Opinion ID: 1371007
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: the certificate case

Text: On June 6, 1969, Miller Bros. applied to the Commission for a common carrier certificate of public convenience and necessity in lieu of its existing contract carrier permit. The contract carrier permit was No. A-455 involved in Case No. 26001. Generally, it authorized Miller Bros. to transport freight between Denver and the northern Colorado points of Longmont, Loveland, Fort Collins and Greeley, and also to transport freight between several of these and other points in the same general area. The filing of this application for a common carrier certificate followed the hearings in the Complaint Case and preceded the announcement in that case of the recommended decision, which later became the final decision of the Commission. Five common carriers protested the application. Three of the protestants are not involved in this appeal. The other two have merged to become Trans-Western Express, Ltd. (TWX). TWX had a monopoly on regularly scheduled intrastate common carrier service between Denver and Fort Collins and between Denver and Loveland. TWX and one other carrier were the only regularly scheduled intrastate common carriers operating between Denver and Greeley. Following approximately thirteen days of hearings, during which 157 customers testified in support of Miller Bros.' application, a P.U.C. hearing examiner recommended that the application be denied in its entirety. The Commission (by a 2-1 majority) reversed in large part, granting common carrier authority to serve between Denver and a 5-mile radius on the one hand, and on the other, Greeley and a 2-mile radius, Fort Collins and a 2-mile radius, and Loveland. It cancelled all of Miller Bros.' contract carrier authority under A-445, except as to Denver-Longmont and intermediate points, and as to the latter limited the authority to serve only fifteen customers. The district court generally affirmed. The 15-customer limitation as to the Denver-Longmont authority has become moot under our opinion in the Complaint Case. We reverse as to the cancellation of the contract authority not coextensive with the common carrier authority granted by the Commission, and affirm the remainder of the judgment.