Atlantic Coast Line Railroad v. United States

The plaintiff sues the Government for freight charges earned by it in carrying goods for the Government, but not paid because they were set off by the Government’s fiscal officers against alleged overcharges on an earlier shipment. Our question is whether there were overcharges on the earlier shipment.

In 1944 the Government ordered five open cars, each to be 40 feet long, to carry certain trailers from Mansfield, Louisiana. The trailers could have been loaded on 40-foot cars. The railroad presented five cars, each 42 feet long. The Government used the 42-foot cars. By published tariffs in…