In re Petition of Golden Plains Servs. Transp., 297 Neb. 105

Golden Plains Services Transportation, Inc. is a Nebraska-certified "open class" carrier. The Nebraska Public Service Commission (Commission) received information it was operating as a taxi and ordered it to cease taxi operations.
Golden Plains filed for a declaratory ruling asking whether Rule 010.01C limits open class carriers to prearranged trips or allows on-demand (taxi-like) service.
The Commission treated the petition as raising a statewide commercial question, initiated an investigative proceeding, and issued an order interpreting Rule 010.01C to permit only prearranged-for-hire passenger transport and to prohibit on-demand for-hire transport by open class carriers.
Golden Plains appealed the Commission’s interpretation to the Nebraska Supreme Court, arguing the rule does not authorize a categorical ban on on-demand service and that its past operations should be protected by grandfathering/color-of-right principles.
The Supreme Court reviewed the Commission’s interpretation de novo and examined the plain language of Rule 010.01C and the Commission’s prior statements and rules related to similar service categories.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Rule 010.01C limits open class carriers to prearranged trips and prohibits on-demand for-hire service	Golden Plains: Rule 010.01C’s plain language does not restrict open class carriers to prearranged service and therefore allows on-demand service	Commission: Interpreted Rule 010.01C to allow only prearranged service; argued its interpretation falls within its authority to define regulatory scope	Held: Reversed. Rule 010.01C’s plain language contains no such limitation; the Commission’s contrary interpretation is clearly erroneous and impermissibly reads a restriction into the rule
Whether Golden Plains should receive grandfathering/color-of-right protection for past operations	Golden Plains: Past operations entitle it to protection from retroactive restriction	Commission: Did not apply grandfathering; proceeded on statewide interpretive basis	Held: Court did not rely on grandfathering because it resolved the primary statutory-interpretation issue in favor of Golden Plains; the Commission’s blanket restriction was vacated

Shaffer v. Nebraska Dept. of Health & Human Servs., 289 Neb. 740 (statement that statutory/regulatory interpretation is a question of law reviewed de novo)
Chase 3000, Inc. v. Nebraska Pub. Serv. Comm., 273 Neb. 133 (discussing agency authority to interpret regulations)
In re Proposed Amend. to Title 291, 264 Neb. 298 (agency may interpret terms used in rules but may not create new rules without APA procedures)
Utelcom, Inc. v. Egr, 264 Neb. 1004 (rules of construction for administrative regulations)