Thurston Motor Lines, Inc. v. Jordan K. Rand, LTD. (460 U.S. 533)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided March 23, 1983 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 460 U.S. 533 · 103 S. Ct. 1343
- Decided
- March 23, 1983
- Term
- October Term 1982
- Vote
- 9–0
- Issue area
- Judicial Power
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Per Curiam. Petitioner is a common carrier authorized by the Interstate Commerce Commission to transport commodities. When respondent allegedly failed to pay $661.41 in motor freight charges, petitioner filed suit in United States District Court. Its complaint alleged that respondent failed to pay for transport services as required by petitioner’s tariffs on file with the Commission. The complaint also alleged that the action arose under the Interstate Commerce Act, 49 U. S. C. § 10741(a) (1976 ed., Supp. V), and that the District Court had jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U. S. C. § 1337. The District Court dismissed the matter for want of subject-matter jurisdiction and the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed. 682 F. 2d 811 (1982). Characterizing the suit as a “simple contract-collection action,” the court could not “discern any proposition of federal law that a court need confront in deciding what, if anything, can be recovered.” Id., at 812. Under the Interstate Commerce Act, as construed by this Court, the Court of Appeals was in error. In Louisville & Nashville R. Co. v. Rice, 247 U. S. 201 (1918), this Court squarely held that federal-question jurisdiction existed over a suit to recover $145 allegedly due the carrier for an interstate shipment under tariffs regulated by the Interstate Commerce Act. “The Interstate Commerce Act requires carrier to collect and…
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