the Interstate Commerce Commission. Western Pacific, 352 U.S. at 63, 77 S.Ct. at 164. In the instant case we are dealing with the meaning of a term of art (bridge toll) and the ICC has used the declaratory order statute as a means of acting on a matter within its area of expertise. This is a function for which the ICC is ideally suited.