Court Opinion

ID: 8739083
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-11-26 10:37:46.866686+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:00:16.735262
License: Public Domain

GANEY, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
A judicial review of the Order of the Interstate Commerce Commission is limited to the inquiry of whether or not there is a rational basis for the conclusions reached and approved by it. Illinois Central Railroad v. Interstate Commerce Commission, 206 U.S. 441, 454-455, 27 S.Ct. 700, 51 L.Ed. 1128; United States v. Pierce Auto Freight Lines, 327 U.S. 515, 535-536, 66 S.Ct. 687, 90 L.Ed. 821.
The facts material to the disposition of the issue here in question are not in dispute. Shipments, approximating some 22 in number, were made during the months of May and June, 1957, by the plaintiff between points in Pennsylvania to certain other points in Pennsylvania. Eleven of these shipments were made from Philadelphia to Allentown, 4 from Easton to Philadelphia and Hatboro, 3 from Bethlehem to Philadelphia, 1 from Chester to Bethlehem, and the others to points from Philadelphia to points within 25 miles of Allentown. To give an example of the shipments, the majority of them moved from Philadelphia over the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge, over U. S. Highway 1 to Trenton, from there over New Jersey Highway 69 to Clinton and then over U. S. Highway 22 to Allentown, which has been designated the Clinton Route. The terminal to terminal distance from Philadelphia to Allentown over this route is 96.2 miles and the driving time is three hours, whereas the driving time between Philadelphia and Allentown over U. S. Highway 309, within Pennsylvania, is two hours, five minutes, and over the Pennsylvania Turnpike, a distance of 75 miles, the driving time would be' one hour, fifty minutes. These shipments were made at night and left Philadelphia traversing the route here indicated, making no stops whatsoever en route, either at Trenton or at Clinton — the terminal at Clinton no longer was in existence, it having been closed more than nine years previously — for any pickups or deliveries. The goods in question were mingled with other goods destined for points beyond Pennsylvania, but after traversing the certificated route of the Commission, the first stop was made in Allentown and the goods destined for delivery there were removed and the balance of the shipment continued on. The record discloses no logical reason or economic purpose for the carrying of the goods across the state line into New Jersey on a certificated route and, accordingly, the Commission reached the conclusion that the transportation was merely subterfuge to avoid compliance with the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission regulation which had denied to plaintiff a certificate. ,.
The majority relies heavily on Service Storage & Transfer Co., Inc. v. Virginia, 359 U.S. 171, 79 S.Ct. 714, 3 L.Ed. 2d 717. There, the shipment of goods was from Virginia into West Virginia and back again to Virginia for delivery within the State of Virginia. However, there was a principal terminal of the company in Bluefield, West Virginia, where the truck stopped, pickups were made, deliveries were made and the goods, together with other interstate shipments, were returned into Virginia for delivery. Here, there was good reason, as well as economic purpose, in making the transportation, because other goods were picked up in Bluefield and deliveries made therefrom. Full loads were then made up and carried back into Virginia and on into other states, as contrasted with the non-stop performance of the truck, in this instance, going directly from Philadelphia to Clinton and back into Pennsylvania to Allentown.
While there can be no denial that the concept of interstate commerce embráces *140a movement between points in one state through another state, the transportation so performed must not be in bad faith to escape the proper jurisdiction of the terminal state. Eichholz v. Public Service Commission of Missouri, 306 U.S. 268, 274, 59 S.Ct. 532, 83 L.Ed. 641.
It is submitted the report and order of the Commission represent a valid exercise of its authority and that they are predicated upon adequate evidence and findings and the Commission’s actions should be sustained.