United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Illinois Commerce Comm'n v. Thomson, 318 U.S. 675 (1943)

Illinois Commerce Commission v. Thomson

No. 178

Argued January 12, 1943

Decided April 12, 1943

318 U.S. 675

Syllabus

1. The order of January 21, 1942, in a proceeding known as Ex parte No. 148, by which the Interstate Commerce Commission authorized the railroads, including the Chicago & North Western, to increase passenger fares by 10%, was not intended to apply to intrastate commutation fares on that railway in Illinois. P. 318 U. S. 684.

2. An order of the Interstate Commerce Commission directing an increase of railroad fares should not be held to apply to intrastate fares in the presence of a serious doubt that it was so intended. P. 318 U. S. 685.

3. In the absence of circumstances of peculiar urgency, a railroad, asserting that passenger fares fixed by state authority are confiscatory, should exhaust the administrative remedy afforded by the state law before seeking an injunction in a federal court. P. 318 U. S. 686.

Reversed.

Appeal from a decree of the District Court of three judges, awarding to the Trustee in reorganization of the Chicago & North Western Railway an injunction permanently restraining the Illinois Commerce Commission and state enforcement officials from taking any steps to prevent a 10% increase of intrastate commutation passenger fares on that railway.

Page 318 U. S. 676