Bromide Crushed Rock Co. v. Dolese Bros. Co.

1926 OK 534, 247 P. 74, 121 Okla. 40, 1926 Okla. LEXIS 43
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedJune 8, 1926
Docket16672
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 1926 OK 534 (Bromide Crushed Rock Co. v. Dolese Bros. Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bromide Crushed Rock Co. v. Dolese Bros. Co., 1926 OK 534, 247 P. 74, 121 Okla. 40, 1926 Okla. LEXIS 43 (Okla. 1926).

Opinion

MA-SON, J.

This is mu appeal prosecuted by the Bromide Crushed Rock Company from an otrder of ihei Corporation Commission entered on the complaint o-f Dolese Brothers Company which was died against the Kansas, Oklahoma & Gulf Railway Company, ¡lin'd in which the Bromide Crushed Rock Company intervened.

The Kansas, Oklahoma & Gulf Railway Company operate a line of railway which extends across -the state of Oklahoma from ai point on the northern border near Baxter Springs, Kan., to a point on the southern border near Dennison, Tex. The ndaresr point on the main line of said railway is approximately four miles from and connected with the town of Brolmide, Okla., by a branch line over which regular railway service is furnished to said town.

It) appears that about the time said branch line was constructed, a switch track was built which extended in a northwesterly direction for approximately one mile from the terminus of said 'branch line, in the town of Bromide, to- a rock crusher owned and operated by J. W. Hoffman, who furnished large quantities of crushed nock for ballasting said railway. The record does not disclose definitely who constructed this switch at thac .time, although the evidence tends to sholw that it was constructed by Hoffman.

During the year 1916, and after said switch had been used for about four years, it was abandoned and the rails and ties were removed and the roadbed and culverts permiited ro disintegrate for several years.

About the year of 1919-, the Vida Crushed Rock & Lime Company rebuilt the grade, constructed culverts and relaid ties and rails and again put said switch in a serviceable condition under a written contract with the railway company under the terms of which tlie railway company leased the’ rails and other track equipment tol the Viola Crushed Rock & Lime Company for $150 per year. Sometime thereafter the Viola Crushed Rock & Lime Company, which had erected a rock crusher at the end of said switch, sold all its rigihts in said crusher and in said «witch track to the Bro'mide Crushed Rock Company, who have operated the same since that time.

It also appears that subsequently the Do-lese Brothers Company acquired a tract of land near that' of the Bromide Crushed Rock Company upon -which it contemplated erecting a rock crusher, from which it desired to construct a spur track connecting with said railway.

Dolese Brothers Company then instituted this proceeding before the Corporation Commission against the Kansas. Oklahoma & Gulf Railway Company, and its receivers, to secure an order of the Corpoirntion Commission -authorizing it to- connect said spur track with the switch track -above referred to — said eonneotion to be made at a point about 1,600 feet from the terminus of the branch line at Bromide.

The Bromide -Crushed Rock Company, in its interplea, which was in the nature of a response, .alleged, in -substance, the fa-cts as herein set forth relative to the building and using of the switch track from the town of Brolmide to its -crusher. That it had spent large sums of money constructing and, maintaining said .track; that Dolese Brothers had ma-de no effort to- arrange with it for joint use of said track, nor had s-aid company offered to share the expenses incident to the construction and maintenance thereof. It w-as further alleged -that Dolese Brothers Company had not constructed .a rock crusher. quarrying plant, or track from its lands to the switch serving the intervener.

The intervener then -challenged the jurisdiction of the Corpolra-tion Commission to make the order prayed for by the complainant. for the reason that the railway track with which complainant sought to connect was a private track of the interyener, and for the further reason that the complainant had nolt complied with the provisions of section 33, article 9, of the Constitution of Oklahoma, relative to the procedure fox- an industry desiring switch track connections with the rails of a common carrier.

A hearing was had before the CommiSfcion, at which evidence; was taken. The Commission overruled interpleader’s objection to its jurisdiction to make the order prayed for a-nd issued its order in which it found that the switch track between the railway terminus at Bromide and the crusher of the Brolmide Company was the property of the railway company; -and that the con-tract between the railway company and the Bromide Crushed Rock Company was void, and order *42 ed .the switch connection made at the expense of Do'lese Brothers Company. Said company was ordered to pay the expenses of constructing the new spur 'and to pay the Bromide Company $200, to reimburse it for a portion of the money expended in constructing and maintaining the main switch track.

The Bromide Crushed Rock Company has duly periiected its appeal to this court and presents the same questions that were raised in its response 'as above set forth. The railway company does not appeal.

Under section 33, article 9, of the Constitution of Oklahoma, private persons or corporations owning certain industries within reasonable distances of the tracks of railways miay secure the necessary sidetracks or switches to accommodate their particular industries whenever the amount of business reasonably to be afforded the railway is sufficient to' justify the same, and said railway may be required .1» furnish the switch stand and irog and other necessary material! foa-making connection with such sidetrack and shall make the same under such reasonable terms, conditions, and regulations as the Corporation Commission may prescribe.

'The first question to be considered, as we view the case, is whof owned the switch track to which Dolese Brothers Company desired to connect their spur? If it belonged to .the Bromide Crushed Rock Company, which is not a transportation or transmission ccimpany, and not engaged in the business of a common carrier, the Commission •had no authority to make the order complained of. This is true, regardless of the fact that the Commission may have required Dolese Brothers Company to pay a consideration therefor to the Bromide Crushed Rock Company. It would not be contended, we take it, that the Corporation Commission wotald have jurisdiction if said track was the private property of the plaintiff in error. The 'Corporation Commission has only such authority as is specifically given it by the Constitution and the statutes, and we know of no provision that authorizes it to take or exercise control over property other than that of public service 'Companies. It has no jurisdiction over condemnatiota proceedings or the talcing of property by the right of eminent domain.

Railroad companies are quasi public corporations. created for the purpose of exercising -the functions and performing the duties of common carriers. These duties are defined by law, and, in accepting their charters, they necessarily take with them all the duties and liabilities incident thereto; and they are required to supply to patrons similarly situated equail facilities for the transportation oí all business offered and to deal fairly and impartially with such patrons. McCoy v. Railway Co., 13 Fed. 5; Munn v. Illinois, 94 U. S. 126, 24 L. Ed. 77; Bedford-Bowling Green Stone Company v. Oman (Ky.) 73 S. W. 1038. And they have no right to contract with a corporation or individual to give exclusive rights t» the use of any portion of their main line or general system of railway which may be prejudicial to other patrons eta the public in general.

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Bluebook (online)
1926 OK 534, 247 P. 74, 121 Okla. 40, 1926 Okla. LEXIS 43, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bromide-crushed-rock-co-v-dolese-bros-co-okla-1926.