Coeur d'Alene & Spokane Railway Co. v. Union Pacific Railroad

Citations

• 49 Wash. 244
• 95 P. 71
• 1908 Wash. LEXIS 559

Syllabus

<p>Commerce — Interstate Regulations — Violations — Agreement' Violating Schedule- — Carriers. Where connecting railroads had published, pursuant to the interstate commerce act, a schedule of joint rates on shipments of freight cars on their own wheels, which specified $150 for empty cars from St. Louis to Spokane, and if loaded with freight to the account of the carrier, $90 per car in addition to the freight earned, in case of shipments from Missouri river terminals and Port Arthur, Ont., a contract by part of such railroads having lines from Kansas City to Spokane whereby they agreed to ship loaded cars from St. Louis or Kansas City to Spokane free of charge in consideration of the use of the same for carriage of freight, is void, under the interstate commerce law prohibiting agreements at variance with the rates prescribed in the schedule, and the scheduled rate may be collected; and it would be immaterial that the connecting line shipped the ears from St. Louis, to Kansas City, loaded, and received the benefit of the freights earned, between those points, the contracting carriers having no line from St. Louis to Kansas City.</p> <p>Same — Contracts—Construction. A schedule specifying a rate-of $90 per car for the shipment of cars from Missouri river points to Spokane on their own wheels, if loaded, in addition to the freight earned, is violated by a carriage under an agreement to ship free of charge in consideration of the use of the cars for the carriage of freight, although the cars were not loaded with through freight to the point of destination, but were used in loading and reloading-along the way and to Seattle and other points beyond and not on the route, and were not returned to the point of destination for from three to six months; since there was nothing to show the intention of the parties to the contract that a use should be made of the ears, not contemplated by the schedule; and since in civil proceedings-the scheduled rates must control where it is