Corneli Seed Company, a Corporation v. Union Pacific Railroad Company, a Corporation

Appellant is in the business of processing and wholesaling seeds. It purchases from growers in the Pacific Coast States and Idaho, and then ships via appellee and its connecting carriers to Twin Falls, Idaho where the seeds are stopped in transit for processing before being reshipped to points in the east and mid-west. The tariff rate approved by the Interstate Commerce Commission on such shipments is less than the combination of local rates from the point of origin to Twin Falls and thence from Twin Falls to the point of destination. The tariff conditions for such a transit rate are that said shipments be in fact through shipments; that unexpired in bound freight bills of lading which had been recorded when the shipments arrived in Twin Falls, or tonnage credit slips must be surrendered and cancelled and that the outbound bills of lading or shipping orders must have inserted thereon the weight, point of origin and date of each inbound shipment covering the commodities forwarded.

Appellant complied with the tariff, as set out, for a number of years, but on or about February of 1949 it learned that its customers were discovering its sources of supply from the bills of lading and…