42 P.2d 535 | Okla. | 1935
This is a contempt procedure commenced before the Corporation Commission of the State of Oklahoma upon an affidavit for citation executed by C.O. Rison, W.N. Stokes, and B.G. Patton on December 19, 1931. Complainants were the umpire's committee appointed by the Corporation Commission.
It was charged that the defendants, Oils Incorporated, a corporation, G.S. Smith, and J. Russell Weil willfully, intentionally, and wrongfully failed and refused to obey and comply with certain orders of the Corporation Commission. The charge contained 139 separate counts, each count alleging a violation on a different day.
The orders alleged to have been violated were numbered, respectively, 5437, 5468, 5486, 5548, and 5549. The cause was ultimately tried before the Commission and the defendants were found and adjudged to have been guilty of 71 distinct offenses and were fined $200 on each offense, amounting to a total aggregate fine of $14,200. Defendants bring this case to this court on appeal, appearing herein as plaintiffs in error. The parties, however, for the purpose of convenience, will be referred to as they appeared before the Corporation Commission.
The orders alleged to have been violated were all proration orders made by the Commission in February, April, May, and June of 1931.
In the case of H. F. Wilcox Oil Gas Co. v. Walker et al.,
The proration orders involved in this case are the same class and rest upon the same legal basis as those involved in the case of Hall Briscoe, Inc., v. State, supra, and should be, and are hereby declared to be void for the same reasons. The orders being void, the conviction for contempt cannot be judicially approved in this court.
It is unnecessary for us to consider the various other legal question presented in this case.
Upon the authority of H. F. Wilcox Oil Gas Co. v. Walker et al.,
McNEILL, C. J., and RILEY, PHELPS, and GIBSON, JJ., concur.