United States v. A. & P. Trucking Company/Opinion of the Court

This case raises issues similar to those involved in United States v. American Freightways Co., 352 U.S. 1020, 77 S.Ct. 588, 1 L.Ed.2d 595, where a dismissal of an information charging a partnership entity with violations of 18 U.S.C. § 835, 18 U.S.C.A. § 835 was affirmed by an equally divided Court.

Appellees, two partnerships, were charged, as entities, in separate informations with violations of 18 U.S.C. § 835, 18 U.S.C.A. § 835, which makes it criminal knowingly to violate Interstate Commerce Commission regulations for the safe transportation in interstate commerce of 'explosives and other dangerous articles.' Appellee A & P Trucking Company was also charged with numerous violations of 49 U.S.C. § 322(a) 49 U.S.C.A. § 322(a) (§ 222(a) of the Motor Carrier Act of 1935). The District Court dismissed, on motion, the informations on the ground that a partnership entity cannot be guilty of violating the statutes involved. The Government appealed directly to this Court under the Criminal Appeals Act, 18 U.S.C. § 3731, 18 U.S.C.A. § 3731, and we noted probable jurisdiction. 356 U.S. 917, 78 S.Ct. 700, 2 L.Ed.2d 712. For reasons set forth below we hold that the informations were erroneously dismissed.

49 U.S.C. § 322(a), 49 U.S.C.A. § 322(a), the comprehensive misdemeanor provision of the Motor Carrier Act, provides that 'any person knowingly and willfully violating any provision of this chapter (Part II of the Interstate Commerce Act), or any rule, regulation, requirement, or order (of the Interstate Commerce Commission) thereunder, or any term or condition of any certificate, permit, or license, for which a penalty is not otherwise herein provided, shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined * *  * .' The Motor Carrier Act also contains its own definition of the word 'person': 'The term 'person' means any individual, firm, copartnership, corporation, company, association, or joint-stock association; *  *  * .' (Italics supplied.) 49 U.S.C. § 303(a), 49 U.S.C.A. § 303(a).

18 U.S.C. § 835, 18 U.S.C.A. § 835 provides that 'whoever knowingly violates any such regulation (ICC regulations pertaining to the safe transport of dangerous articles) shall be fined not more one year, or both; * *  * .' The section one year, or both; *  *  * .' The section makes such regulations binding on 'all common carriers' engaged in interstate commerce. And 1 U.S.C. § 1, 1 U.S.C.A. § 1, part of a chapter entitled 'Rules of Construction' and in light of which § 835 must be read, provides that 'in determining the meaning of any Act of Congress, unless the context indicates otherwise- * *  * the words 'person' and 'whoever' include corporations, companies, associations, firms, partnerships, societies, and joint stock companies, as well as individuals; *  *  * .' (Italics supplied.) The word 'whoever' in 18 U.S.C. § 835, 18 U.S.C.A. § 835 must, therefore, be construed to include partnerships 'unless the context indicates otherwise.'

We think that partnerships as entities may be proceeded against under both § 322(a) and § 835. The purpose of both statutes is clear: to ensure compliance by motor carriers, among others, with safety and other requirements laid down by the Interstate Commerce Commission in the exercise of its statutory duty to regulate the operations of interstate carriers for hire. In the effectuation of this policy it certainly makes no difference whether the carrier which commits the infraction is organized as a corporation, a joint stock company, a partnership, or an individual proprietorship. The mischief is the same, and we think that Congress intended to make the consequences of infraction the same.

True, the common law made a distinction between a corporation and a partnership, deeming the latter not a separate entity for purposes of suit. But the power of Congress to change the common-law rule is not to be doubted. See United States v. Adams Express Co., 229 U.S. 381, 33 S.Ct. 878, 57 L.Ed. 1237. We think it beyond dispute that it has done so in § 322(a) for, as we have seen, 'person' in that section is expressly defined in the Motor Carrier Act to include partnerships. We think it likewise has done so in § 835, since we find nothing in that section which would justify our not applying to the word 'whoever' the definition given it in 1 U.S.C. § 1, 1 U.S.C.A. § 1, which includes partnerships. Section 835 makes regulations promulgated by the ICC for the transportation of dangerous articles binding on all common carriers. In view of the fact that many motor carriers are organized as partnerships rather than as corporations, the conclusion is not lightly to be reached that Congress intended that some carriers should not be subject to the full gamut of sanctions provided for infractions of ICC regulations merely because of the form under which they were organized to do business. More particularly, we perceive no reason why Congress should have intended to make partnership motor carriers criminally liable for infractions of § 322(a), but not for violations of § 835.

It is argued that the words 'knowingly' (§ 835) and 'knowingly and willfully' (§ 322(a)) by implication eliminate partnerships from the coverage of the statutes, because a partnership, as opposed to its individual partners, cannot so act. But the same inability so to act in fact is true, of course, with regard to corporations and other associations; yet it is elementary that such impersonal entities can be guilty of 'knowing' or 'willful' violations of regulatory statutes through the doctrine of respondent superior. Thus in United States v. Adams Express Co., supra, in which the Adams Express Co., a joint stock association, was indicted for 'wilfully' receiving sums for expressage in excess of its scheduled rates, Mr. Justice Holmes said, 229 U.S. at pages 389-390, 33 S.Ct. at page 879:

'It has been notorious for many years that some of the great     express companies are organized as joint stock associations,      and the reason for the amendment hardly could be seen unless      it was intended to bring those associations under the act. As     suggested in the argument for the government, no one,      certainly not the defendant, seems to have doubted that the      statute now imposes upon them the duty to file schedules of      rates. * *  * But if it imposes upon them the duties under the      words 'common carrier,' as interpreted, it is reasonable to      suppose that the same words are intended to impose upon them the penalty inflicted      on common carriers in case those duties are not performed. *     *  *

'The power of Congress hardly is denied. The     constitutionality of the statute as against corporations is      established, (New York Central & Hudson River R.R. Co. v.      United States, 212 U.S. 481, 492, 29 S.Ct. 304, (306), 53      L.Ed. 613, 621,) and no reason is suggested why Congress has      not equal power to charge the partnership assets with a      liability and to personify the company so far as to collect a      fine by a proceeding against it by the company name. That is     what we believe that Congress intended to do. * *  * '

The policy to be served in this case is the same. The business entity cannot be left free to break the law merely because its owners, stockholders in the Adams case, partners in the present one, do not personally participate in the infraction. The treasury of the business may not with impunity obtain the fruits of violations which are committed knowingly by agents of the entity in the scope of their employment. Thus pressure is brought on those who own the entity to see to it that their agents abide by the law.

We hold, therefore, that a partnership can violate each of the statutes here in question quite apart from the participation and knowledge of the partners as individuals. The corollary is, of course, that the conviction of a partnership cannot be used to punish the individual partners, who might be completely free of personal guilt. As in the case of corporations, the conviction of the entity can lead only to a fine levied on the firm's assets.

Reversed.

Mr. Justice DOUGLAS, with whom Mr. Justice BLACK, Mr. Justice FRANKFURTER, and Mr. Justice WHITTAKER concur, dissenting in part.