281 F. 10 | 9th Cir. | 1922
Parrington’s Cases.
These cases involve rates on sugar from San Francisco, Cal., to Portland, Or. The San Francisco & Portland Steamship Company, called the Steamship Company, operates a line of steamers between San Francisco and Portland, via Pacific Ocean and Columbia and Willamette rivers, with a regular landing place at Ainsworth dock, in Portland, where connection is had with the Oregon-Washington Railroad & Navigation Company, called the Railroad Company, extending from Portland to North Portland. From December 28, 1917, to February 29, 1920, the Director General exercised control of-.the steamships. On February 17, 1916, the Steamship Company, in connection with the Railroad Company, put into effect a tariff on sugar in carload lots of a minimum of 30,000 pounds of 12% cents per cwt. The rate was applicable via the line of the Steamship Company to Portland, thence via the Railroad Company to North Portland, and was in effect until June 25, 1918. On June 25, 1918, the rate to North Portland was raised to 15% cents per cwt., and continued in effect until August 26, 1920. From August 26, 1920, the rate from San Francisco to North Portland was 19% cents per cwt. During the several periods mentioned the rate, as per the Steamship Company’s
Thus the situation became one where before June 24, 1918, the local rate from San Francisco to Portland was higher than the joint rate to North Portland, and after June 24, 1918, the local rate from San Francisco was higher to Portland than the joint rate to North Portland. Astoria carried the same rate as Portland. The contention of Farrington is that the route from San Francisco to Portland is shorter than the route from San Francisco to North Portland, and that the route from San Francisco to Astoria is shorter than the route from San Francisco to North Portland. The Railroad Company admits the latter claim, but does not concede that the distance from San Francisco to Portland is shorter than from San Francisco to North Portland.
The Seed Company Case.
The Seed Company claims that during December, 1918, and January, 1919, at Roswell, N. M., one Mitchell delivered to the Director General of Railroads two carloads of alfalfa seed, consigned to the shipper’s order, one car for Yakima, Wash., the other to Walla Walla, Wash., moving over the lines of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé Railway to Denver, thence via Union Pacific lines to Granger, Wyo., thence via Oregon Short Line to Huntington, Or., thence by Oregon-Washington Railroad & Navigation lines to Yakima and Walla Walla, Wash. The Director General delivered the cars to the Portland Seed Company upon surrender of the bill of lading indorsed, and thereafter demanded $1,311.75 for the car going to Yakima, and $715.79 for the car moving to Walla Walla.
The published rate on alfalfa seed in carload lots from Roswell, N. M., to Yakima and Walla Walla, Wash., was $2.44 per cwt.; that rate being a combination of local rates based upon Denver. Tire through rate from Pecos, Tex., to Yakima and Walla Walla, was $1.-51% per cwt. The excess of the Roswell rate over the Pecos rate would produce, for the respective cars, certain sums, which, with fees and costs, the Seed Company sued for. The contention is that Pecos, Tex., being a point more distant than Roswell, N. M., on the same line or route over which shipments moved, any sum collected in excess of the Pecos rate was in violation' of section 4, the long and short haul clause of the Interstate Commerce Act.
Prior to the amendments of 1910, in the first instance, the carrier could under section 4 determine whether or not there was a dissimilarity of circumstances and conditions which, authorized it to charge more for a shorter than for a longer haul over the same line. Since the Act of June 18, 1910, the right of the carrier in the first instance was taken away, leaving the prohibition of the long and short.haul clause absolute until the Interstate Commerce Commission could hear the matter, and, if it might see fit, make an order consenting to the higher rate to the intermediate point. In the Intermountain Rate Cases, 234 U. S. 476, 484, 34 Sup. Ct. 986, 990 (58 L. Ed. 1408), the court speaking through the Chief Justice, after discussing the state of the law prior to and after the amendments, said:
“It is certain that the fundamental change which it makes is the omission of the substantially similar circumstances and conditions clause, thereby leaving the long and short haul clause in a sense unqualified, except in so far as the section gives the right to the carrier to apply to the Commission for authority ‘to charge less for longer than for shorter distances for the transportation of persons or property,’ and gives the Commission authority from time to time ‘to prescribe the extent to which such designated common carrier may be relieved from the operation of this section.’ ” United States v. Louisville & Nashville R. Co., 235 U. S. 314, 35 Sup. Ct. 113, 59 L. Ed. 245; Skinner & Eddy v. United States, 249 U. S. 566, 39 Sup. Ct. 375, 63 L. Ed. 772.
We do not understand the decision as holding that the statute limits the proceedings before courts for the recovery of damages for violation of the Interstate Commerce Act. It is of significance that in the act of 1920 there is no. language of limitation against the shipper in recovering damages in the courts for violation of the act, and we regard it as fairly inferable that the statute of limitations remained as it was before 1920. This leaves the period of limitation to be determined by the statute of the state, in this instance the law of Oregon (section 6, Laws Or. 1920), which fixes the period of limitation for the recovery of a liability created by statute, other than a penalty or forfeiture, at six years. C. & N. W. R. Co. v. Ziebarth, 245 Fed. 336, 157 C. C. A. 526; Morrisdale Coal Co. v. Penn. R. Co., 230 U. S. 304, 33 Sup. Ct. 938, 57 L. Ed. 1494.
The judgments of the District Court are affirmed, and, in addition to the amounts allowed by that court as attorney's fees, fees for conducting the cases in this court are also allowed. Mills v. Lehigh Valley (D. C.) 226 Fed. 812; N. Y., N. H. & Hartford R. Co. v. Ballou & Wright, 242 Fed. 862, 155 C. C. A. 450. A reasonable fee in case No. 3799 in this court is $600; in case No. 3800, $1,000; and in case No. 3828, $100.
With these additions, the judgments are affirmed.