69-14-303. Prohibition on rate discrimination. (1) If any railroad subject hereto, directly or indirectly or by any special rate, rebate, drawback, or other device, charges, demands, or receives from any person, firm, or corporation a greater or lesser compensation for any service rendered or to be rendered in the transportation of property subject to the provisions of this chapter than that fixed by the commission for such service, such railroad shall forfeit and pay to the state not less than $500 or more than $2,000 for each offense. Nothing in this subsection prevents any railroad or railroad corporation from giving excursion rates to or from any point within or without the state.
     (2) If any railroad subject to this chapter or its agents or officers hereafter collects, charges, demands, or receives from any person, company, firm, or corporation a greater rate, charge, or compensation than that fixed and established by the commission for the transportation of freight, passengers, or cars or for the use of any car on the line of its railroad or any line operated by it or for receiving, forwarding, handling, or storing any such freight car or for any other service performed or to be performed by it, such railroad and its agents and officers shall forfeit and pay to the state a sum not less than $500 or more than $2,000.
     (3) (a) It is unlawful for any railroad subject to this title to charge or receive any greater compensation in the aggregate for the transportation of passengers or of like kinds of property for a shorter distance than for a longer distance over the same line or route in the same direction, the shorter being included within the longer distance, or to charge any greater compensation as through rate than the aggregate of the intermediate rates; provided that upon application to the commission and after investigation, such carrier, in special cases, may be authorized by the commission to charge less for longer than for shorter distances for the transportation of passengers or property, and the commission may from time to time prescribe the extent to which such designated carriers may be relieved from the operation of the foregoing provisions of this subsection, but in exercising the authority conferred upon it in this proviso, the commission shall not permit the establishment of any charge to or from the more distant point that is not reasonably compensatory for the service performed.
     (b) Violations of subsection (3) shall be punished in accordance with 69-14-805.

     History: (1), (2)En. Secs. 22, 23, Ch. 37, L. 1907; Secs. 4385, 4386, Rev. C. 1907; re-en. Secs. 3804, 3805, R.C.M. 1921; re-en. Secs. 3804, 3805, R.C.M. 1935; amd. Sec. 20, Ch. 315, L. 1974; amd. Secs. 58, 59, Ch. 359, L. 1977; Secs. 72-126, 72-127, R.C.M. 1947; (3)En. 72-231 by Sec. 1, Ch. 473, L. 1977; Sec. 72-231, R.C.M. 1947; R.C.M. 1947, 72-126, 72-127, 72-231; amd. Sec. 39, Ch. 43, L. 1979.