Souza v. Public Utilities Commission

EDMONDS, J.

By writ of certiorari, Daniel H. Souza, doing business under the name of City Drayage Company, is challenging an order made by the Public Utilities Commission by which it suspended his licenses as a radial highway common

[540]

carrier and a highway contract carrier. The question for decision is substantially the same as that presented in

Samuelson

v.

Public Utilities Commission,

36 Cal.2d 722 [227 P.2d 256].

As in the Samuelson case, the facts are not in dispute. It appears that in 1946, after working for 11 years for a trucking company, Souza started his own business. At the time of the hearing, he owned eight trucks. He maintains an office and a loading dock in Oakland and provides service, daily in some instances, between San Francisco and Oakland and points within a distance of 50 miles. The principal commodities transported are drugs, candies, and toilet preparations. In smaller volume he carries salted nuts, tires, soap, margarine, electric bulbs and coffee and tea extracts.

Souza serves 23 shippers and he has a contract with each of them. Six of the contracts are written; the remainder are oral. Three of the written contracts require a minimum of 100 pounds of freight per month; the fourth calls for a quantity to be determined by the shipper in accordance with the demands of its business.

The duration of the written contracts is for a definite period and thereafter until canceled upon written notice given by either party. Souza entered into seven of the contracts in 1946, nine of them in 1947, and the remainder in 1948. The • compensation agreed to be paid is based upon the minimum rates prescribed by the commission.

At no time since he commenced his operations has Souza served more than 26. shippers. Except to obtain his first customer, he has never solicited business. Each new account came to him as a result of the shipper seeking his services. He has consistently refused to give service to firms other than those with whom he has contracts, although additional business is offered to him two or three times a month.