Opinion ID: 340779
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Eagle's Right to be Heard.

Text: 19 The Frisco decision, which first recognized an ICC power outside section 312 to alter certificates, approved an earlier pronouncement that any such power could be exercised only after giving the certificate holder notice and an opportunity to be heard. 9 The ICC's own Subler decision, the earliest of the failure-of-notice cases discussed above, stressed that 20 a certificate issued as a result of proceedings conducted without proper giving of notice is not void ab initio ; it is voidable by order of the Commission following appropriate proceedings in which the certificate holder has, in turn, been given due notice of the issues involved and the opportunity to be heard. 10 21 And Curtis, Inc., the decision cited so boldly by the Commission as authority for its power to act without a hearing, stands for just the contrary proposition. In Curtis, where competing carriers were misled by the certificate holder's unintentional misrepresentations regarding tacking, the ICC made clear its position that the certificate could not be altered to conform to the representations without giving the certificate holder the opportunity to be heard. In fact, the certificate holder's due process right to be heard runs throughout the failure-of-notice cases as a companion piece to the competing carriers' right to intervene in opposition to the authority actually granted. 22 We need not detail the form Eagle's hearing should take. We note, however, that the Curtis, Inc. decision gives the best exposition of the issues that the ICC itself has concluded important to consider at such a hearing: e. g., (1) Would a no-tacking restriction have been warranted as being in the public interest at the time the certificate was issued? (2) Did competing carriers have actual knowledge of the true tacking capabilities and intentions of the applicant, so that these competitors were not deprived of an opportunity to be heard? (3) Did the affected parties act with due diligence in bringing the matter to the attention of the Commission for corrective action? And (4), perhaps most importantly, is there shipper need for the challenged service, such that revocation of the authority would be detrimental to the public interest? See 113 M.C.C. at 183-87. 23