RULES OF PRACTICE BEFORE U. S. SHIPPING BOARD I. ADDRESS AND OF THE BOARD II. PARTIES TO III. STYLE OF PLEADINGS IV. SERVICE OF RULES OF PRACTICE BEFORE THE UNITED STATES Official communications, unless otherwise ordered, should be addressed to the "United States Shipping Board, Washington, D. C." The offices of the Board are open each business day from 9.00 a. m. to 4.30 p. m. Any person, corporation, partnership, or association may complain to the Board of any violation of the Shipping Act by any common carrier by water in interstate or foreign commerce, as in the Act defined, including any person, corporation, partnership, or association engaged in the business of forwarding or furnishing wharfage, dock, warehouse, or other terminal facilities in connection with any such common carrier. Two or more complainants may join in a single complaint if their several causes of action involve substantially the same principle, subject or state of facts; and two or more carriers or other persons subject to the Act, in similar circumstances, may be joined as parties respondent. Where a complaint involves the application of a through rate, fare, or charge, or a regulation or practice governing the operation of a through route by water, the several carriers and other parties participating in such through transportation shall be cited as respondents. So, also, where a complaint relates to the rates, regulations, or practices of water carriers operating different lines, and the object of the proceeding is to correct such rates, regulations, or practices, all the carriers therein participating shall be named as respondents. If a carrier against which complaint is made is operated by a receiver or trustee, the latter as well as the carrier shall be cited as a respondent. Any person, partnership, corporation, or association having an interest in any proceeding before the Board may file with the Board, under oath, and at any time prior to the hearing, an intervening petition setting forth the grounds of intervention and presenting issues reasonably pertinent to those already of record. Parties permitted by the Board to intervene will receive notice of hearings and otherwise may exercise the rights and privileges of original parties. An illustrative form of intervening petition will be found on page 473. Formal complaints and other pleadings filed with the Board shall be typewritten or printed, and shall conform to the following specifications: If typewritten, the impression shall be on only one side of the paper, which shall be of good quality, not more than 8 inches wide nor more than 12 inches long, with a left-hand margin of not less than 1 inches. If printed, unglazed paper of good quality shall be used, and the subject matter shall be set in 10 or 12 point type, with double-leaded text and single-leaded citations. Printed pleadings shall have an inside margin of not less than 1 inch and shall be 5% inches wide by 9 inches long. Every formal complaint shall be filed with the Board for service by registered mail, as hereinafter provided, and direct service thereof upon the respondent shall not in any case be made by the complainant. Answers and motions to dismiss may be either so filed with the Board for service or served directly upon the complainant, but in such latter case a formal acknowledgment of service shall be filed with the Board as provided in Rules VI and VII. IV. FILING AND V. RULES OF PRACTICE BEFORE U. S. SHIPPING BOARD FORMAL Formal complaints may be forwarded to the Board by mail, express, or otherwise, and the date of receipt thereof shall constitute the filing date. Any other pleading subject to these rules shall be filed with the Board either in person or by registered mail, and if sent by registered mail the date of registry shall constitute the filing date. If, therefore, an answer or any other pleading, required by any rule or order to be filed with the Board within a certain period is forwarded by registered mail, before the expiration of that period, to the United States Shipping Board, Washington, D. C., such pleading shall be held to have been properly filed. Orders of the Board, as well as formal complaints and other pleadings filed with the Board for service, will be served either in person or by registered mail; and where service is made by registered mail the "date of delivery" noted on the return receipt shall constitute the date of service. Service upon an attorney of record shall constitute a proper service upon the party for whom he may appear. Formal complaints shall be arranged substantially as indicated by Form No. 1, pages 471-472, and shall conform to the specifications of Rule III. Such complaints shall disclose, without abbreviation, the names or corporate titles and addresses of all parties complainant and respondent, together with the name and address of complainant's attorney, if any; and shall be so drawn as fully and clearly to advise the respondents and the Board wherein the statute is alleged to have been violated. The paragraphs of the complaint shall be numbered consecutively from number 1, and each of such paragraphs shall be limited to the allegation of a single fact or group of related facts. Complaints involving the application of particular rates, fares, charges, regulations, or practices shall refer by SB numbers to the tariffs in which such items may be found. Complaints in which reparation is asked shall disclose, with reference to each claim: (a) the name and address of the complainant; (b) the name and address of each respondent; (c) the commodity with respect to which the claim is made; (d) the name of the vessel via which the shipment moved; (e) the port of origin; (f) the port of destination; (g) the weight or cubic contents of the shipment; (h) the rate and amount charged; (i) the rate and the amount which should have been charged; (j) the amount of reparation claimed; and (k) the fact of payment by complainant of the transportation charges. Every formal complaint or intervening petition shall be verified under oath by the complainant or intervener, and three copies thereof, with as many additional copies as there are parties respondent to be served, shall be filed with the Board as provided in Rule IV. VI. ANSWERS Answers to formal complaints shall be arranged substantially as indicated by Form No. 3, page 473, and shall conform to the specifications of Rule III. Such pleadings shall be paragraphed, and the paragraphs thereof, so far as practicable, shall correspond in number and substance with the paragraphs of the complaints to which they respectively relate. Each paragraph of the answer shall be limited to the specific admission or denial and refutation of the facts alleged in the corresponding paragraph of the complainant, or to the allegation of a single fact or group of related facts relied upon by way of defense. Answers involving the application of particular rates, fares, charges, regulations, or practices shall refer by SB numbers to the tariffs in which such items may be found. VI. ANSWERS. (Con.) VII. RULES OF PRACTICE BEFORE U. S. SHIPPING BOARD MOTIONS TO Every answer shall be verified under oath by the respondent or intervening respondent, and three copies thereof, with as many additional copies as there are parties complainant to be served, shall be filed with the Board as provided in Rule IV, within 20 days from the date of service of the complaint: Provided, That a written acknowledgment of service from any complainant will be accepted by the Board in lieu of any service copy of such answer; And provided further, That the Board, in exceptional cases and for good cause shown, will extend the period within which such answer or acknowledgment of service shall be filed. If the respondent in any case conceives that the matters presented by the complaint are not properly determinable by the Board, it may file, in lieu of an answer, a motion to dismiss. Such a motion shall conform to the specifications of Rule III and to the arrangement of Form No. 4, page 474 and shall be verified by the respondent as submitted in good faith and not for the purpose of delay. When a motion to dismiss shall have been filed in any case, as herein provided, oral argument thereon will be permitted at such time and place as may be designated by the Board, and a hearing on the merits will be deferred until the Board shall have acted upon the motion to dismiss: Provided, That the Board, in its discretion, will permit the filing of briefs in lieu of oral argument. Three copies of each motion to dismiss, with as many additional copies as there are parties complainant to be served, shall be filed with the Board, as provided in Rule IV, within 10 days from the date of service of the complaint: Provided, That a written acknowledgment of service from any complainant will be accepted by the Board in lieu of any service copy of such motion. When a motion to dismiss shall have been denied, the respondent shall be immediately so advised, and thereafter within 15 days shall file an answer as provided in Rule VI. A motion to dismiss may be filed at any time by the complainant; and the granting of such a motion, whether offered by the complainant or by the respondent, shall terminate the proceeding before the Board. The parties to any proceeding before the Board, by signed stipulation in writing filed with the Board or presented at the hearing, may agree upon the facts, or any STIPULATIONS. portion thereof, involved in such proceedings. It is desirable that the facts be thus agreed upon whenever practicable. VIII. IX. AMENDMENTS Amendments to formal complaints and other pleadings filed with the Board TO PLEADINGS. will be permitted in exceptional cases and for good cause shown. X. JOINDER OF ISSUE. XI. HEARINGS. The service of an answer, as provided in Rule VI, or the failure of the respondent within 20 days (or within such extended period as shall have been permitted by the Board) to file an answer, shall constitute a joinder of issue: Provided, That if an answer in any case shall have been filed contemporaneously with a motion to dismiss, the denial by the Board of the motion to dismiss shall constitute a joinder of issue. When issue in any case shall have been joined, as provided in Rule X, a hearing will be ordered at such time and place as may be designated by the Board. Witnesses at such hearings shall be examined orally unless the facts shall have been stipulated, as provided in Rule VIII, or unless the testimony shall have been taken by deposition, as provided in Rule XV. XI. HEARINGS. (Con.) RULES OF PRACTICE BEFORE U. S. SHIPPING BOARD At hearings on formal complaints complainants shall open and close. At hearings in investigations conducted by the Board of its own motion its counsel shall open and close, unless in special cases it shall have been otherwise provided. Interveners shall follow the parties in whose behalf they intervene. In cases where the intervention is not in support of either original party at hearings on a consolidated record, and in all other cases not herein specified, the presiding member or examiner of the Board will designate the order of procedure. Subpoenas, requiring the attendance of witnesses or the production of documentary evidence, from any place in the United States, at any designated place of hearing, may be issued by any member of the Board. Such subpoenas, unless issued by the Board of its own motion, shall issue only upon application in writing; and if directed to witnesses not parties to the proceedings, such applications shall be verified and shall specify, as nearly as may be practicable, the books or documents desired WITNESSES AND and the facts thereby sought to be established. Applications to compel a party to the proceeding to produce books, or other documentary evidence, need not be verified, but shall indicate the records desired and shall contain a statement that the applicant believes that such documents will be of service in the determination of the issues to be submitted. XII. SUBPOENAS. XIII. DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE. Witnesses whose testimony is taken orally shall be entitled to the same fees as are paid for like services in the courts of the United States, and such fees shall be paid by the party at whose instance such testimony shall have been taken. Where material evidence is embraced within a document containing also irrelevant matter not intended to be put in evidence, the party offering such evidence shall present, in comprehensive form, to opposing counsel and to the Board, before or at the hearing, true copies of such material excerpts as properly may be admitted to the record. If any portion of a tariff, circular, or other document on file with the Board is offered in evidence, the party by whom it is offered shall give specific reference to the items or pages and the lines thereof to be considered. The Board will take notice of items in tariffs or in annual or other periodical reports of carriers properly on file with the Board, or in its own annual, statistical, or other official reports. Exhibits showing rates, fares, or regulations of a carrier shall refer by SB numbers to the tariffs in which such rates, fares, or regulations may be found. Whenever evidence can be condensed in tables that method of presentation should be adopted. On stipulation by the parties the presiding member or examiner of the Board will permit the filing of specified documentary evidence as a part of the record within a time subsequent to the hearing, but not less than 10 days prior to the date set for the filing of the opening brief. In hearings on formal complaint the Board will furnish, without charge, one copy of the transcript of testimony for the use of the complainant and one copy thereof for the use of the respondent. Where two or more complainants or respondents shall have appeared at the hearing, such complainants or respondents shall designate OF TESTIMONY. to whom the copies for their use, respectively, shall be delivered. In proceedings conducted by the Board of its own motion no copy of the transcript will be furnished free of charge. XIV. TRANSCRIPTS XV. RULES OF PRACTICE BEFORE U. S. SHIPPING BOARD DEPOSITIONS. XVI. ORAL ARGUMENT. Depositions for use in a proceeding before the Board may be taken before an examiner of the Board, or before any judge, commissioner, or clerk of any court of the United States or of any State, or before any mayor or chief magistrate of a city, or before any notary public not being of counsel or attorney for either of the parties nor interested in the event of the proceeding or investigation; and any such deposition may be taken in a foreign country before any officer or person designated by the Board or agreed upon by stipulation in writing signed by the parties and filed with the Board. Any party desiring to take a deposition as herein provided shall notify the Board as to the time and place of the proposed hearing, the name and post-office address of the party before whom it is desired that the deposition shall be taken, the name and post-office address of the witness whose deposition is desired, and the subject matter or matters concerning which such witness is expected to testify. An order accordingly will thereupon be entered by the Board and served upon all parties in interest: Provided, That the Board in any case may prescribe a different time or place of hearing or a different party before whom the deposition is to be taken from that or those suggested in the notice to the Board. Every person whose deposition is so taken shall swear (or affirm) before giving testimony that he will tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth concerning the matter or matters about which he is to be examined. His testimony shall be reduced to typewriting by the officer before whom the deposition is taken, or under his direction, and shall be subscribed by the witness and certified by such presiding officer. Three copies of each deposition shall be forwarded immediately by such officer, by registered mail, to the United States Shipping Board, Washington, D. C. Upon receipt thereof the Board will file one copy with the record, and will forward one copy to the complainant or his attorney and the remaining copy to the respondent or its attorney: Provided, That where there are two or more complainants or respondents, respectively, such copies, other than the record copy, will be forwarded by the Board to the parties respectively designated by such complainants or respondents to receive the same. No deposition shall be taken except after six days' notice to opposing parties; and no deposition shall be taken in a foreign country except after such notice as in each case shall have been determined by the Board. No deposition shall be taken in any proceeding unless the same is at issue, nor unless such deposition may be delivered to the Board at Washington at least 10 days prior to the date on which the case is set for hearing. Witnesses whose depositions are taken pursuant to these rules, and persons other than an examiner of the Board before whom any such deposition shall be taken, shall be entitled to the same fees as are paid for like services in the courts of the United States, which fees shall be paid by the party or parties at whose instance the deposition shall have been taken. The style of depositions shall conform to the specifications of Rule III. Oral argument on motion to dismiss will be permitted as provided in Rule VII. In every other case, application for oral argument shall be made at the hearing or submitted in writing within 10 days thereafter. In proceedings on formal complaint the principal complainant shall open and close the argument, and argument on behalf of the other parties of record shall be offered in such order as may be determined in each case by the presiding member or examiner of the Board: Provided, That in so far as practicable interveners shall |