2003 Minnesota Statutes

     221.161 Schedule of rates and charges. 

    Subdivision 1.    Filing; hearing upon board initiative; 
 armored carrier exemption.  (a) Except as provided in 
 paragraph (b), a permit carrier, including a livestock carrier 
 but not including a local cartage carrier, shall file and 
 maintain with the commissioner a tariff showing rates and 
 charges for transporting persons or property.  Tariffs must be 
 prepared and filed in accordance with the rules of the 
 commissioner.  When tariffs are filed in accordance with the 
 rules and accepted by the commissioner, the filing constitutes 
 notice to the public and interested parties of the contents of 
 the tariffs.  The commissioner shall not accept for filing 
 tariffs that are unjust, unreasonable, unjustly discriminatory, 
 unduly preferential or prejudicial, or otherwise in violation of 
 this section or rules adopted under this section.  If the 
 tariffs appear to be unjust, unreasonable, unjustly 
 discriminatory, unduly preferential or prejudicial, or otherwise 
 in violation of this section or rules adopted under this 
 section, after notification and investigation by the department, 
 the board may suspend and postpone the effective date of the 
 tariffs and assign the tariffs for hearing upon notice to the 
 permit carrier filing the proposed tariffs and to other 
 interested parties, including users of the service and 
 competitive carriers by motor vehicle and rail.  At the hearing, 
 the burden of proof is on the permit carrier filing the proposed 
 tariff to sustain the validity of the proposed schedule of rates 
 and charges.  Tariffs for transporting livestock are not subject 
 to rejection, suspension, or postponement by the board, except 
 as provided in subdivisions 2 and 3.  The tariffs and subsequent 
 supplements to them or reissues of them must state the effective 
 date, which may not be less than ten days following the date of 
 filing, unless the period of time is reduced by special 
 permission of the commissioner. 

    (b) A holder of an armored carrier permit is not required 
 to file a tariff under this subdivision for the service 
 authorized by the armored carrier permit. 

    Subd. 2.    Hearing upon complaint.  Tariffs, 
 supplements, and reissues must be prepared and filed in 
 accordance with rules of the commissioner.  Rates or charges, 
 including pickup charges named therein, are subject to complaint 
 to the commissioner by an interested party.  The commissioner, 
 after investigation by the department, by order on not less than 
 ten days' notice, may assign the complaint for hearing, and if 
 at the hearing, the complainant submits facts and evidence 
 sufficient to establish proof that the rates or charges 
 complained of are excessive or noncompensatory, the commissioner 
 may order the rates or charges canceled, and require the filing 
 of alternative and reasonable rates and charges, the reasonable 
 level of which at that time must be indicated by the 
 commissioner in the order. 

    Subd. 3.    Hearing upon petition by another carrier.  
 Upon the filing of a tariff or subsequent supplement or reissue, 
 any other carrier has the right to petition the commissioner to 
 suspend it from taking effect until opportunity is had for a 
 hearing on the reasonableness of the rates or charges, and the 
 commissioner may suspend the rates or charges if in its judgment 
 the rates or charges complained of are so unreasonably low as to 
 create destructive competitive practices among or jeopardize the 
 economic position of competing carriers.  In determining whether 
 the rates or charges are excessive or noncompensatory, the 
 commissioner shall include in consideration, among other things, 
 the reasonable cost of the services rendered for the 
 transportation, including a reasonable return on the money 
 invested in the business and an adequate sum for maintenance and 
 depreciation of the property used. 

    Subd. 4.    Hearing on merits of rates and charges.  The 
 commissioner, (1) after a suspension and hearing upon a schedule 
 of rates and charges, or upon complaint, or upon the 
 commissioner's own initiative, either in extension of an 
 existing complaint or without a complaint whatever, (2) after 
 department investigation and petition, (3) upon notice to the 
 permit carrier or tariff agent proposing, maintaining, or 
 charging a schedule of rates and charges on a single group of 
 related commodities, and (4) upon notice to the users of the 
 service and competitive carriers by motor vehicle and rail, may 
 assign for hearing the schedule of rates and charges proposed, 
 maintained, or charged by any or all permit carriers.  Upon a 
 finding, after a hearing, that the schedule of rates and charges 
 are unjust or unreasonable or unjustly discriminatory or unduly 
 preferential or prejudicial or otherwise in violation of this 
 section, the commissioner may prescribe minimum rates and 
 charges and the rates, rules, and practices thereafter to be 
 maintained and applied by the permit carrier or tariff agent.  
 In the hearing the burden of proof is upon the permit carrier or 
 tariff agent whose schedules of rates and charges are under 
 investigation to show that the schedules are not below a minimum 
 reasonable level or are not noncompensatory.  Schedules of rates 
 and charges for the transportation of livestock are not subject 
 to rejection, suspension, postponement, or investigation by the 
 commissioner except as provided in subdivisions 2 and 3. 

    HIST: Ex1957 c 17 s 16; 1959 c 376 s 4; 1965 c 523 s 5; 1971 c 
 25 s 67; 1976 c 166 s 84; 1980 c 534 s 70; 1983 c 371 s 31; 1985 
 c 248 s 70; 1985 c 299 s 22; 1992 c 578 s 45; 1993 c 213 s 9; 
 2001 c 213 s 30