Court Opinion

ID: 9696773
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 18:58:01.224047+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:26.738851
License: Public Domain

Grimes, J.,
dissenting: In my view, the commission has
no jurisdiction in this case and the plaintiff needs neither a permit nor a certificate to carry on its business. Both RSA 375-B:2 IV (Supp. 1972) defining a common carrier and RSA 375-B:2 VII (Supp. 1972) defining a contract carrier refer to persons transporting property between points in this State for compensation. If waste and garbage are not property within the meaning of the statute, then of course plaintiff is neither a common nor a contract carrier. Although there is authority both ways, it is my view that waste and garbage are not property for the purpose of commission jurisdiction. Joray Trucking Corp. Common Carrier Application, 99 M.C.C. 109 (1965); Visco v. State, 95 Ariz. 154, 388 P.2d 155 (1963); Fairchild v. United Service Corporation, 52 N.M. 289, 197 P.2d 875 (1948). Even if garbage is property, the commission still has no jurisdiction because the plaintiff is a private carrier specifically exempted by RSA 375-B:3 IV (Supp. 1972). A private carrier under the statute is one who is the owner, lessee or bailee of the property transported. If the person whose garbage is carried away were to expressly give or convey it to the plaintiff, there could be no question but that plaintiff would be a private carrier. But that is what is impliedly done. To the home owner, the garbage has a negative value and he impliedly relinquishes any interest therein to the collector and pays him to carry it away. The collector is then carrying his own property and is a private carrier exempt from the statute. Joray Trucking Corp. Common Carrier Application supra. Also, there is no requirement that the collector transport the garbage to any particular place. The homeowner doesn’t care where the collector takes the garbage or what he does with it. This being so, the collector is not *26engaged in transportation between particular points in the State and does not therefore meet the definition of either a common or contract carrier.