Union Pacific Railroad Company, a Corporation v. Bay Area Shippers Consolidating Association, Inc.

Union Pacific Railroad Company was awarded summary judgment on its claim for freight charges allegedly due on two shipments of goods by the Bay Area Shippers Consolidating Association (BASCA). We hold that the district court was correct in finding BASCA liable for the charges for failing to comply with the governing tariff, but that the reasonableness of the charges imposed by that tariff should be referred to the Interstate Commerce Commission for exercise of its primary jurisdiction.

I.

The facts are stipulated. In December 1971, BASCA sent two “battery shipments” of goods from Chicago to the West Coast. A “battery shipment” is a grouping of two or more railcars under a single bill of lading. It is governed by Trans-Continental Freight Bureau Tariff No. 1-T, Supplement 72. The Tariff provides for transportation from an initial origin to a final destination. However, one or more of the cars making up a “battery, shipment” may originate or terminate at intermediate points, paying the full multiple-car rate for the entire route plus a per stop charge. The freight rates for battery shipments are sufficiently below the rates for single carloads that even shippers who originate or…