Opinion ID: 411639
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Judicial Interpretations of Section 15

Text: 170 I have been unable to find any judicial precedent which clearly supports the proposition that conferences may legally set intermodal through rates for their own members, let alone any which says that conferences may set such rates for the independent nonconference members that ordinarily do business in competition with conference members. Even the FMC, which has asserted authority to approve intermodal rates in approximately 50 cases, admits that [t]he courts have [only] implicitly recognized FMC jurisdiction over agreements concerning transportation by both FMC and ICC carriers. In re: Agreement Nos. 150 DR-7 and 3103 DR-7, 19 S.R.R. 1229, FMC Docket No. 76-11, slip op. at 14 n.12 (Dec. 31, 1979). 171 The case upon which the majority primarily relies, Port of New York Authority v. FMC, 429 F.2d 663 (5th Cir.1970), cert. denied, 401 U.S. 909, 91 S.Ct. 867, 27 L.Ed.2d 806 (1971), approved only the absorption of port terminal charges by shipping conferences and the proportional ocean portion of through intermodal routes. The appeal did not raise any questions going to the FMC's jurisdiction over through rates. Although Seatrain International, S.A. v. FMC, 189 D.C.App. 388, 584 F.2d 546 (1978), appeal after remand, 194 U.S.App.D.C. 370, 598 F.2d 289 (1979), dealt with intermodal rates set by a conference, the court never decided the jurisdictional issue. The court remanded the case to the FMC on each occasion due to its failure to adequately consider the antitrust implications of the involved intermodal rate agreement. 172 The other cases cited by the majority in support of its expansive reading of section 15, see Maj.Op. 813-17, are equally inapposite; they deal with altogether different issues such as labor agreements and brokerage commissions. There is no question but that section 15 is a double edged sword. It guarantees FMC scrutiny of maritime-related conduct, but it also immunizes approved agreements from antitrust strictures. Thus, reasons exist to read section 15 expansively in some instances, i.e., to insure FMC scrutiny of maritime-related activities and narrowly in others, i.e., where its grant of antitrust immunity means the carriers will be subjected to far less scrutiny than if it did not apply in borderline situations. This case is obviously in the latter category. But see Volkswagenwerk Aktiengesellschaft v. FMC, 390 U.S. 261, 274-75, 88 S.Ct. 929, 936-37, 19 L.Ed.2d 1090 (1978) (advocating broad reading of section 15). 173