Hugo Black

“ Unlike the situation in the Buck case, Arkansas has not refused to grant a permit for interstate carriage of goods on state highways. It has asked these driver-owners to do nothing except apply for a permit as contract carriers are required to do by the state Act. And the State Commission here expressly disclaims any 'discretionary right to refuse to grant a permit for contract carriage where that carriage is in interstate commerce.' The state asserts no power or purpose to require the drivers to do more than register with the appropriate agency. ”

“ Neither petitioner Fry Roofing Company nor the truck drivers could be required to get a state permit, because the state law exempted 'private' carriers from that duty, and petitioner was such a 'private carrier'-that is, a commercial enterprise, carrying its own products exclusively in its own leased trucks operated by its own bona fide driveremployees. Since, petitioner claimed, the drivers were its bona fide employees, it necessarily followed that they need not get state permits as 'contract carriers' because they were not in the business of transporting goods for hire. ”

“ The petitioner, Lloyd A. Fry Roofing Company, manufactures asphalt roofing products in Memphis, Tennessee, and sends them in trucks to customers in nearby states. Some of these trucks are driven by their owners who have allegedly leased them to the petitioner. Five of these driver-owners while carrying Fry's interstate shipments on Arkansas highways were arrested for having failed to obtain a permit as required of all contract carriers by § 11 of the Arkansas Motor Act. ”