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styled complainants. The common carriers so complained of, and their receivers or operating trustees, if any, are styled defendants. Two or more complainants may join in one complaint if their respective causes of action are against the same defendant or defendants and involve substantially the same violation of the Act and a like state of facts.

(c) If complaint is made in respect of through transportation by continuous carriage or shipment, all carriers subject to the Act participating therein should be made defendants.

(d) If complaint is made of rates, fares, charges, regulations, or practices of more than one carrier, all carriers against which an order is sought should be made defendants.

(e) If complaint is made of a classification or any provision thereof, it will ordinarily suffice to make defendants the carriers operating one or more through routes between representative points of origin and destination.

(f) The receiver or trustee operating the line of a defendant must also be made defendant.

(g) In investigation proceedings the carriers designated therein are styled respondents.

(h) In investigation and suspension proceedings those opposing the schedules under suspension are styled protestants, and the carriers whose schedules are under suspension are styled respondents. In valuation proceedings all parties given notice of a tentative valuation as provided in Section 19a (h) of the Act who shall have filed protests as therein provided are styled protestants.

(i) In applications for relief from or under any provisions of the Act the carriers by whom or on whose behalf the application is made are styled applicants.

(j) Others seeking relief are styled petitioners.

(k) Petitioners permitted to intervene as hereinafter provided are styled interveners.

(1) Anyone entitled under the Act to complain to the Commission, and in valuation cases anyone having an interest therein, may petition for leave to intervene in any pending proceeding prior to or at the time it is called for hearing, but

not after except for good cause shown. The petition must conform to the requirements of Rule XXI and set forth the grounds of the proposed intervention; the position and interest of the petitioner in the proceeding; and, if affirmative relief is sought, should conform to the requirements for a formal complaint. Leave will not be granted except on allegations reasonably pertinent to the issues already presented and which do not unduly broaden them. If the petitioner seeks a broadening of the issues upon a showing that they would not thereby be unduly broadened, and in respect thereof seeks affirmative relief, the petition should be filed in season to permit of service upon and answer by the parties before the hearing, thus making it possible in some instances to grant leave where otherwise it would be denied in fairness to the parties to the pending proceeding. If leave is granted the petitioner thereby becomes an intervener and a party to the proceeding. When the petition is filed prior or subsequent to the hearing the petitioner must furnish therewith a sufficient number of copies for service upon all parties to the proceeding and three additional copies for the use of the Commission. When not filed prior to but tendered at the hearing sufficient copies must be provided for distribution as motion papers to the parties represented at the hearing. If leave be granted at the hearing three additional copies must be furnished for the use of the Commission. Appearances may be entered in investigation and suspension proceedings and in general investigations instituted by the commission without applying for or receiving leave to intervene. Those entering appearances thereby become parties to such proceedings. Rule II.

§ 321. Complaints.

(a) Complaints may be either informal or formal.

(b) Informal complaints may be made by letter or other writing and as received are filed. Matters thus presented are, if their nature warrants it, taken up by correspondence with the carriers affected in an endeavor to bring about satisfaction of the complaint without formal hearing, and are given serial numbers on the informal docket. This informal

procedure has been found efficacious in the great majority of cases and is recommended.

(c) No form of informal complaint is prescribed, but in substance the letter or other writing must contain the essential elements of a complaint, including name and address of the complainant, the names of the carrier or carriers against which complaint is made, a statement that the Act has been violated by the carrier or carriers named, indicating when, where, and how, and a request for affirmative relief. It is desirable that the informal complaint be accompanied by copies in sufficient number to enable the Commission to transmit one to each carrier named, and it may be accompanied by supporting papers. Proceedings thus instituted on the informal docket are without prejudice to complainant's right to file and prosecute a formal complaint, whereupon the proceedings on the informal docket will be discontinued.

(d) Section 16 (3) of the Act provides that all complaints for the recovery of damages shall be filed with the Commission within the statutory periods there specified, and not after.

(e) A complaint for the recovery of damages may be informal, but must be filed within the statutory period, and, if informal, should contain, in addition to the matters above indicated, such data291 as will serve to identify with reasonable definiteness the shipments or other transportation services in respect of which recovery is sought, the carriers participating, the kind and amount of injury sustained, when and by whom, and, if any recovery is sought on behalf of others than complainant, a statement of the capacity or authority in or by which complaint is made in their behalf. Notification to the Commission that a complaint may or will be filed later for the recovery of damages is not a filing of complaint within the meaning of the statute.

(f) Carriers willing to pay damages for violations of the

291 Illustrative of pertinent data are, in case of shipments, their dates, origins, destinations, consignors, and consignees, dates of delivery or tender of delivery, car numbers and ini

tials, if in carloads, routes of movements, if known, commodities transported, weight, charges assessed, at what rate, when and by whom paid, and by whom borne.

Act should make application in the form prescribed by the Commission for authority to pay. Such applications will be filed on the special docket under serial number, and, if granted, orders to that effect will be entered on the special docket. Such application, when not made upon informal complaint filed with the Commission, must be filed within the statutory period and will be deemed the equivalent of an informal complaint and an answer thereto admitting the matters stated in the application. If a carrier is unable to file such application within the statutory period and the claim is not already protected from the operation of the statute by informal complaint, a statement setting forth the facts may be filed by the carrier within the statutory period. Such statement will be deemed the equivalent of an informal complaint filed on behalf of the shipper and sufficient to stay the operation of the statute.

(g) If an informal complaint for recovery of damages cannot be disposed of informally, or is denied on the informal docket, or is by complainant withdrawn from further consideration the parties affected will be so notified in writing by the Commission. In any such case the matter will not be reconsidered unless, within six months after the date of mailing such notice to complainant, it is resubmitted on the informal docket or formal complaint is filed. Such resubmission or filing will be deemed to relate back to the date of filing the informal complaint, but reference to that date and the Commission's file number covering the informal complaint must be made in such resubmission or in the formal complaint filed. If within said six months the matter is not so resubmitted or formal complaint filed, the complainant will be deemed to have abandoned the complaint and no complaint for recovery of damages based on the same cause of action will thereafter be placed on file or considered unless itself filed within the statutory period. (Conference ruling 508 rescinded.)

(h) Formal complaints must conform to the requirements of Rule XXI. The names of all parties complainant and defendant must be stated in full without abbreviation, and the address of each complainant, with the name and address of his attorney, if any, must appear. Each formal complaint

must be accompanied by copies in sufficient number to enable the Commission to serve one upon each defendant and retain three for its own use. The Commission will serve the complaint upon each defendant by leaving a copy with its designated agent in Washington, D. C., or, if no such agent has been designated, by posting a copy in the office of the Secretary of the Commission.

(i) Complaints should be so drawn as fully and completely to advise the parties defendant and the Commission wherein the provisions of the Act have been or are violated by the acts or omissions complained of or will be violated by a continuance of such acts or omissions and should set forth briefly and in plain language the facts claimed to constitute such violation and the relief sought. Two or more grounds of complaint involving the same principle, subject, or state of facts may be included in one complaint, but should be separately stated and numbered. The several rates, fares, charges, classifications, regulations, or practices complained of should be set out by specific reference to the tariffs in which they appear whenever that is practicable.

(j) In case violation of two or more sections of the Act is alleged, the facts claimed to constitute violation of one section should be stated separately from those in respect of any other section or sections, wherever that can be done by reference or otherwise without undue repetition.

(k) In case violation of Section 1 of the Act is alleged, the complaint should show whether the rates, fares, or charges assailed have been increased since January 1, 1910.

(1) In case unjust discrimination in violation of Section 2 is alleged, the special rate, rebate, drawback, or other device and the manner in which thereby the greater or less compensation complained of has been charged, collected, or received should be specified.

(m) In case undue or unreasonable preference or advantage, or undue or unreasonable prejudice or disadvantage, in voilation of Section 3, is alleged, the particular person, company, firm, corporation, locality, or description of traffic affected thereby, and the particular preference or

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