224 Mass. 398 | Mass. | 1916
The plaintiff owns property for which the defendant, a public service corporation, furnished water, but a dispute having arisen over the rates, he was notified that unless payment was made "of the amount claimed by the company the service would be discontinued. It is alleged, in the bill thereupon brought for permanent injunctive relief, that, if this is done, the plaintiff’s estate will be greatly damaged and the health of members of his family impaired. The allegations of the first paragraph of the bill, admitted by the answer, are that when the plaintiff purchased the premises the company had been furnishing water to the former owner “at a flat rate of $100 per year,” and the second paragraph alleges that, at an interview between the plaintiff and the defendant’s president, the president “promised that the rate would not be changed” and that it would continue at that rate yearly “payable in advance.” The answer, while admitting the interview, avers that the president only promised that the rate would not be changed for the succeeding year.
The rights of the parties depend upon the terms of the paroi contract into which they entered. Merrimack River Savings Bank v. Lowell, 152 Mass. 556. Turner v. Revere Water Co. 171 Mass. 329. Souther v. Gloucester, 187 Mass. 552. It is to be ascertained from the evidence of the plaintiff and the president, who were the only witnesses present at the interview, with the burden of proof on the plaintiff to sustain the agreement described in the bill. While the evidence taken by a commissioner is reported, the credibility of the witnesses was for the presiding judge, whose findings of fact will not be reversed unless shown to be plainly wrong. If on the one hand the plaintiff’s version is accepted, the defendant agreed to furnish water indefinitely at a flat rate, for the record fails to show any limitation on the authority of the president to bind the company. If on the other hand the president’s statement that the rate was only “for the present” is correct, the rate continued only so long as either party chose to be bound. We have
But, the plaintiff having refused to make payment, the eighth clause of the regulations, also printed on the bills he received, that “The company reserves the right to shut off the water in all cases for nonpayment of water rates . . .,” became applicable, and properly could be enforced by the defendant by discontinuance of the service. Turner v. Revere Water Co. 171 Mass. 329, 336, and cases cited.
The judge’s
Ordered accordingly.
Jenney, J. He found that at the time of the filing of the bill the plaintiff owed the defendant for water furnished by it to him the sum of $412.69.