Whitaker v. Pascal Co. (In re Olympia Holding Corp.)
Docket: Bankruptcy No. 90-4223-BKC-3P7; Adv. No. 92-10005
Court: United States Bankruptcy Court, M.D. Florida; February 16, 1996; Us Bankruptcy; United States Bankruptcy Court
A hearing on February 6, 1996, addressed the Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment, which invoked the small business exception and customer account code provisions of the Negotiated Rates Act of 1993 (NRA). The debtor, a freight carrier, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on October 16, 1990, which was later converted to Chapter 7. The debtor had tariffs filed with the Interstate Commerce Commission and provided services to the defendant, who paid based on these tariffs. The plaintiff sought additional amounts for transportation services, arguing that discounted tariffs were unlawful due to their reliance on numeric codes for shipper identification. The defendant moved for summary judgment, supported by affidavits, and the plaintiff responded, conceding no genuine issues of material fact and acknowledging the defendant's status as a small business under applicable regulations. Key legal conclusions included the assertion that the NRA protects small businesses from liability for tariff discrepancies if they qualify under the Small Business Act. The court determined that the defendant, as a small business, is not liable for the claimed additional amounts based on the plaintiff’s complaint, which challenged the legality of the debtor's tariffs solely on the numeric code basis. The court granted the defendant’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment, dismissing all claims made by the plaintiff. The ruling affirmed that the Negotiated Rates Act applies to this case and that the defendant's use of customer codes in tariffs does not invalidate them under the law.