State ex rel. Utilities Commission v. Seaboard Coast Line Railroad

WELLS, Judge.

In its first assignment of error, Seaboard contends that the Commission lacks jurisdiction under the laws of North Carolina to consider petitioners’ complaint. The heart of Seaboard’s argument is that petitioners’ complaint addresses a dispute between petitioners and Seaboard which is essentially private in nature, in the nature of a complaint in tort and not related to or within the powers of the Commission to regulate railroads as public utilities. Seaboard correctly argues that the Commission is a statutory body possessing only the authority conferred upon it by the General…