Court Opinion

ID: 9428501
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:23:58.544466+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:13.857250
License: Public Domain

Justice Powell,
dissenting.
I agree with much of Justice Stevens’ dissenting opinion and would affirm the judgment of the Supreme Court of Louisiana. Respondents are entitled to the relief they seek based on Louisiana state contract law.
By virtue of the “most favored nations” clause in its contract with respondents, petitioner was obligated to pay respondents the higher rate it paid a comparable supplier. Petitioner did not comply with this provision, but the Court today holds that respondents nevertheless may not recover damages because they failed to file with the Commission the increased rate. It is said that the “filed rate doctrine” requires such a filing.
I would agree with the Court if it were clear that respondents were neglectful or otherwise at fault in not filing and seeking Commission approval of the higher rate. But the Louisiana courts found that petitioner was responsible for respondents’ failure to file. Petitioner did not disclose that it was paying higher rates to another producer from the same field under comparable conditions. The .Louisiana Court of Appeal expressly found that respondents’ failure to comply with the filed rate doctrine was caused primarily by the “uncooperative and evasive” conduct of petitioner’s officials. See 359 So. 2d 255, 264 (1978). Petitioner knew the facts, and the Louisiana Supreme Court held that petitioner had a state-law duty to disclose them in order not to frustrate the “most favored nations” clause. There is no showing that respond*586ents had any knowledge of their entitlement to invoke the clause until they finally obtained the facts through the Freedom of Information Act. In these circumstances, the filed rate doctrine should not preclude a state-law damages action. In holding to the contrary, the Court in effect rewards petitioner’s breach of its state-law contractual duty to notify respondents that it was paying a higher rate to a comparable supplier.