J. TURNER BUTLER AND WILLIAM A. HALLOWES, AS TRUSTEES OF THE PROPERTY OF FLORIDA EAST COAST RAILWAY COMPANY, PETITIONERS,
v.
JERRY W. CARTER, WILBUR C. KING AND EDWIN L. MASON, AS AND CONSTITUTING THE FLORIDA RAILROAD AND PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION, RESPONDENTS

Fla. | 1960-09-21
THOMAS, C. J., and THORNAL and DREW, JJ., concur., TERRELL, J., dissents.
123 So. 2d 313 Florida Supreme Court (1960) Positive Treatment
Cited by 28 cases

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Synopsis

The Florida Supreme Court upheld the Railroad and Public Utilities Commission's denial of an application by the Florida East Coast Railway Company and Railway Express Agency to close their profitable agency station at Ormond Beach, despite finding the closure would result in modest operational savings. The Court affirmed that even under the deferential standard of review afforded administrative agencies, the Commission's determination that public convenience and necessity outweighed the railroads' economic interests was supported by substantial evidence.


Holding

The Court affirmed the Commission's denial of the discontinuance application, holding that under the applicable standard of review, orders of the Commission are presumed prima facie reasonable and valid, and this presumption can only be overcome by clear and satisfactory evidence of invalidity or abuse of authority. Although acknowledging it might have weighed the evidence differently, the Court found the Commission's decision was adequately supported by substantial evidence and that the petitioners failed to prove its invalidity.


Key Quotes

“On review by certiorari this court will not undertake to re-weigh or re-evaluate the evidence presented to the administrative body whose order is under examination. Further if there is competent substantial evidence to sustain the findings and conclusions of the Commission, and no rule of law was violated in the proceedings, and the whole record does not disclose an abuse of authority or arbitrary action, the findings and conclusions of the Commission will not be set aside on certiorari, even though the reviewing court might have reached different conclusions on the evidence.”

Establishes the deferential standard of review applied to administrative agency decisions and the burden petitioners must meet to overturn such decisions.

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Facts & Procedural History

On October 29, 1958, the petitioners applied to discontinue their agencies at Ormond Beach, Florida and consolidate operations at the Daytona Beach ag…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

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Opinion of the Court
HOBSON, Justice.

HOBSON, Justice.

The petitioners seek to reverse an order of the Florida Railroad and Public Utilities Commission which denied the application of the Florida East Coast Railway Company and the Railway Express Agency, Inc. to discontinue their agencies at Or-mond Beach, Florida.

The facts of the case are as follows: On October 29, 1958 the petitioners filed their application for authority to discontinue their agencies at Ormond Beach, *314Florida and to handle the business through the Daytona Beach Agency five and one-half miles away. Public hearings on said application were held before an Examiner appointed by the Commission on March 25, 1959 and April 7, 1959.

The Examiner filed his proposed order with the Commission in which he recommended that the applicants be granted permission to discontinue their agencies. Said order reads in part:

“The Ormond Beach Agency maintains only one employee who acts in the dual capacity of agent for both applicants. Only local passenger tickets are sold at the Ormond Beach agency. Train conductors will continue to sell local tickets to passengers boarding trains at Ormond. There will be no change in passenger train service should the agency be closed.
“The Daytona Beach agency of both applicants is more than able to handle the business of the Ormond Beach agéncy. Discontinuance of the Ormond Beach agencies will not affect LCL1 shipments except that non-deliverable freight and express will be offered for delivery at the Daytona Beach agency instead of at the Or-mond Beach agencies. Local telephone service exists between Ormond Beach and Daytona Beach. Paper work of carload freight will be handled at the Daytona Beach agency, but cars will be spotted in the Ormond Beach area for delivery.
“The elimination of the Ormond Beach agencies will result in efficiency and economy for the applicants without appreciable inconvenience to the public. The continuance of the agencies at Ormond Beach is not necessary in the public interest and under the evidence presented would impose an unnecessary and undue burden on the applicants.”

The full Commission agreed with the Examiner that the passenger service at Ormond Beach was practically non-existent and that carload lot shipments to and from Ormond Beach would continue to be handled in much the same manner, except that the paper work involved would be carried on at the Daytona Beach station. However, the full Commission went on to-say:

“It is evident that there is here involved a situation in which the applicants have attempted to show that they can effect a savings or avoid an economic waste by closing this station and absorbing its functions in their agencies at Daytona Beach. The extent of such savings was not proved conclusively, but there is no dispute about the fact that the Ormand Beach Agency operation is a profitable one. 2 The applicants are not requesting the closing of an agency operated at a loss, but are trying to accomplish a savings by centralizing their operations. The only direct savings accruing to the Florida East Coast Railway was claimed to be at least $7,500 annually which is a relatively insignificant amount when it is considered that the potential gross revenue of the agency is in excess of one quarter of a million dollars annually. The issue of whether the applicants should be authorized to discontinue this service will depend upon a determination of whether the savings which might accrue to the applicants is outweighed by the benefit and convenience, if any, that might be derived by the public from the continuance of the agency.” (Emphasis supplied.)

Finally the Commission found that public convenience and necessity would better be *315served by the continuance of the agency at Ormond Beach “even though some savings might thereby be realized by the applicants”.

Commissioner Boyd dissented on the ground that the Railroad’s petition for discontinuance met the standards set by the NARUC formula applicable to cases involving discontinuance of railroad station agencies and that since the Commission had previously adopted said formula for use in Florida the application should have been granted.

By its brief the petitioners assert that they have conclusively established a right to the discontinuance. In support of this allegation the petitioners point to the following items which they consider significant: (1) The Commission’s admission that the passenger business from this agency was “practically non-existent”, (2) the fact that none of the “principal” shippers in the area testified in opposition to the discontinuance, (3) the proximity of the Daytona Beach station and its accessibility by local telephone, (4) their contention that in agency discontinuance cases carload lot freight should not be considered because an agent is not needed to service this type of freight, (5) the fact that the economies herein sought are especially important to the railroad which has been in receivership since 1931 and which suffered a loss of over four million dollars in 1959, (6) that Commissioner Boyd’s dissent points out the application for discontinuance would have been granted if the Commission had followed the applicable NARUC formula, and (7) their claim that the Commission gave too great a weight to the testimony of residents of the area whose principal ground for protesting was civic pride.

Epitomizing, the petitioners contended that the closing of the Ormond Beach agency would permit conservation of expenses without any inconvenience to the using public.

Our research discloses a scarcity of Florida cases which have considered the problem of the criteria applicable to applications for discontinuance of agency stations.3 Nevertheless, there is respectable authority from other jurisdictions to the effect that it is unreasonable to require the maintenance of an agency station where the cost of the service is out of proportion to the revenue derived from the portion of the public benefited thereby, particularly where a substitute service is available. Among the factors normally considered in determining the question are the volume of business done at the station, its proximity to other stations, the accessibility of the latter, the cost of furnishing such service,4 the business growth potential of the community under consideration 5 and the financial condition of the railroad as a whole.6

It is significant to note that in many states the courts place heavy emphasis on the fact that the principal need of an agent is occasioned by the less than carload business, thus these courts, in agency discontinuance cases, do not consider carload lot freight as a factor in determining whether the presence of an agent is required.7

In 74 C.J.S. Railroads § 402 c. (2) the rule is stated thusly,

“Whether or not a railroad may properly be entitled to change a station from an agency to a nonagency or prepay station generally depends on the facts of the particular case. The test generally applied in determining *316the matter, where an absolutely necessary service is not involved, is whether the public good derived from maintenance of the agency station outweighs the expense to the railroad in continuing such agency, that is, whether the economic waste caused by the operation of the agency outweighs the benefits and conveniences to the public.”

However, in our consideration of the instant petition, it must be remembered that every order of the Commission is by statute clothed with a presumption that it is prima facie reasonable and just. § 350.12(2) (m), F.S.A. On review this presumption of validity can only be overcome when either the invalidity of the Commission’s decision appears plainly on the face of the order or where such weakness is made to appear by clear and satisfactory evidence.

On review by certiorari this court will not undertake to re-weigh or re-evaluate the evidence presented to the administrative body whose order is under examination. Further if there is competent substantial evidence to sustain the findings and conclusions of the Commission, and no rule of law was violated in the proceedings, and the whole record does not disclose an abuse of authority or arbitrary action, the findings and conclusions of the Commission will not be set aside on certiorari, even though the reviewing court might have reached different conclusions on the evidence.8

Although we are fully aware of these mandates, we caution the Commission that they do not imply anything in the way of infallibility9 and that upon occasion the cloak of presumptive validity has a tendency to wear thin if it is used as a means of interfering with management’s efforts to reduce expenses under circumstances wherein the inconvenience to the shipping public would be slight.

Although we might have reached a different conclusion on the evidence than that reached by a majority of the Commissioners we are of the opinion that its orders herein are adequately supported by competent substantial evidence and that the petitioners have failed, with any degree of clarity, to prove the invalidity of the same.

The petition for writ of certiorari is hereby denied.

It is so ordered.

THOMAS, C. J., and THORNAL and DREW, JJ., concur.

TERRELL, J., dissents.


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Cited By (13 total)

  • Scholastic Sys. v. LeLOUP, 307 So. 2d 166 (Fla. 1974)
    …or this Court, are not authorized to substitute contrary evidentiary findings for those of the triers of fact. See City of Pensacola v. Maxwell (Fla.1950), 49 So. 2d 527, 528; In re Smith (Fla.1954), 74 So. 2d 353, 355; Butler v. Carter (Fla.1960), 123 So. 2d 313, 316; and Westerman v. Shell’s City, Inc. (Fla.1972), 265 So. 2d 43, 44. The ultimate findings of fact of the trier are to be reviewed only to determine if as a matter of law they are insufficient. This is the rule that applies in direct appeals whe…
  • Barbara and Karl Cohen v. The Sch. Bd. OF Dade Cnty., 450 So. 2d 1238 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984)
    …ween respondent and Anne-wakee be modified in any way. * Mrs. Cohen is a first-year law student. Our review of the record discloses that the hearing officer’s findings of fact are supported by substantial, competent evidence. See Butler v. Carter, 123 So. 2d 313 (Fla.1960); Bureau of Crimes Compensation v. Reynolds, 443 So. 2d 501 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984); Austin v. Gordon, 333 So. 2d 118 (Fla. 2d DCA 1976). It is axiomatic that where substantial competent evidence supports the findings and conclusions of the adm…
  • Boyette v. State of Fla. Prof'l Practices Council, 346 So. 2d 598 (Fla. 1st DCA 1977)
    …of the evidence is usually one for the administrative agency and not for the courts, even though the court may have reached a different conclusion on the same testimony. E. g., Hammond v. Curry, 153 Fla. 245, 14 So. 2d 390 (1943); Butler v. Carter, 123 So. 2d 313 (Fla.1960); Florida State Board of Dental Examiners v. Feinglass, 166 So. 2d 686 (Fla. 3rd DCA 1964). Still, our responsibility on review is to determine whether there is substantial competent evidence to sustain the agency’s action. Since the condu…

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