60 A.2d 589 | Pa. Super. Ct. | 1948
Argued April 20, 1948.
Atlantic Freight Lines, Inc., the appellant, is a common carrier, incorporated for "the transportation of *217
freight, merchandise and other personal property by means of motor vehicles or similar conveyances in interstate commerce only". We will refer to this carrier as Atlantic. Based upon information in reports of its investigators, Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission initiated this proceeding on its own motion. The complaint charged three separate violations of Article II, § 201(b) or Article VIII, § 804(a) of the Public Utility Law of May 28, 1937, P.L. 1053 and its amendments,
On testimony which is not disputed, the commission found that the truck load of sugar delivered to McKeesport was transported from Philadelphia "over U.S. Highway 1 to Baltimore, Maryland, thence over U.S. Highway 40 through Maryland and Pennsylvania *218 to Uniontown, Pennsylvania, thence over Pennsylvania Highway 51 to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, thence over Pennsylvania Highway 30 to McKeesport, the point of destination." Upon entirely sufficient evidence the commission also found that the transportation of 30,000 pounds of sugar from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, the second subject of complaint, was over highway routes wholly within the State of Pennsylvania. As to the third shipment to a consignee in Braddock, the commission found the evidence insufficient to determine what route was travelled in making delivery. Upon findings to the effect that all three of the shipments, complained of, were intrastate, the Public Utility Commission entered a cease and desist order restraining Atlantic from like transportation service "except as specifically permitted by certificates of public convenience issued by this Commission." No certificate nor permit was ever issued to Atlantic by the Public Utility Commission authorizing it to transport property intrastate.
It is conceded, as it must be, that the restraining order in this case is proper as applied to freight transportation between two points in Pennsylvania over highways wholly within the State. This appeal is directed solely to the order insofar as it restrains transportation between Philadelphia and the Pittsburgh area over highways through the State of Maryland. It is seriously contended that the route, above quoted from the commission's finding, over which the shipment of sugar was transported from Philadelphia to McKeesport, had been approved by the Interstate Commerce Commission, as evidenced by the interstate certificate of public convenience and necessity held by Atlantic; and that therefore the order of our Public Utility Commission is an unwarranted intrusion of a federal field assigned exclusively to the Interstate Commerce Commission by Congress under Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution of the United States. *219
On appeal to us we may not vacate an order of the commission except for error of law or lack of evidence to support its findings. Section 1107 of the Public Utility Code, as amended by the Act of July 3, 1941, P.L. 267,
Regulation of interstate highway transportation is vested in the Interstate Commerce Commission by the Motor Carrier Act of August 9, 1935,
We are unable to find that the Interstate Commerce Commission assumed jurisdiction of appellant's transportation by truck through Maryland, between two points in Pennsylvania, except as a part of a haul from the origin of a shipment in one State to its destination in another State, or that it has determined that truck transportation of property by Atlantic from Philadelphia to the Pittsburgh area, over any route, is in fact interstate commerce.
The route as approved by the Interstate Commerce Commission upon which appellant relies, is thus described in the certificate of public convenience and necessity issued to it by that commission: "Between Pittsburgh, Pa., and Newark, N.J. From Pittsburgh over Pennsylvania Highway 51 to Uniontown, Pa., thence over U.S. Highway 40 to Baltimore, Md., and thence over U.S. Highway 1 to Newark, and return over the same route. Service is authorized to and from *221 the intermediate points of Uniontown and Philadelphia, Pa., Baltimore, Md., Trenton, N.J., those in Pennsylvania within 20 miles of Pittsburgh, and those within 25 miles of New York, N.Y.; and the off-route points of East Riverton, N.J., and those in Pennsylvania within 20 miles of Pittsburgh."
It seems reasonably clear from the above language of the certificate that what was authorized by the commission was interstate transportation over stated highways from Pittsburgh to Baltimore, Maryland, to Newark, New Jersey, and return, and that common carrier service was permitted between certain intermediate points of origin in one state and of destination in another. Clarification of the order, indicating that intent, is to be found in the Report and Order of the Interstate Commerce Commission in the proceeding in which appellant's interstate rights were adjudicated. It was there recognized that Atlantic was entitled to "grandfather" rights acquired from a predecessor. Appellant was entitled to the benefit of the proviso of § 206 of the Motor Carrier Act, 49 U.S.C.A. 306(a), relating to "grandfather" rights, only to the extent of actual and bona fide operations in interstate commerce on or before June 1, 1935.Loving et al. v. United States,
Accordingly our Public Utility Commission had jurisdiction also to determine whether the carriage of sugar across the State line in this case was a mere subterfuge to evade the regulatory authority of this State. We quoted the applicable principle inBlackmore et al. v. P.S.C.,
The restraining order entered by the Public Utility Commission was right and proper under all of the evidence in this proceeding. Cf. Interstate Busses Corporation v. Holyoke St. Ry.Co.,
Order affirmed.