Public Service Commission v. Northern Pacific Railway Co.

Citations

• 77 Wash. 635
• 138 P. 270
• 1914 Wash. LEXIS 955

Syllabus

<p>Carriers — Rates—Regulation—Unlawful Discrimination — Reasonableness. Und’er 3 Rem. & Bal. Code, § 8626-21, providing that no common carrier shall give any undue or unreasonable preference or advantage to any person or locality, a community is entitled to something more than mere reasonable rates, since the rates must be relatively equal to all shippers where there is no structural or operative difference favoring a haul from one point over a haul from another to the same shipping points.</p> <p>Same — Discrimination — Effect of Competition — Reasonableness — Evidence—Sufficiency. Under 3 Rem. & Bal. Code, § 8626-21, providing that no common carrier shall give any undue or unreasonable preference to any person or locality, it is an unreasonable and unlawful discrimination for a railroad company to charge less rates on class commodities from Seattle than from Tacoma to the “jobbing center” of Spokane and tributary points, in order to meet the competitive rates of another railway having a shorter line from Seattle, where it appears that there were no structural, operative or other conditions favoring the haul from Seattle, which was slightly longer than the haul from Tacoma, the difference in rates being sufficiently great to drive the Tacoma manufacturers and jobbers from the markets.</p> <p>Same — Statutes—Construction. 3 Rem. & Bal. Code, § 8626-21, forbidding a carrier from giving undue or unreasonable preference</p> <p>or advantages to persons or localities, applies in all instances where no transportation difference intervenes, regardless of the question whether the person, locality, or traffic is affected by the competition of a rival or not.</p>