Opinion ID: 107576
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: inclusion decision.

Text: Three appeals, No. 779, No. 833, and No. 836, relate to the Commission's order, entered in the N & W-Nickel Plate merger proceedings, prescribing that N & W accept inclusion of the E-L, D & H, and B & M in the N & W system and specifying the terms thereof. Norfolk & Western Railway Co. and New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad Co.  Merger, etc., 324 I. C. C. 1 (1964), supplemented, 330 I. C. C. 780, reconsidered, 331 I. C. C. 22 (1967). In 1964 the Commission approved the N & W-Nickel Plate merger subject, among other conditions, to the Commission's retention of jurisdiction for five years to permit the filing of petitions by E-L, D & H, and B & M for inclusion in the N & W system. The Commission's approval was also subject to the condition that N & W give its irrevocable consent to inclusion of the three roads on terms that the ICC would itself prescribe in the absence of agreement among the affected parties. 324 I. C. C. 1, 148. The three lines in due course filed petitions for inclusion. Hearings were held, and, on June 9, 1967, following our remand in the Penn-Central merger case, the Commission made findings and entered its order requiring N & W to include the three roads in its system under terms it prescribed. Appellants are the N & W, the B & M, and a number of E-L bondholders. As we shall discuss, only the N & W appeal raises issues which go broadly to the merits of the Commission's order implementing N & W's duty to accept inclusion of the three roads. B & M seeks remand on the grounds that the terms fixed by the Commission for N & W's offer to acquire the stock of the B & M are inadequate to reflect B & M's value as part of the N & W system. The third appeal, brought by E-L bondholders, turns on the question whether the Commission should have specifically retained jurisdiction to protect the E-L bondholders in the event that N & W attempts after inclusion improperly to divert E-L traffic to itself. We affirm the District Court's action in disallowing the claims of all of these appellants. Reference is made to preceding sections of this opinion for discussion of the bearing of claims respecting the inclusion order upon the Penn-Central proceeding. We first address ourselves to the demands of E-L bondholders for assurance that the reservation of jurisdiction by the Commission would enable them to obtain consideration of unwarranted traffic diversion by N & W, if that should develop. Since N & W will be acquiring stock control of E-L and E-L's bondholders will look to E-L's fortunes for payment and security, the bondholders fear that N & W may not be entirely solicitous of E-L's welfare. Appellants themselves note that the Commission, in adopting the report and order of the officer presiding over the original hearing, has reserved jurisdiction to receive such petitions, institute such investigations, and make such orders to accomplish the objectives and purposes of the plan for inclusion and other terms and conditions prescribed herein . . . . The Commission has also retained jurisdiction for the purpose of making such further order or orders in these proceedings as may be necessary or appropriate, in addition to those orders under jurisdiction expressly retained in the prior reports and orders of the Commission and to those orders which may be issued under section 5 (9) of the Interstate Commerce Act. [11] Supplemental Order issued June 9, 1967. We have no doubt that if, after inclusion of E-L, N & W should engage in a course of conduct which invades the rights of E-L bondholders, the bondholders may apply to the Commission for relief and the Commission's reservation of jurisdiction will enable it to rule upon this complaint and to grant relief, if warranted, subject to judicial review. The other two appeals require somewhat more extended comment. We first note that our opinion at the last Term found adequate support for the Commission's conclusion that the public interest requires inclusion of the three roads in a larger system. As we have previously noted, see supra, at 503-505, the Commission's findings and order with respect to the public interest considerations involved in the inclusion of these lines in the N & W system are in conformity with the statute and are supported by substantial evidence. The attack of N & W and B & M upon the Commission's order centers, not upon the fundamental issues, but upon the particular terms of that order. In brief, the Commission has provided that N & W will purchase stock control of E-L and B & M through wholly owned subsidiaries. It has fixed the basis for such purchase in relation to the experienced income of the lines, their earnings having been adjusted for various factors including savings and gains which the Commission found would result from inclusion in the N & W system. The Commission has satisfied itself that traffic losses to the merged Penn-Central would be offset by benefits to N & W not otherwise taken into account. The shareholders of these roads are to receive stock of a newly created subsidiary of N & W, which will eventually be convertible into N & W common stock. In the case of D & H, the means of valuation was the same as for the other protected lines, but N & W is to pay for D & H assets either in cash or with a note and N & W stock. This is the first time in the Commission's history that it has undertaken to replace the bargaining session. It did so here pursuant to the N & W stipulation, which was accepted by N & W as a condition to the N & W-Nickel Plate merger, and in response to the exigencies of the situation emphasized by this Court's decision at our last Term. As we have noted above, the E-L stockholders have voted approval of the inclusion terms. The D & H Board of Directors has recommended approval to its stockholders. N & W complains that the price set for inclusion of the three lines is too high and that some other aspects of inclusion are arbitrary. B & M, on the other hand, complains that the price set for its inclusion is too low. The District Court affirmed the Commission's findings and conclusions, and in the exercise of our reviewing function we find no basis for reversing that court's decision. The method for determining the value and exchange ratio which the Commission adopted, and which we have briefly described, is not attacked. It is a method that is reasonably conventional and generally accepted, always subject to the modifications and adaptations required by individual cases, and we see no basis for holding it erroneous as a matter of law. The attack that is launched is upon factors of particularized judgment and the weight to be ascribed to various values. These are matters as to which reasonable men may reasonably differ in detail, and we see no basis for setting aside the Commission's conclusions as sustained by the District Court. In setting inclusion terms, the Commission was dealing with complicated and elusive predictions about probable traffic patterns following the Penn-Central merger and the inclusion decision. We are no more competent than the Commission and the District Court to ascertain the accuracy of those predictions. We deem it our function, in the complexities of cases such as these, to review the judgment of the District Court with respect to agency actions to make certain that those actions are based upon substantial evidence and to guard against the possibility of gross error or unfairness. If we find those conclusions to be equitable and rational, it is not for us to second-guess each step in the Commission's process of deliberation. N & W's attack upon the inclusion order centers upon its disagreement with the Commission's findings as to prospective earnings of the three roads as part of the N & W system. It argues that the Commission had no basis for concluding that the earnings of E-L, D & H, and B & M, as subsidiaries of N & W, would be adequate to assure their viability. [12] It asserts that the Commission has made various invalid adjustments of actual earnings and failed to make others. This, N & W says, is the principal area of dispute in these proceedings. On the other hand, the B & M contends that the Commission's findings substantially underestimate the savings which should be credited to it as an earnings adjustment, and that, therefore, the terms for its inclusion are unjust. Specifically, it urges that the Commission underestimated the probable amount of savings resulting from N & W control and the coordination of operations and equipment repair facilities and reduction of administrative expenses. The Commission, however, accepted and relied on figures submitted by B & M's own witness. B & M now assails these figures, but obviously the Commission was entitled to rely upon them. The District Court examined in some detail the contentions of the parties attacking the financial terms of the inclusion order. We have reviewed the findings of the Commission in light of the evidence of record and the District Court's analysis, and we find no basis for reversing the District Court's judgment. The terms fixed by the Commission are clearly within the area of fairness and equity. Although B & M argues forcefully that the Commission underestimated the savings that should redound to its credit, we cannot say in the circumstances that the order should be reversed and remanded in this respect. It must be noted, as we have discussed in connection with appeals relating to the Penn-Central merger decision, that the inclusion order has no compulsive or coercive effect upon the roads to be included. Unless and until modified by the Commission, it remains available to the protected lines upon the terms which it specifies and which the District Court found to be fair and equitable. [13] Only one other point of the N & W attack upon the inclusion order requires comment. N & W objects to the conditions prescribed by the Commission to protect the interests of the employees affected by the order. We note that those conditions, protecting employees of the protected lines, are the same as the conditions set by the Commission for N & W's employees at the time of the N & W-Nickel Plate merger. As the District Court held, [t]he Commission acted within its powers in requiring N & W to protect employees of the three roads as thoroughly as those of the roads it was permitted to absorb only on the condition that it would accept these lines if the Commission so directed. 279 F. Supp., at 337. [14]