Chicago, R. I. & P. Ry. Co. v. State

1917 OK 471, 168 P. 239, 67 Okla. 10, 1917 Okla. LEXIS 315
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedOctober 9, 1917
Docket8840
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 1917 OK 471 (Chicago, R. I. & P. Ry. Co. v. State) 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
Chicago, R. I. & P. Ry. Co. v. State, 1917 OK 471, 168 P. 239, 67 Okla. 10, 1917 Okla. LEXIS 315 (Okla. 1917).

Opinion

HARDY, J.

This is an appeal from order No. 1171 of the Corporation Commission prescribing tbe kind of material to be used in the construction of a depot at Walters, by the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Company. The depot at that place was destroyed by fire on or about April 9, 1916, since which time a box car has been used as a substitute for a depot or station building. After the fire, plans and specifications were drawn by the railway company for the construction of a depot building, which plans were satisfactory to all parties concerned except for the fact that the material prescribed was wood, whereas the citizens of Walters and the Corporation Commission wore of the opinion that brick should be used in lieu of wood. Upon the failure of the railway company to proceed with the construction of the depot, complaint was filed before the Corporation Commission, and order No. 1171 was issued, from which the railway company prosecutes this appeal.

Ii is first urged that the order is not supported by sufficient evidence, is contrary l o law, and is unreasonable, burdensome, and unjust. Under this proposition, it is argued that the commission was without power to prescribe the material of which said depot building should be constructed; that the order is not supported by the evidence, and that the property and moneys of the railway company are its private property; and that the company -was 'better qualified than any other person to judge of its immediate demands and necessities, and that the order appealed from was an invasion of this right. The private right of ownership of railway property exists in connec-' tion with the right of the public to regulate the use thereof, provided such regulation is not exercised in an arbitrary and unreasonable way go as to cause it to be an infringement on the right of ownership under the guise of regulation. N. Y. & New Eng. R. Co. v. Bristol, 151 U. S. 556, 14 Sup. Ct. 437, 38 L. Ed. 269; Atl. Coast Line R. Co. v. North Carolina Corp. Comm., 206 U. S. 1, 27 Sup. Ct. 585, 51 L. Ed. 933, 11 Ann. Cas. 398; Mo. Pac. Ry. Co. v. Kan. ex rel. Taylor, 216 U. S. 262, 30 Sup. Ct. 330, 54 L. Ed. 472; State ex rel. Neb. State R. R. Comm. v. Mo. Pac. Ry. Co., 100 Neb. 700, 161 N. W. 270.

By section 26 of article 9 of the Constitution of this state, the duty is expressly enjoined upon every railway company to provide and maintain adequate, comfortable, and clean depots and depot buildings at its several stations for the accommodation of passengers, and by section 18, art. 9, the Corporation Commission is empowered and it is made the duty of the commission to require every railroad company to perform such duty, and it has been held that this delegation of poVer is sufficiently broad to confer upon the Corporation Commission authority to prescribe the materials to be used in a depot building ordered constructed on the line of any railroad pursuant to said section of the Constitution. St. Louis & San Francisco Ry. v. Sutton et al., 29 Okla. 553, 119 Pac. 423. On rehearing this question was re-examined and the doctrine reaffirmed and we are still convinced that the holding in that ease upon this proposition is correct. M., K. & T. Ry. Co. et al. v. State, 38 Okla. 401, 133 Pac. 35.

As to whether it is reasonably necessary to construct a building of brick or other material in order for it to be adequate and meet the needs of the public as required by said section 26, art. 9, is a question of fact to be determined, in the first instance, by the Corporation Commission. St. L. & San Francisco R. Co. v. Sutton, supra. And upon appeal from an order of this character the Constitution declares that such orders shall be prima facie just, reasonable, and correct, and the Supreme Court in reviewing such an order will ascribe to the findings of the commission the strength due to the judgment of a tribunal appointed by law and informed by experience. K. C., M. & O. R. Co. v. State, 25 Okla. 715, 107 Pac. 912; St. L. & S. F. R. Co. v. Travelers’ Corp. et al., 47 Okla. 374, 148 Pac. 166; U. S. Express Co. v. State et al., 47 Okla. 656, 150 Pac. 178; Guthrie Gas, Light, Fuel & Imp. Co. v. Board *12 of Education, 64 Okla. 157, 166 Pac. 128. In determining whether a depot 'building required to he erected by an order erf the commission is adequate or. reasonable, such fact must be determined from a consideration- of the .size of the place where said building is to be erected, the .cost thereof, the extent of the demand for transportation, and all .the other facts which-would have a bearing upon the question of convenience and cost. The question as to what may be deemed adequate in any given case is not capable of exact definition. It is a relative expression and must be considered as calling for such facilities as might be fairly demanded from a consideration of the .things enumerated. St. L., I. M. & C. R. Co. v. State, 28 Okla. 372, 111 Pac. 396, 114 Pac. 1096; Atl. Coast Line R. Co. v. Wharton et al., 207 U. S. 328, 28 Sup. Ct. 121, 52 L. Ed. 230.

The evidence shows that Walters is the county seat and largest town in Cotton county ; that the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Company has the only line of railroad running through this city or this section of the country; that the territory served by and tributary to Walters, and' the line of railroad passing through said town, is extensive; that the town is growing, prosperous,’ and has indications of being much larger as the country continues to develop; that business at the time of the hearing before the 'commission was largely augmented due to prospecting for oil, and that development of oil and gas fields was likely to 'bring' increased 'business to the railway company ; that the receipts for passenger business averaged more than $1,000 per month, and freight revenue ran from $5,600 to $16,-000 per month; that exclusive of express business the average revenues from freight and passenger business at this station are probably; around $12,000 per month; that the depot -site is. situated within a short distance of- the fire limits; that all buildings now being constructed for business and school purposes are brick: or other noncombustible material,. and that 90 per cent, of the business houses already constructed are of such material ; that there are oil tanks owned by lessees of- the railway company’s right of way in close proximity to the station site from ..which there is danger of fire. The cost of the building as proposed by the railway .company would be about $5,000, while to construct it of brick as required by the order would be‘about $10;000. The question of moving or destroying a building already erected that could by additional expense be made adequate and replacing it with one of different material at an additional expenditure is not involved in this case. Considering the income from the combined passenger and freight business derived from the station, together with its present needs and prospective growth, we cannot say that the order of the commission is unreasonable, and that the presumption pertaining thereto by reason of the Constitution has been overthrown.

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Bluebook (online)
1917 OK 471, 168 P. 239, 67 Okla. 10, 1917 Okla. LEXIS 315, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chicago-r-i-p-ry-co-v-state-okla-1917.