(a) General Powers of Secretary.—Except as otherwise specified, the Secretary shall carry out this part. Enumeration of a power of the Secretary in this part does not exclude another power the Secretary may have in carrying out this part. The Secretary may prescribe regulations in carrying out this part.
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Terms Used In 49 USC 13301
- Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
- county: includes a parish, or any other equivalent subdivision of a State or Territory of the United States. See 1 USC 2
- Deposition: An oral statement made before an officer authorized by law to administer oaths. Such statements are often taken to examine potential witnesses, to obtain discovery, or to be used later in trial.
- individual: shall include every infant member of the species homo sapiens who is born alive at any stage of development. See 1 USC 8
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- officer: includes any person authorized by law to perform the duties of the office. See 1 USC 1
- State: means a State, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any other territory or possession of the United States. See 1 USC 7
- Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
- Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
- Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
- Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
- whoever: include corporations, companies, associations, firms, partnerships, societies, and joint stock companies, as well as individuals. See 1 USC 1
- writing: includes printing and typewriting and reproductions of visual symbols by photographing, multigraphing, mimeographing, manifolding, or otherwise. See 1 USC 1
(b) Obtaining Information.—The Secretary may obtain from carriers providing, and brokers for, transportation and service subject to this part, and from persons controlling, controlled by, or under common control with those carriers or brokers to the extent that the business of that person is related to the management of the business of that carrier or broker, information the Secretary decides is necessary to carry out this part.
(c) Subpoena Power.—
(1) By secretary.—The Secretary may subpoena witnesses and records related to a proceeding under this part from any place in the United States, to the designated place of the proceeding. If a witness disobeys a subpoena, the Secretary, or a party to a proceeding under this part, may petition a court of the United States to enforce that subpoena.
(2) Enforcement.—The district courts of the United States have jurisdiction to enforce a subpoena issued under this section. Trial is in the district in which the proceeding is conducted. The court may punish a refusal to obey a subpoena as a contempt of court.
(d) Testimony of Witnesses.—
(1) Procedure for taking testimony.—In a proceeding under this part, the Secretary may take the testimony of a witness by deposition and may order the witness to produce records. A party to a proceeding pending under this part may take the testimony of a witness by deposition and may require the witness to produce records at any time after a proceeding is at issue on petition and answer.
(2) Subpoena.—If a witness fails to be deposed or to produce records under paragraph (1) of this subsection, the Secretary may subpoena the witness to take a deposition, produce the records, or both.
(3) Depositions.—A deposition may be taken before a judge of a court of the United States, a United States magistrate judge, a clerk of a district court, or a chancellor, justice, or judge of a supreme or superior court, mayor or chief magistrate of a city, judge of a county court, or court of common pleas of any State, or a notary public who is not counsel or attorney of a party or interested in the proceeding.
(4) Notice of deposition.—Before taking a deposition, reasonable notice must be given in writing by the party or the attorney of that party proposing to take a deposition to the opposing party or the attorney of record of that party, whoever is nearest. The notice shall state the name of the witness and the time and place of taking the deposition.
(5) Transcript.—The testimony of a person deposed under this subsection shall be taken under oath. The person taking the deposition shall prepare, or cause to be prepared, a transcript of the testimony taken. The transcript shall be subscribed by the deponent.
(6) Foreign country.—The testimony of a witness who is in a foreign country may be taken by deposition before an officer or person designated by the Secretary or agreed on by the parties by written stipulation filed with the Secretary. A deposition shall be filed with the Secretary promptly.
(e) Witness Fees.—Each witness summoned before the Secretary or whose deposition is taken under this section and the individual taking the deposition are entitled to the same fees and mileage paid for those services in the courts of the United States.
(f) Powers of Board.—For those provisions of this part that are specified to be carried out by the Board, the Board shall have the same powers as the Secretary has under this section.
