Atlantic Coast Line R. Co. v. Standard Oil Co. of Kentucky

In Atlantic Coast Line R. Co. v. Standard Oil Co. of Kentucky, 275 U. S. 257, 48 S. Ct. 107, 110, 72 L. Ed. 270 (1927), oil purchased from refiners in Louisiana and Mexico was thence shipped by water to the oil company's storage tanks at the ports of Tampa and Jacksonville, Fla., and then distributed and forwarded in tank cars to the plaintiff's bulk stations at various points in Florida. These rail shipments were held to be intrastate commerce. The court said: "It seems very clear to us on a broad view of the facts that the interstate or foreign commerce in all this oil ends upon its delivery to the plaintiff into the storage tanks or the storage tank cars at the seaboard, and that from there its distribution to storage tanks, tank cars, bulk stations, and drive-in stations, or directly by tank wagons to customers, is all intrastate commerce. This distribution is the whole business of the plaintiff in Florida. There is no destination intended and arranged for with the ship carriers in Florida at any point beyond the deliveries from the vessels to the storage tanks or tank cars of the plaintiff. There is no designation of any particular oil for any particular place within Florida beyond the storage receptacles or storage tank cars into which the oil is first delivered by the ships. The title to the oil in bulk passes to the plaintiff as it is thus delivered. When the oil reaches these storage places along the Florida seaboard, it is within the control and ownership of the plaintiff for use for its particular purposes in Florida. The plaintiff is free to distribute the oil according to the demands of its business, and it arranges its storage capacity to meet the future variation in its business needs at Tampa, Port Tampa, or Jacksonville, or St. Johns river terminal."