Louisiana Ry. & Nav. Co. v. Railroad Commission
Louisiana Ry. & Nav. Co. v. Railroad Commission
Opinion of the Court
The plaintiff company and Mr. Blakewood entered into a contract by which Mr. Blakewood was to do the grading and furnish cross-ties for the construction and maintenance of a spur on his plantation for the use of his cotton gin, and otherwise for his exclusive use, and the plaintiff company was to furnish the other necessary materials and have the work done. The contract contains many stipulations not necessary to be here recited. This was in 1900.
We see in this spur nothing but a plantation spur, for the private benefit, virtually, of Mr. Blakewood, and which, therefore, he should contribute towards the máintenance of, according to his contract. No good reason can be given why, if the plaintiff railroad is to maintain this spur at its sole expense, it should not do the same with all the plantation spurs along its line, and all the other railroads do the same with all the private spurs along their lines. Most of these private spurs do many times the volume of carload traffic that this spur appears to have been doing.
We do not see that, for traffic other than carload, the plaintiff company should be required to' furnish greater facilities than it has done already; the regular public traffic stations in that neighborhood being less than 4 miles apart, or either one less than 2 miles distant from this spur.
The judgment appealed from, annulling said order, is affirmed, at the costs of defendant.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- LOUISIANA RY. & NAV. CO. v. RAILROAD COMMISSION OF LOUISIANA
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- (Syllabus by Editorial Staff.) Railroads Where plantation owner contracted for private spur track between two regular shipping stations, each less than two miles away from the spur, spur being accessible to public only by private road, railroad could not be required to maintain spur at own expense, on ground of increase of traffic.