Court Opinion

ID: 9444394
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-03 20:59:42.539991+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:29:51.325499
License: Public Domain

COLLET, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
Upon further consideration of this cause on petition for rehearing, I am convinced that there is no justification for an order by this court remanding this case in order that it may be held until the Interstate Commerce Commission decides the transportation question, i. e., whether the rate charged (which is con-cededly the legal rate on file) is severable and, if so, what part of it represents the value of the service which the plaintiff-appellant did not ask for or receive. That is a question which the trial court has no jurisdiction to entertain. Therefore, to order the trial court to hold this case until the Interstate Commerce Commission has determined it amounts, in effect, to ordering the trial court to hold the case and enter such judgment as the Interstate Commerce Commission dictates, without the exercise of any judicial function by the court. And to do so would preclude the statutory review of an Interstate Commerce Commission reparation order.
The fact that, as stated in this court’s opinion, an independent reparation action before the Interstate Commerce Commission for the relief now sought in the courts may be barred by limitations should not justify the order of remand. To adopt that reason for holding the case awaiting action by the Interstate Commerce Commission would countenance the circuitous avoidance of the statute of limitations by the filing of an action in the courts for relief which should have been instituted before the Interstate Commerce Commission.