Court Opinion

ID: 8039995
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-09-09 03:28:24.029522+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T16:37:17.362596
License: Public Domain

McCown, J.,
concurring in result.
Both the majority opinion and the dissent assume, either impliedly or implicitly, that the Nebraska State Railway Commission has no power or authority to order the defendant to establish a special rate classification for off-peak periods for persons over 62 years of age. The foundation for that legal conclusion rests on the assumption that any classification of persons for reduced rates, except for those persons described in subsection (2) of section 75-126, R. S. Supp., 1969, is illegal and discriminatory. That conclusion I do not accept.
Two very obvious classifications of persons who are not mentioned at all in section 75-126, R. S. Supp., 1969, are children and students. In the case of children, the “discrimination” is based solely on age. In the case of students, the “discrimination” is based on occupation. There is no dispute on the part of anyone that the Railway Commission has authority over such rates once established, but the argument is that the authority exists only when the carrier voluntarily established the classification. This distinction in interpreting a statute prohibiting discrimination simply doesn’t fit. Particularly is this so where the Railway Commission must specifically approve any rates established by any carrier for the carriage of any classifications of persons or property. It seems clear that a classification limited to persons over 62 years of age, and to off-peak periods in time, is not on its face obviously and conclusively unreasonable and unjustified.
The preferences or advantages aimed at by section 75-*163126, R. S. Supp., 1969, are only undue or unreasonable ones. A classification of persons which is justified or reasonable ought not to be deemed illegal simply because a carrier has not voluntarily established it.
It is true that the Railway Commission has no authority to order any rate which is not compensatory. That fact remains for evidence, but it should not be predetermined nor should it affect the jurisdiction or the power and authority of the Railway Commission over the establishment of rates and classifications for the carriage of passengers.