United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Western & Atlantic R. v. Georgia Pub. Svc. Comm'n, 267 U.S. 493 (1925)

Western & Atlantic Railroad v. Georgia Public Service Commission

No. 209

Argued January 20, 1925

Decided April 13, 1925

267 U.S. 493

Syllabus

1. A rule of a state public service commission that railroad switching service to which shippers are entitled by law or by rule of the commission, whether or not granted voluntarily by the railroad, shall not be discontinued without the consent of the commission after notice and hearing is reasonable and within the police power of the state. P. 267 U. S. 496.

2. An order of a state commission requiring a railroad to continue to furnish switching service to a shipper on an established industrial siding does not deprive the railroad of property without due process, in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, merely because the switching, separately considered, may not be profitable to the railroad, or may even involve a loss. P. 267 U. S. 496.

3. Under § 402 of the Transportation Act, 1920, the power to order establishment or abandonment of such side tracks, though employed largely for interstate commerce, is not with the Interstate Commerce Commission, but with the states. P. 267 U. S. 497.

4. A bill to enjoin a state commission from enforcing an order requiring the plaintiff railroad to maintain service on an industrial switch track will not lie upon the ground that the service creates undue discrimination between interstate shippers in cost of transportation, since this is a question which must be presented to the Interstate Commerce Commission. P. 267 U. S. 497.

Affirmed.

Appeal from a decree of the district court refusing a temporary injunction in a suit to restrain the appellee commission from enforcing an order requiring the appellant railroad to maintain service on an industrial side track.

Page 267 U. S. 494