[EDITORS' NOTE: THIS PAGE CONTAINS HEADNOTES. HEADNOTES ARE NOT AN OFFICIAL PRODUCT OF THE COURT, THEREFORE THEY ARE NOT DISPLAYED.] *Page 59 In this proceeding three cases are involved, to wit, one bearing the above title, one Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District v. B.G. Kline and Minnie E. Kline, superior court action, number 3300, and Edna L. Knight v. Glenn-Colusa IrrigationDistrict, superior court action, number 3435. It is stipulated that all three cases should be *Page 60 tried as one in the superior court upon the testimony introduced in the case of Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District v. JohnPaulson, that separate judgments should be entered in each action, that the appeals herein should be combined, one transcript being used for the three appeals, and that when judgment is entered in the case of District v. Paulson a like judgment should follow in the other cases. This action was begun by the respondent Irrigation District to enjoin the appellant Paulson from interfering with the ditches owned by the respondent District; also, to restrain him from diverting water therefrom. The plaintiff had judgment and the defendant appeals.
The transcript shows that the appellant owns land situate within the flow of that certain canal known as and called the Central Canal, which canal was used for a considerable period of time in conveying water to a certain area of land known as and called the Central Irrigation District. The appellant purchased his land prior to the first day of October, 1913, and from that date up to and including the season of 1921, received water for irrigation purposes from the Central Canal and used the same in the irrigation of the lands owned by him. At the trial it was stipulated that the recital of facts set forth in the opinion of the supreme court in the case of Byington v. Sacramento etc.Co.,
"Application having been filed herein for the approval by this commission of the proposed transfer by the Sacramento Valley West Side Canal Company, a corporation, and Alger Fast, the receiver thereof, and other parties in interest, of certain properties comprising the public utility irrigation system described in said application, to the Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District and others, free and clear of public utility obligations; protests thereto having been filed by certain users under said system, a public hearing having been held, testimony taken and other evidence received and the matter submitted;
"It is hereby ordered:
"1. Authorization is hereby granted for the sales and transfers by the Sacramento Valley West Side Canal Company, a corporation, and Alger Fast, receiver thereof, and other persons beneficially interested, to the Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District and other transferees, of the respective properties to be transferred as set forth and described in said application, and the forms of conveyances attached to said application are hereby approved.
"2. Approval and authorization of this commission is hereby granted for the discontinuance and termination of service as a public utility by the Sacramento Valley West *Page 63 Side Canal Company, a corporation, and Alger Fast, receiver thereof, in the sale and distribution of water for compensation to the public by means of the properties, or any portion thereof, the sales and transfers of which are hereby authorized, upon the filing with this commission by said Sacramento Valley West Side Canal Company and Alger Fast, receiver thereof, of a certified statement showing that said sales and transfers authorized herein have been consummated.
"3. Approval and authorization by this commission is hereby granted for the withdrawal from public service by the Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District as to all properties herein authorized to be transferred to said district, and as to all territory heretofore served by means thereof, subject, however, to the following conditions:
"(a) Any land owner, user or consumer heretofore supplied by means of such properties, or any portion thereof, shall be entitled to receive water therefrom at the same rates and upon the same terms of service as heretofore until January 1, 1922.
"(b) If at any time prior to January 1, 1922, any land owner, user or consumer formerly supplied by that portion of the public utility system herein authorized to be transferred to the Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District shall have made application to said Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District to have his land included therein, and such application is denied, this order, in so far as it authorizes the withdrawal from public service by said district of said property herein authorized to be transferred to the Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District shall be null and void.
"4. Approval and authorization is hereby granted by this commission for the withdrawal from public service by Jacinto Irrigation District the Directors of Jacinto Irrigation District, the directors of Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District, and Merle B. Moon, as to all property herein authorized to be transferred to said Jacinto Irrigation District, the Directors of Jacinto Irrigation District, the Directors of Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District, and Merle B. Moon, and as to all territory heretofore served by said properties.
"The effective date of this order, as to authorization of the proposed transfer of properties, is hereby fixed as of June 30, 1921. As to the authorization herein granted for the *Page 64 discontinuance of service as a public utility, or withdrawal from public service, as to any part of the territory herein referred to, the effective date is hereby designated as July 15, 1921.
"The foregoing opinion and order are hereby approved and ordered filed as the opinion and order of the Railroad Commission of the State of California.
"Dated at San Francisco, California, this thirtieth day of June, 1921."
The following facts also appear to be practically admitted: That the Sacramento Valley West Side Canal Company was at the time of the transfer of its properties and prior thereto a public utility, subject to the control of the Railroad Commission, that the lands of the appellant had been served with water by such utility until the time of the order of the Railroad Commission ending the public service obligations of the said canal company, that the lands of the appellant are situated within the flow of waters carried to the Central Canal owned by the respondent District, that the lands of the appellant are not within the confines of the Irrigation District, but that the lands of the several appellants are either surrounded by or adjacent to the lands comprising the District and may properly be included therein; that the appellants have not availed themselves of the opportunity to petition for or have their lands included within the confines of the plaintiff Irrigation District; that the appellants have demanded service of water as theretofore rendered them by the Sacramento West Side Canal and Irrigation Company and tendered payment therefor to the District in sums corresponding with the rates charged for such services by the West Side Canal Company; that after the expiration of the time mentioned in the order of the Railroad Commission for the inclusion of the lands of the appellants within the District, the District refused and still refuses to deliver water for irrigation purposes to the appellants upon any lands owned by them situated outside of the area comprising the Irrigation District. This refusal is based upon the order of the Railroad Commission and also upon the action of Jenison v. Redfield,
"The fundamental and all important proposition, then, is this, that a public service water company which is appropriating water under the constitution of 1879, for purposes of rental, distribution and sale, cannot confer upon a consumer any preferential right to the use of any of its water."
The court was of the opinion that the plaintiff in that case had the right to prevent the defendants from subverting water intended for public use to private and extra-territorial purposes. No question of the termination of the public utility functions of the canal company were involved and no transfer of its properties but simply a subversion or misuse of waters controlled by the defendant was settled by the judgment of the court. [1] Section
[2] Any rights accruing to the service of water after the adoption of the constitution, if the water is furnished by a public utility, is therefore controlled by section 1 of article XIV of the constitution, irrespective of the provisions of section
The right of the Railroad Commission to permit the discontinuance of service by a public utility was not involved in the Butte County case. It was simply a question of whether the supply of water owned and furnished was adequate to permit of an additional area of arid lands being brought within the territory to be served by the water company. Under such circumstances, there would be no conflict between the provisions of section
We are thus brought to the question as to the extent of regulation and control that may be exercised by the state through the agency of the Railroad Commission. If the cases which we have cited announce the correct doctrine that one served by a public utility only possesses a right of service in common with the class or status of those who are served by such public agency, we have no rights of property being dealt with taken away, limited, suspended, or destroyed. It is simply a question of the method of procedure through which that service may be continued, if continued, or if abandoned, under what conditions it may be abandoned. [4] The Public Utilities Act (Stats. 1911 [Ex. Sess.], p. 18), explicitly gives the Railroad Commission authority to determine whether the public utility may or may not discontinue its service. In the case of Limoneira Co. v.Railroad Commission,
The record in this case is sufficient to show that the Sacramento Valley West Side Canal and Irrigation Company was hopelessly insolvent and that it was a case of either abandonment of the enterprise or a transfer of its properties to some irrigation system or company possessing the power to continue operations and distribution of water. The West Side Company was losing money and was in a position to take advantage of the doctrine laid down in the case of Lyon Hoag v. RailroadCommission,
In making its decision relative to the discontinuance of its public utility functions by the West Side Canal Company and the permitting of a transfer of its properties to the Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District, the Railroad Commission was confronted with the fact that the Irrigation District was not a public utility subject to the regulations and control of the Railroad Commission (see City of Pasadena v. Railroad Commission,
We think, from what has already been said, that the authority of the Railroad Commission to regulate and control the distribution of properties of the public utility known as the Sacramento Valley West Side Canal Company, as well *Page 72 as the uses and conditions to be attached to the use of the water furnished by that public utility, has been satisfactorily shown and, therefore, there remains but one further question to be considered.
[5] The appellant in this case and the appellants in the two companion cases voluntarily became parties before the Railroad Commission in its hearing upon the application of the Canal Company to discontinue its public utility functions and transfer its properties to the Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District, and while their appearance at that hearing was not accompanied with all the formalities which sometimes characterize such appearances, they sufficiently showed themselves to be parties in interest, and therefore had a right to petition for a rehearing before the Railroad Commission, or for a modification and also of petitioning for a modification of that order, so far as it affects the conditions under which water services should be continued, and upon the denial of such petition for rehearing, to apply to the supreme court for a writ of review. [6] Under section 67 of the Public Utilities Act, no court of this state, except the supreme court, possesses any jurisdiction to review, reverse, correct, or annul any order or decision of the Commission, and under the section of the constitution relating to the powers of the Railroad Commission, it expressly provides that no other limitations or provisions can affect the powers given to the Railroad Commission. The superior court, therefore, possesses no power to alter or modify the determination of the Railroad Commission. (Marin Municipal Water Dist. v. North Coast,
The judgments of the trial court are affirmed.
Hart, J., and Finch, P.J., concurred.
A petition by appellants to have the cause heard in the supreme court, after judgment in the district court of appeal, was denied by the supreme court on December 31, 1925. *Page 74