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Administrative Law Keyed to Breyer
United States v. Western Pacific Railroad
Citation:
352 U.S. 59 (1956)Facts
The case involved 211 Army shipments of steel aerial bomb cases filled with napalm gel (gasoline thickened with aluminum soap powder) but lacking bursters and fuses. Approximately 200 shipments were carried by Bangor and Seaboard in 1944, with the remainder transported by Western Pacific in 1948 and 1950. The carriers billed the Government at the high first-class rates established in Item 1820 for “incendiary bombs.” For the Bangor and Seaboard shipments, the Government initially paid the bills but later made deductions against subsequent bills, claiming the shipments should have been carried at the lower fifth-class rate. For Western Pacific, the bills were initially paid at the lower rate. The railroads sued to recover the difference. The Government defended on three grounds: that Item 1820 was inapplicable to these incomplete bombs; that if this tariff applied, it would be unreasonable; and that Bangor and Seaboard were estopped from charging the higher rate.
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