185 P. 801 | Nev. | 1919
Lead Opinion
By the Court,
The appellant corporation, the Steamboat Canal Company, is a public utility engaged in the business of delivering water from the Truckee River, through its canal, known as the Steamboat Canal, to a number of users for agricultural and other purposes. In a former year the public service commission of Nevada had established the rate for the delivery and sale of water to such users at $6.50 per miner’s inch per annum, and when paid in
The protestants, being dissatisfied with the ruling of the commission, commenced this action in the district court against J. F. Shaughnessy and W. H. Simmons, as the public service commission of Nevada, and the Steamboat Canal Company, and obtained an order of the court granting an injunction pendente lite restraining the enforcement or collection of the rate of $7.50 per miner’s inch designated by the order of the commission, or collection of any greater rate than $6.50 per miner’s inch. From the order granting the temporary injunction this appeal is taken.
“The term ‘public utility’ within -the meaning of this act shall embrace every corporation, company, individual, association of individuals, their lessees, trustees or receivers appointed by any court whatsoever, that now or hereafter may own, operate or control any plant or equipment, or any part of a plant or equipment within the state ’for the production, delivery or furnishing for or to other persons, firms, associations, or corporations, private or municipal, heat, light, power in any form or by any agency, water for business, manufacturing, agricultural or household use, or sewerage service whether within the limits of municipalities, towns or villages, or elsewhere; and the public service commission is hereby invested with full power of supervision, regulation and control of all such utilities, subject to the provisions of this act and to the exclusion of the jurisdiction, regulation and control of such utilities by any municipality, town or village.”
If a precise and technical meaning were accorded to the word “plant,” confining it strictly to include only such public utilities of this class which delivered water to consumers through the agency, at least in part, of machinery, as a pumping station or other mechanical apparatus, the intention of the legislature would not, in
It is also contended by respondents that the order of the commission establishing the rate of $7.50 per miner’s inch is void, for the reason that the commission, in determining this rate, took into consideration evidence taken at former hearings and data on file with the commission relative to the Steamboat Canal Company in its dealings with the water users. The following extracts from the record of hearing held on August 5, showing statements made by the commissioners and Mr. Kearney, attorney for the protesting water users, have considerable bearing on the merit of this contention:
“Commissioner Bartine- — There is no question of the value of the property. The commission has passed upon that, and 'determined that the property has a certain value. It is rather hard for me to see how we can depart from that, unless there is a showing made by the company that we are wrong. 'We will give you any opportunity that you desire to show that it is an overvaluation. You can take any reasonable time for it. These charges are largely a matter of bookkeeping, and, when the decision is finally rendered it will cover the whole thing.
“Mr. Kearney — In regard to that stipulation I would like to say that, if that testimony is used for the purpose of rehearing and reopening the old case, I would object to it.
“Commissioner Bartine — We do not intend to reopen the old case at all.
“Mr. Kearney — As I understand it, the rate of $6 per inch was fixed upon as a reasonable return for a certain valuation found by the commission, after the testimony had been considered. Now, then, I don’t want the commission to reconsider that testimony, and find a different valuation at this time, without having an opportunity to be heard.
“Commissioner Bartine — I do not think it will ever be done; so far as I am concerned it will not be. So far as we have gone into this case, the question of valuation does not cut any figure. The application for an advance in rates is based on figures of cost of material and labor.”
It is evident from these statements of the commissioners that the commission had fixed the company’s property at a certain valuation at former hearings, and that they intended considering the evidence obtained for this purpose, and would make no change in such valuation without a showing made by the company or the water users. Under the circumstances, no prejudice could have resulted to any of the parties from the action of the commission. Certainly there was nothing in this
The facts recited do not bring the case within the ruling advanced in Interstate Commerce Commission v. Louisville Railroad Co., 227 U. S. 88, 33 Sup. Ct. 185, 57 L. Ed. 431, so much relied on by respondents. The government insisted in that case that, as an act of Congress provided that a carrier’s rates should be set aside if, after a hearing, the commission shall be of the opinion that the charge was unreasonable, an order based on such opinion was conclusive, and could not be set aside, even if the finding was wholly without substantial evidence to support it. It was further insisted that the commission was required by law to obtain information necessary to enable it to perform the duties and carry out the objects for which it was created, and, having been given legislative power to make rates, it
“But such a construction would nullify the right to a hearing, for manifestly there is no hearing when the party does not know what evidence is offered or considered, and is not given an opportunity to test, explain, or refute.”
The order of the commission was upheld, because there was substantial evidence to support it.
We now come to a consideration of the injunction pendente lite, which appellants contend the trial court was without authority to grant. The collection of the rate designated in the order of the commission, or of any rate greater than or in excess of $6.50 per miner’s inch per annum, was restrained by the injunction. The effect of this order of the district court is to revise and modify the order of the commission establishing a rate of $7.50, and substitute a rate of $6.50 in its stead. Authority for the district court to interfere with the findings of the commission in this case is found in sec-^ tion 26 of the act of 1911, and nowhere therein has the legislature sought to confer upon the courts power to fix the rate of any public utility or change the rate established by the commission. Section 26 reads in part:
“Any party in interest being dissatisfied with an order of the commission fixing any rate or rates, fares, charges, classifications, joint rate or rates, or any order fixing any regulations, practices or services, may within ninety (90) days commence an action in the district court of the proper county against the commission and other interested parties as defendants to vacate and set aside any such order on the ground that the rate or rates, fares, charges, classifications, joint rate or rates, fixed in such order are unlawful or unreasonable, or that any*311 such regulation, practice, or service, fixed in such order is unreasonable. * * *
“(a) No injunction shall issue suspending or staying any order of the commission except upon application to the court or judge thereof, notice to the commission having been first given and hearing having been had thereon; provided, that all rates fixed by the commission shall be deemed reasonable and just and shall remain in full force and effect until final determination by the courts having jurisdiction.
“(b) If, upon the trial of such action, evidence shall be introduced by the plaintiff which is found by the court to be different from that offered upon the hearing before the commission, or additional thereto, the court, before proceeding to render judgment, unless the parties to such action stipulate in writing to the contrary, shall transmit a copy of such evidence to the commission, and shall stay further proceedings in said action fifteen (15) days from the date of such transmission. Upon receipt of such evidence the commission shall consider the' same, and may later modify, amend or rescind its order relating to such rate or rates, fares, charges, classifications, joint rate or rates, regulation, practice or service complained of in said action, and shall report its action thereon to said court within ten days from the receipt of such evidence.
“(c) If the commission shall rescind its order complained of, the action shall be dismissed; if it shall alter, modify or amend the same, such altered, modified or amended order shall take the place of the original order complained of, and judgment shall be rendered thereon, as though made by the commission in the first instance. If the original order shall not be rescinded or- changed by the commission, judgment shall be rendered upon such original order.”
By these provisions the court is empowered only to vacate or set aside any order of the commission on the ground that the rate fixed therein is unlawful or unreasonable, or confirm it if the rate is lawful and reasonable. In fact, it is the policy of the act, as evidenced
As said in the case of Baltimore and Ohio R. R. Co., appellant, v. Public Service Commission, 6 Pa. Super. Ct. 403, and commended in Ben Avon Borough v. Ohio Water Co., 260 Pa. 289, 296, 103 Atl. 744, by the supreme court of that state:
“Establishing a schedule of the rates or tolls that a public service company may lawfully demand is one of the most complicated and important * * * tasks imposed*313 by the legislature on the public service commission. The proper determination of such questions necessarily involves the consideration of many matters and many things far removed from the atmosphere of an appellate court.”
That the court cannot fix the rate itself, however, but is limited in its jurisdiction in determining whether a rate, when fixed, is reasonable and proper, is the generally accepted rule as expressed in the case of Nebraska Tel. Co. v. State, 55 Neb. 627, 76 N. W. 171, 45 L. R. A. 113, decided in 1898, as follows:
“Here the court determines that the respondent shall perform for the relator a specific service for three months for a specific sum of money. This in effect was a determination by the court that $3 per month was a reasonable compensation for the service required to be rendered by the respondent, and a fixing of the compensation for such service at that price for the future. We think the history of the legislation of the entire country shows that the power to determine what compensation public service corporations may demand for their services is a legislative function and not a judicial one.”
If it were conceded that the courts of this state could fix or revise the rates a public utility could charge, would not the legislature have performed a vain act in establishing another administrative body for the same purpose ? But the courts are precluded by the constitution from performing legislative functions, and the framers of the organic law recognized that power to fix the compensation for common carriers or public utility service was a legislative one. Section 20, article 4, of the state constitution, which precludes the legislature from exercising' certain powers, also provides:
“But nothing in this section shall be construed to deny' or restrict the power of the legislature to establish and regulate * * * the rates of freight, passage toll, and charges of railroads, toll roads, ditch, flume and tunnel companies incorporated under the laws of this state or doing business therein.”
And it is quite clear that the legislature has acted
“That all rates fixed by the commission shall be deemed reasonable and just, and shall remain in full force and effect until final determination by the courts having jurisdiction.”
The lower court disregarded this provision of the statute in vacating the order of the commission and in granting an injunction pendente lite. No reason for this action appears from the record, but as the statute is mandatory, and, as counsel for respondents insists in this court, that it is unconstitutional, we assume that the lower court entertained the same view.
Section 26 provides that a party, dissatisfied with an order of the commission fixing a rate, may commence an action in the district court “to vacate and set aside any such order” on the ground that the rate is unlawful and unreasonable, and that “judgment shall be rendered upon such original order,” or upon any modification, alteration, or amendment of the original order which may be made by the commission pending the trial of the case. Manifestly it was not intended to provide in section 26 for a trial in the district court to test the reasonableness of a rate fixed by the commission giving the
The public service commission act is the direct outgrowth of an urgent and persistent public demand for prompt, intelligent, and effective public control of public utilities. It is founded on necessity and convenience. Competition did not prove effective in preventing monopoly by public utility companies and its consequent burden on the public in the different classes of public service rendered by them. It is recognized, also, that the rate-making power and the power to regulate and control these enterprises, vested by the constitution in the legislature, could not be conveniently exercised by that body to meet the changing conditions, which make the rates a public utility may lawfully charge for its service vary in value from time to time. These exigencies were met by the legislature in the formation of the governmental agency designated, in the act creating it, as a public service commission. The law presumes that the members of the commission shall be men trained in those lines of business in which public utilities are engaged, and who can fairly and intelligently adjust the complex questions that constantly arise. Necessarily to make the act effective to answer the purposes' of its enactment, the commission has been clothed with broad discretionary powers; and to further accomplish these purposes the orders of the commission as to rates
“In all actions under this act the burden of proof shall be upon the party attacking or resisting the order of the commission to show by clear and satisfactory evidence that the order is unlawful, or unreasonable, as the case may be.” Section 26, subd. e.
“All actions brought under this section shall have precedence over any civil cause of a different nature pending in such court, and the court shall always be deemed open for the trial thereof, and the same shall be tried and determined as other civil actions.”
“Due process of law gnerely requires such tribunals as are proper to deal'with the subject in hand. Reasonable notice and a fair, opportunity to be heard before some tribunal before it decides the issues are the essentials of*318 due process of law.” Stettler v. O’Hara, 69 Or. 519, 139 Pac. 746, L. R. A. 1917c, 944, Ann. Cas. 1916a, 217.
We think that none of the essentials necessary to insure to the parties a full guaranty of due process of law are absent from the statute, nor impaired by the provision under consideration.
What we have said as to the nature of the legislation .concerning public utilities applies with equal force to the objection that the proviso invades the equitable j urisdiction of the district court. The statute makes the findings of the commission upon questions of fact prima facie evidence of the reasonableness of rates on review in the district courts. This in itself might be urged as some curtailment of equitable jurisdiction, for generally in equity cases the court may find a fact from the evidence, and is not bound by a rule that, if there is evidence to support a fact, it thereby becomes conclusive.
The order of the district court, granting an injunction pendente lite restraining the collection of the rate of
Rehearing
On Petition for Rehearing
By the Court,
The petition for rehearing filed by respondents has been given careful attention. It discusses questions that were duly considered and disposed of in the opinion of the court. As we are convinced, after further research and reflection, that these questions were correctly determined, we are impelled to deny the petition.
In the petition our attention has been directed to a certain unguarded statement made in the opinion which we desire to correct. In the course of the discussion of the questions raised, the writer of the opinion referred to an action commenced in the district court to vacate and set aside an order of the commission, as an appeal. That this was an inadvertent expression is apparent from other parts of the opinion, but we desire to expressly correct it, so that no erroneous conclusion might arise from a consideration of the decision. The action commenced in the district court is not an appeal, though it is in some sense a review, for the statute clearly contemplates a consideration by the trial court of the evidence offered upon the hearing before the commission. Section 26 of the act of 1911 (chapter 162) making the railroad commission of Nevada-ex officio a public service commission. See, also, section 33 of the act of 1919 (chapter 109) defining public utilities, etc. The opinion is therefore corrected in this respect.
Rehearing in the above-entitled matter is hereby denied.