Paul M. Garrett, Trustee in Bankruptcy for Metropolitan Shippers' Clearings Corp. Of Washington v. time-d.c., Inc.

This appeal presents the issue whether a claim that a motor carrier must pay pre-judgment interest on shipping charges that exceed Interstate Commerce Act limits is one “arising under an Act of Congress regulating commerce” so as to be within the jurisdiction of a federal district court under 28 U.S.C. § 1337 . The district court held it was not. We reverse and remand.

Paul M. Garrett, the trustee for the bankrupt Metropolitan Shippers’ Clearings Corporation (MSCC), seeks a declaratory judgment that interest must be paid on shipping overcharges. The overcharges occurred when TIME-DC, a motor carrier, charged its customers, whether inadvertently or not, more than was specified in tariffs filed with the Interstate Commerce Commission (I.C. C.).

MSCC’s business consisted of purchasing shipper’s rights to collect overcharges, performing audits to determine if the motor carriers had charged more than permitted in the applicable tariffs, and then collecting the overcharges.

Normally, collecting overpayments has occasioned no difficulty. When it has been the subject of repayment demands, TIME-DC, like other carriers obliged to remit overcharges under § 317(b) of the…