Overcharge

“ And besides that, both parties always derive much benefit from a transaction involving no overcharge. It has always been my experience that, when an overcharge is made, one's nature gets hot, and it results in nobody's knowing exactly what he is doing or saying. ”

“ The plaintiff's complaint is not that others are charged less than himself, but that the fact of their having been charged less entitled him to claim the same rate of charge, and that all beyond that rate is overcharge very fact of the smaller charge to others is the ground of his complaint of an overcharge to himself. ”

“ It cannot be right to calculate the amount of overcharge on all the coal sent by the defendants to Grimsby without reference to the quantity on which, or the times during which, a less rate was charged to Bannister, and, as already stated, we do not see on what principle to fix the amount of alleged overcharge. Under the peculiar circumstances of this case the defendants have not shewn any grounds which will justify the court in holding the railway company liable to them for any overcharges or damages. ”

“ As they would have been liable for an undercharge, they may recover for an overcharge. In contemplation of law the claim for damages arose at the time the extra charge was paid. See Southern Pacific Co. ”

“ Overcharge and discrimination have very different consequences, and must be kept distinct in thought. When the rate exacted of a shipper is excessive or unreasonable in and of itself, irrespective of the rate exacted of competitors, there may be recovery of the overcharge without other evidence of loss. ”

“ But the English courts make a clear distinction between overcharge and damages, and the same is true under the Commerce Act. For if the plaintiff here had been required to pay more than the tariff rate it could have recovered the excess, not as damages, but as overcharge, and while one count of the complaint asserted a claim of this nature, the proof did not justify a verdict thereon, for the plaintiff admitted that it had only paid the lawful rates named in the tariff. ”

“ Rates are under continuous scrutiny. Administrative condemnation implies new circumstances or new understanding rather than serious past injustice. And, as Mr. Justice Jackson observes in the Montana-Dakota case, the overcharge has usually been passed along by the one who paid it to some undiscoverable and unreimbursable consumer.'↑ It was recognized at the time of passage of the Motor Carrier Act that competitive conditions in the trucking industry were such that the possibility of unreasonably high rates presented no problem. ”

“ L. R. 4 H. L. 226, was an action brought and judgment recovered for 'the amount of certain alleged overcharges.' But they were 'overcharges' only in the sense that they were the differential between the rates charged to the plaintiff and those charged to others. The opinions of the judges being called for by the lords, Mr. Justice Blackburn delivered the prevailing view, expounding the subject historically, as follows (p. 237) : 'At common law a person holding himself out as a common carrier of goods was not under any obligation to treat all customers equally. ”

“ If any person selling a commodity violates a regulation, order, or price schedule prescribing a maximum price or maximum prices, the person who buys such commodity for use or consumption other than in he course of trade or business may, within one year from the date of the occurrence of the violation, except as hereinafter provided, bring an action against the seller on account of the overcharge. ”

“ Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 2 Cir., 175 F.2d 711, 713-714 (where an overcharge under the Emergency Price Control Act, 50 U.S.C.A.Appendix, § 901 et seq., was allowed to be deducted because it did not frustrate any 'sharply defined policies' of the Act) . ”

“ It was not, however, ruled that in the latter situation a recovery could be had if the original payment had been voluntary and without objection.
It is one thing for the government to correct mistakes, return overcharges, or refund amounts exacted without authority, when satisfied such action is due to justice, and quite another thing for the government to be compelled to repay amounts which, in its view, have been lawfully collected. ”

“ Because of this potential injury, the respondent must remain in the suit. If we were to add indirect purchasers to the action, we would have to devise an apportionment formula. This is the very complexity that Hanover Shoe and Illinois Brick sought to avoid.
Second, difficult questions of timing might necessitate apportioning overcharges if we allowed indirect suits by utility customers. Even if, at some point, a utility can pass on 100 percent of its costs to its customers, various factors may delay the passing-on process. ”

“ Promptly on April 19, 1907, the relator wrote the Interstate Commerce Commission, explaining the circumstances, and requesting that the railroad company be authorized to refund the overcharges paid, February 11 to April 10, 1907, amounting to $595.65. ”

“ Consolidated Coal pays these rates, doesn't it?—all according to Hoyle and the Interstate Commerce laws?"
"I suppose we pay them. I check the bills as they are presented."
"Exactly. But every little so-while you have to make a whaling big claim on the railroad company for overcharges, and maybe you've noticed that these claims are always paid—or maybe you haven't?" ”

“ Furthermore, in the market and in common trade likewise, this practice is in full swing and force to the greatest extent, where one openly defrauds another with bad merchandise, false measures, weights, coins, and by nimbleness and queer finances or dexterous tricks takes advantage of him; likewise, when one overcharges a person in a trade and wantonly drives a hard bargain, skins and distresses him. And who can recount or think of all these things? ”

“ To charge to all other parties (excepting such as are referred to in Article 3d) for the transportation of petroleum and its products, rates which shall not be less than the gross rates above specified, and should at any time any less rate be charged, directly or indirectly, either by way of rebate, commission, allowances, or upon any pretext whatsoever, the same reduction per barrel shall be made to the party hereto of the first part, from the net rates provided for them, on all transportation for them during the period for which such reduction shall be made to others. ”

“ Faced with the finding that the rate of return was excessive, the Commission acted properly within its statutory power in issuing the interim order of reduction and refund, since the purpose of the Act is 'to afford consumers a complete, permanent and effective bond of protection from excessive rates and charges. * * *' Id., at p. 388, 79 S.Ct., at p. 1253. To do otherwise would have permitted Tennessee Gas to collect the illegal rate for an additional 18 months [8] at a cost of over $16,500,000 to consumers. ”

“ With respect to payment to a person of more than the correct amount, the Secretary shall decrease any payment under this subchapter to which such overpaid person is entitled, or shall require such overpaid person or his estate to refund the amount in excess of the correct amount, or shall decrease any payment under this subchapter payable to his estate or to any other person on the basis of the wages and self-employment income which were the basis of the payments to such overpaid person, or shall apply any combination of the foregoing. ”

“ Is it wise, under these conditions, to begin amending that statute by introducing provisions inconsistent with the basis of the act? It has been shown that under the power conferred by that recent enactment, the commission is vested with the power to change an existing unreasonable rate and to fix for the future a reasonable rate. It has also the authority conferred upon it to award reparation to the extent of any injury resulting to a shipper, by reason of the existence of an unreasonable rate. ”

“ Moreover, if motor carrier shippers are deprived of court actions to recover for unreasonable rates, they are placed in a much worse position than wholesale power purchasers. 16 U.S.C. § 824d (e) , 16 U.S.C.A. § 824d (e) , authorizes the Power Commission to suspend rates for five months and, if a hearing on those rates is not concluded by that time, to order the power company to keep an accurate account of the amount and source of all money received. Should the rates be found unreasonable, the Commission can order the excess refunded with interest. ”

“ As used in the Act, therefore, adjustment can be read to mean decreasing future payments, and recovery to mean obtaining a refund from the beneficiary. Under this interpretation, when the agency nets Mr. A's underpayment against his overpayment, it is not engaged in "adjustment or recovery," but only in the calculation of whether "more or less than the correct amount of payment has been made." ”

“ We adhere to the dicta in Callery and Sunray Mid-Continent. That outcome comports better with the language of § 4 (e) than does the alternative. It is true that § 4 (e) in terms gives the Commission power to refund 'the portion of such increased rates or charges' found to be excessive, and does not expressly limit the refund to the rate increase or increment. ”

“ He says that the payment of eight pounds per ton not only prevents his being answerable in damages for any more, but is equivalent to saying that he shall be in exactly the same position as if no negligence had been committed, and nothing had been done by him or by his agents that would give rise to any liability. ”

“ In any system of rates, therefore, which are accurately adjusted to the cost of the service, the rate of charge must increase considerably less rapidly than the increase in weight, that is to say, the rate would be degressive. ”

“ How to employ the hundreds of able-bodied men dependent on the rates was a continual puzzle to the Overseers, until someone, wise in his generation, hit upon the plan of paying the unfortunates to wheel sand from the bank then in front of Key Hill House up to the canal side, a distance of 11⁄2 miles, the payment being at the rate of one penny per barrow load. ”

“ This case, fought through all the courts of Ohio, and in 1886 taken to the Supreme Court of the United States, is one of the clearest and cleanest in existence for studying all the factors in the rebate problem—the argument and pressure by which the big shipper secures and keeps his advantage, the theory and defence of the railroad in granting the discrimination, the theory on which the suffering small shipper protests, and finally the law's point of view. ”

“ A418, U.S.Code Cong. and Adm.News, 1954, p. 4566.
'Existing law denies interest on an overpayment caused by a carry-back for any period prior to the filing of a claim for credit or refund of such amount (or filing a petition with the Tax Court with respect to such amount) . Under this (proposed) section, interest is denied only for the period prior to the close of the taxable year in which the net operating loss arises. ”

“ By the terms 'tax, impost, and duty,' mentioned in the ordinance, is meant a charge for the use of the government,-not compensation for improvements. The fact that if any surplus remains from the tolls over what is used to keep the locks in repair, and for their collection, it is to be paid into the state treasury § a part of the revenue of the state, does not change the character of the toll or impost. In prescribing the rates it would be impossible to state in advance what the tolls would amount to in the aggregate. ”

“ Bowen, 853 F.2d 1532, 1537 (1988) . "While the provisions relating to underpayments mandate payment without qualification, the recovery of overpayment provisions are qualified by the waiver of recoupment procedures." Ibid. The reason for this distinction is easily surmised. A needy person who unknowingly receives an overpayment may spend it, not realizing that the Government will later take back money by reducing needed benefits, or by refusing to compensate for a prior underpayment. The beneficiary may be left without money essential to pay monthly bills. ”

“ Sound business management requires that, after paying all expenses of operation, setting aside the necessary sums for depreciation, payment of interest, and reasonable dividends, there should still remain something to be passed to the surplus account, and a rate of return which does not admit of that being done is not sufficient to assure confidence in the financial soundness of the utility to maintain its credit and enable it to raise money necessary for the proper discharge of its public duties. ”

“ An act to punish corporations, companies, firms, associations and persons and each of them engaged in business of transporting by pipe-lines or lines or storing petroleum in tank or tanks, under certain restrictions and penalties from charging in excess of certain fixed rates for receiving, transporting, storing, and delivering petroleum, and to regulate deductions for losses caused to petroleum in pipe-lines and storage tanks by lightning, fire, storm, or other unavoidable causes. ”

“ The abated rates were immediately raised, not merely to the former amount, but to charges from 25 to 400 per cent. more than they had been before the competition. The solemnly-promised high service was suppressed, or made the pretext for a heavy extra charge. Many people had to regret "selling their force-pumps as old lead," or fixing water-closets on their upper floors, on the faith of these treacherous contractors. ”