Morgan Drive Away, Inc. v. Railroad Commission of Texas
Morgan Drive Away, Inc. v. Railroad Commission of Texas
Opinion of the Court
This is a direct appeal by Morgan Drive Away, Inc. and National Trailer Convoy, Inc., appellants, from a judgment of the trial court denying a permanent injunction on the ground of the validity of an order of the Railroad Commission granting Transit Homes, Inc. a specialized motor carrier certificate. Our jurisdiction is not questioned. See Sec. 3-b of Article V of the Constitution of Texas; Article 1738a;
Transit Homes, Inc., an appellee here in addition to the Railroad Commission, is the holder of a specialized motor carrier certificate authorizing the transportation of used house trailers from Harlingen, Texas, to all points in Texas and vice versa. It filed application with the Commission to amend its certificate so as to authorize the transportation of the following commodities between all points in Texas:
(1) Trailers, including house trailers, mobile homes, and other structures moving on wheeled undercarriages;
(2) Appurtenances for the items named in (1) above, when moving therewith ; and
(3) Equipment, materials and supplies used in connection with the items named in (1) and (2) above when moving therewith, between all points in Texas.
See Secs. l(i) and 5a of Article 911b. The application was opposed by Morgan and National Trailer. Each is the holder of certificates issued by the Commission authorizing the transportation of house trailers between all points in Texas.
After hearing and various administrative steps, some later noticed, the Commission granted the application of Transit in its entirety. Morgan and National Trailer thereupon filed suit as an appeal under the provisions of Sec. 20 of Article 911b to set aside the granting order, and to enjoin Transit’s operations under the certificate issued pursuant thereto. After trial to the court, a take nothing judgment was entered against Morgan and National Trailer and all injunctive relief sought by them was denied. This direct appeal was then taken.
Appellants level a three-pronged attack upon the order of the Commission. They
The administrative circumstances giving rise to the first attack on the order of the Commission were these. Rule 43 of the effective Rules of Procedure for the Transportation Division of the Commission, the pertinent text of which is copied in the margin,
A hearing examiner of the motor transportation division of the Railroad Commission serves the function of hearing the evidence offered by applicants for motor carrier operating rights, and that offered by existing carriers or other parties who may appear in opposition to the application. His subsequent report to the Commission, accompanied by a recommended order, is an internal administrative device whereby the examiner may report his findings and recommendation to the Commission. The report also performs the office of affording parties in disagreement an opportunity to present their views to the Commission in the form of exceptions prior to action of the Commission upon the report and recommended order. This administrative process thus brings to the Commission for official action in a contested proceeding the hearing record, the report and recommendation of the examin
The Second and Third Points of Error which attack the granting order of the Commission are related. They require us to decide whether the fact findings in the order meet the statutory requirements; and, if so, whether the order is reasonably supported by substantial evidence. We recognized in Miller v. Railroad Commission, 363 S.W.2d 244 (Tex. 1962), that assistance to the Courts in exercising their function of reviewing such orders is a statutory function of the fact finding requirement, and that the sufficiency of findings to meet the requirements of the statute must be related to the issues and the evidence in each case separately. This is but to recognize the logic that determination of the validity vel non of an administrative order under the precepts of the substantial evidence rule should be made in the light of the findings of fact upon which the order of the Commission is predicated, where such findings are required by statute. In such case it is reasonable to proceed from the premise that the facts found were regarded by the Commission to have reasonable support in the evidence and to support its action. So a fact finding requirement has substantial statutory purpose and is more than a technical prerequisite.
The fact finding statutory requirement governing applications to operate as a specialized motor carrier is found in Sec. 5a(d) of Article 911b, as follows:
“The order of the Commission granting said application and the certificate issued thereunder shall be void unless the Commission shall set forth in its order full and complete findings of fact pointing out in detail the inadequacies of the services and facilities of the existing carriers, and the public need for the proposed service.”
The order of the Commission under attack contains the following:
“THE COMMISSION FINDS that after statutory notice the said application was heard before the Commission’s Examiners, and that Examiner made and filed his corrected report herein, served February 3, 1972, containing his findings of fact and conclusions of law thereon, which report is hereby adopted and made a part hereof, and said proceeding was duly submitted.”
As thus stated, the Commission did not purport to independently set forth findings of fact; the parties agree, however, that the Commission adopted the report of the examiner and that we look there to determine compliance, or not, with the statutory fact finding requirements.
The adopted report is divided into three sections entitled Statement of the Case, Statement of Facts, and Discussions and Conclusions. It will not be quoted in full so as not to further extend this opinion. The parties recognize that the findings of fact are to be found, if at all, in the third section. These findings must relate, as the statute says, to the inadequacies in the services and facilities of the existing car
The order under review contains a lengthy general discussion of conditions in the mobile home industry and perhaps findings of fact could be gleaned that point to the public need for the proposed service. But we do not reach this since the immediately apparent problem is the absence of findings of fact which qualify under the statute with respect to the services and facilities of the existing carriers. In their briefs, appellees point to portions of two paragraphs in the third section of the adopted order which they argue supplies the requisite findings of fact as to the existing services. These paragraphs are quoted in full in the margin,
So we turn to the first of the quoted paragraphs. Each of its three sentences is no more than a reference to the evidence with no stated findings of fact. Appellees quote as directly relating to this issue a portion of one sentence, as follows: “[p]rotestants have relied upon foreign-based power units, not properly registered with the Texas Railroad Commission, for the handling of intrastate traffic in Texas, contrary to the Commission’s regulations.” But this sentence begins as a recitation that “[t]he evidence further indicates that' in some instances . . . ,” so it is no more than a reference to the evidence without any purport as a finding of fact. Even so, it implies no more than an adverse criticism of the actions of the protesting carriers “in some instances.” Ap-pellees also urge the sentence which reads “[t]he public witness testimony includes specific testimony regarding instances wherein protestants have been unable to supply appropriate equipment when and as needed for the movement of traffic moving in Texas intrastate commerce.” But here again the sentence is not drawn or stated in terms of a finding of fact; it is no more than a recitation of certain matters which were included in the public witness testimony.
Appellees say, however, that the first sentence in the next succeeding paragraph converts the foregoing into accepta
Morgan Drive Away, Inc. v. Railroad Commission, 483 S.W.2d 320 (Tex.Civ. App.1972, writ ref’d n. r. e.), is urged by appellees as our most recent review of an order of the Commission granting motor carrier operating rights where the attack upon the order was as here. The intermediate court there stated that it had examined the order of the Commission and had concluded that the findings met the test stated in Miller v. Railroad Commission, supra, 363 S.W.2d 244, 246. We likewise examined the order and agreed with that conclusion. A comparison of the order there, and the one under review here, discloses controlling differences in the nature and completeness of the fact findings.
The judgment of the trial court is reversed and judgment is here rendered vacating the order of the Commission.
Dissenting opinion by POPE, J., joined by DENTON, J.
. References are to Vernon’s Ann.Civ.St.
. Rule 43: The Examiner’s Report and Recommended Order.
In all contested proceedings, and in all uneontested proceedings wherein the examiner recommends action other than that sought by the applicant, petitioner, or complainant, he shall prepare and file with the Director a report and recommended order. . . . Such report and recommended order shall contain a brief statement of the nature of the case and the issues, a complete discussion of vhe evidence, the findings of fact and ultimate conclusions based thereon. A copy thereof shall be served forthwith by the Director on each party of record.
. “Virtually all of applicant’s public witnesses complain of a lack of equipment availability from protestants Morgan and National. The public witness testimony includes specific testimony regarding instances wherein protestants have been unable to supply appropriate equipment when and as needed for the movement of traffic moving in Texas intrastate commerce. The evidence further indicates that in some instances protestants have relied upon foreign-based power units, not properly registered with the Texas Railroad Commission, for the handling of intrastate traffic in Texas, contrary to the Commission’s regulations.
“In consideration of the above, the Examiner concludes that protestants are not providing a fully adequate service for the handling of the involved traffic in Texas intrastate commerce. Applicant has established by substantial evidence that the service proposed is required by the public convenience and necessity, and has established further that the service it proposes will result in a material improvement in existing transportation service.”
Dissenting Opinion
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent. The majority has concluded that the commission’s order falls short of the statutory requirement that it contain full and complete findings of fact. Art. 911b, Sec. 5a(d). The order incorporates the examiner’s report and recommended order, and attached to that was a summation of copious proof offered by both the applicant and protestants.
The conclusion reached by the majority flows from its disregard of many portions of the six-page report of the examiner and its attention to only two conclusionary paragraphs of that document which paragraphs it reads with a hostile eye. I should think that all parts of the report should be examined. When we do that we learn that twenty public witnesses asked for better service than they now receive and only one public witness appeared against the applicant. There were findings
“In consideration of the above,” that is, the recitals contained in the foregoing parts of the report, the examiner concluded that the two protestants are not providing fully adequate service for handling the intrastate traffic in such units, the proposed new service is required by the public convenience and necessity, and the new service will result in improvement in existing service. The examiner concluded that any loss of intrastate traffic to the protestants would be more than offset by the increase in the traffic which is resulting from the growth in the mobile home industry.
The majority cites in support of its decision, Miller v. Railroad Commission, 363 S.W.2d 244 (Tex. 1963); Thompson v. Railroad Commission, 150 Tex. 307, 240 S.W.2d 759 (1951) and Thompson v. Hovey Petroleum Co., 149 Tex. 554, 236 S.W.2d 491 (1951), neither of which has an order comparable to the one here questioned. More recently this court wrote Alamo Express, Inc. v. Railroad Commission, 407 S.W.2d 479, 485 (Tex. 1966), wherein we said concerning those three cases:
In Miller, the finding of fact was embodied in a single sentence, which was clearly inadequate. In Thompson, the order contained a recital of the evidence but no findings of fact from the evidence. In Hovey, railroads as well as motor carriers protested the grant of additional authority to an applicant. The order found that an inadequate number of tank cars were furnished by the railroads but wholly failed to find that an inadequate number of tank trucks were furnished by the protesting motor carriers. It was a case of no finding at all upon the material issues.
This court recently considered the application for writ of error in Morgan Drive Away, Inc. v. Railroad Commission of Texas, 483 S.W.2d 320 (Tex.Civ.App.1972, writ ref’d n. r. e.), wherein the same two protestants urged the same lack of full and complete findings in the commission’s order which granted a certificate to Warfield Walker to transport mobile homes in northeast Texas. The commission’s findings followed the same format as that employed in this case. The commission invoked its common knowledge of the “tremendous increase in the use and transportation of mobile homes in Texas within the last ten years” as well as the increase in recreational facilities and the mobility of college students who use mobile homes. The court of civil appeals concluded in that case, as did this court, “that a court upon reading them [the findings] can fairly and reasonably say that they either do or do not support the required ultimate statutory findings of inadequacy of the services and facilities of existing carriers and a genuine public need for the proposed service.” Miller v. Railroad Commission, supra.
I would conclude that proof of an exceptional growth of a new industry over a short time-span, and a projected continua
I would affirm the judgment of the trial court upholding the validity of the commission’s order.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- MORGAN DRIVE AWAY, INC., Et Al., Appellants, v. RAILROAD COMMISSION OF TEXAS Et Al., Appellees
- Cited By
- 44 cases
- Status
- Published