Groesbeck v. Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic Railway Co.

Citations

• 250 U.S. 607
• 40 S. Ct. 38
• 63 L. Ed. 1167
• 1919 U.S. LEXIS 1783

Syllabus

<p>The laws of Michigan prescribing a maximum intrastate passenger fare for railroads whose gross passenger earnings equalled a certain amount per mile required that all Unes of a railroad within the State should be treated as a unit in computing such earnings, and in applying the rate limitation. In determining whether the rate was confiscatory in this case—</p> <p>Held: (1) In the absence of any suggestion of illegality or mismanagement in acquisition or operation, all parts of the railroad’s system within the State, profitable ok unprofitable, should be em-raced in the computation. P. 611.</p> <p>(2) Unremunerativ.e parts were not to be excluded because built and used primarily for interstate traffic (p. 611), or because not required to supply local transportation needs (p. 612); nor was a reasonable, though unremunerative, extension of service because furnished by acquiring traffic rights from another company. P. 613.</p> <p>(3) Sleeping car, parlor car and dining car services should not be treated as separate operations, but the passenger service, including these facilities., must be treated as a whole. Id.</p> <p>(4) In the present state of railroad accounting, what formula should be adopted for dividing charges and'bxpenses common to freight and passenger services and not capable of direct allocation, is a question of fact rather than of law; and the court cannot say that the trial court erred in adopting the method pursued in this case. P. 614.</p>