St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway Company v. Williams

251 U.S. 63 (1919)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Arkansas passed a statute regulating rates for the transportation of passengers between points within the State. Any railroad that demands or collects a greater compensation is subjected 'for every such offense' to a penalty of 'not less than fifty dollars, nor more than three hundred dollars and costs of suit, including a reasonable attorney's fee,' and the aggrieved passenger is given a right to recover the same in a civil action. In June 1915 D, a company operating a line of railroad within the State, demanded and collected sixty-six cents more than the prescribed fare from each of two sisters carried over part of its line when returning to their home from a school commencement. Ps obtained judgments against D for the overcharge, a penalty of seventy-five dollars, and costs of suit, including an attorney's fee of twenty-five dollars. D appealed, asserting that the provision for the penalty was repugnant to the due process of law clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Supreme Court of the State sustained the provision and affirmed the judgments. The Supreme Court granted certiorari. D claims the provision is said to contravene due process of law are, first, that the penalty is 'so severe as to deprive D of the right to resort to the courts to test the validity' of the rate prescribed, and, second, that the penalty is 'arbitrary and unreasonable, and not proportionate to the actual damages sustained.'