Cincinnati & Suburban Bell Telephone Co. v. City of Cincinnati

215 N.E.2d 631, 7 Ohio Misc. 159, 34 Ohio Op. 2d 445, 1964 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 195
CourtHamilton County Probate Court
DecidedApril 10, 1964
DocketNo. 5066
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 215 N.E.2d 631 (Cincinnati & Suburban Bell Telephone Co. v. City of Cincinnati) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Hamilton County Probate Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cincinnati & Suburban Bell Telephone Co. v. City of Cincinnati, 215 N.E.2d 631, 7 Ohio Misc. 159, 34 Ohio Op. 2d 445, 1964 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 195 (Ohio Super. Ct. 1964).

Opinion

Davies, J.

This matter came before the court upon the demurrer of the defendant, the City of Cincinnati, to the petition of the plaintiff, The Cincinnati and Suburban Bell Telephone Company.

In its petition the plaintiff alleges that it is a corporation organized and doing business under the laws of Ohio; that it is engaged in the telephone business and part of its operations is in Hamilton County, Ohio; that it operates its business by the use, among other things, of poles, wires, circuits, cables, conduits, and other similar equipment; that for a number of years it has owned and used in the operation of its business equipment located in Linn Street in Cincinnati; that recently, as a part of an urban renewal project, the defendant decided to relocate Linn Street including a part thereof on which the plaintiff has equipment for the conduct of its business; that defendant requested plaintiff when it relocates its equipment on the relocated part of Linn Street to place the wires underground as defendant did not desire to have any overhead utility equipment in the urban renewal area; that plaintiff advised the defendant that it was willing to cooperate with it and place its equipment on Linn Street underground provided the defendant would pay it the difference in cost between locating said equipment in Linn Street as overhead equipment and underground equipment, which the defendant refused to do; and that on April 16, 1963, plaintiff corporation filed an application with defendant for a permit to place 10 of its poles on the relocated Linn Street together with the necessary anchors to be used in connection with said poles, and under date of May 3, 1963, defendant city, through George Howie, its director of public utilities, advised plaintiff that the application for such permit was rejected and returned the same because defendant had decided that it wanted all underground equipment in the urban renewal area. Finally, the plaintiff, in the prayer of its petition, has requested the court for an order setting forth in what mode the plaintiff’s lines shall be constructed along relocated Linn Street and for [161]*161such other relief to which the plaintiff is entitled including its costs.

The city of Cincinnati, in support of its demurrer, contends that the determination by the city that telephone wires within the urban renewal area shall be placed under the public street rather than over it constitutes an exercise of a power of local self-government granted to municipal corporations by the people of Ohio in Section 3, Article XVIII of the Ohio Constitution ; that it is the exercise of a power of local self-government other than the police power and is, therefore, beyond the control of any statute enacted by the General Assembly; and that for these reasons, the plaintiff has no right to demand that its wires go in any particular place in relation to the city streets or to question the designation of such place by the city, and that any state statute purporting to confer such rights is unconstitutional because it conflicts with said portion of the Home-Rule Amendment.

The plaintiff argues that the city’s requirement that telephone lines be placed beneath the surface of the relocated portion of Linn Street is not an exercise of the city’s powers of local self-government under the first clause of Section 3, Article XVIII of the Ohio Constitution, but is an exercise of the city’s police powers under the second clause of said Section 3, is in conflict with the general laws of Ohio, and the defendant’s demurrer, therefore, should be overruled.

There are numerous reported cases involving the authority of a municipality to enact legislation under constitutional “home-rule” powers which conflict with the provisions of a general law passed by a state legislature.

In Ohio, it often is necessary for a court, in resolving the respective legislative powers of the state and a municipality on a given subject, to determine if the municipality is acting under a power of local self-government or under its local police power both of which powers are extended to it by Sections 3 and 7 of Article XVIII of the Constitution.

Said Section 3 provides that “municipalities shall have authority to exercise all powers of local self-government and to adopt and enforce within their limits such local police, sanitary and other similar regulations, as are not in conflict with general laws.” Said Section 7 provides that “any municipality may [162]*162frame and adopt or amend a charter for its government and may, subject to the provisions of Section 3 of this article, exercise thereunder all powers of local self-government.”

Section 4931.01, Revised Code, provides that “a telegraph company or any person may construct telegraph lines upon and along any of the public roads and highways, and across any waters, within this state, by the erection of the necessary fixtures, including posts, piers, or abutments for sustaining the cords or wires of such lines. Such lines shall be constructed so as not to incommode the public in the use of the roads or highways, or endanger or injuriously interrupt the navigation of such waters. This section does not authorize the erection of a bridge across any waters of this state.” Section 4931.01, Revised Code, is made applicable to telephone companies by Section 4931.11, Revised Code. Section 4931.08, Revised Code, reads as follows: “When lands authorized to be appropriated to the use of a telegraph company are subject to the easement of a street, alley, public way, or other public use, within the limits of a municipal corporation, the mode of use shall be such as is agreed upon between the municipal authorities and the company. If they cannot agree, or if the municipal authorities unreasonably delay entering into an agreement, the probate court of the county shall, in a proceeding instituted for the purpose, subject to Section 2709.10, Revised Code, direct in what mode the telegraph line shall be constructed along such street, alley, or public way, so as not to incommode the public in the use of it. * * *.” Section 4931.20, Revised Code, which became effective October 1, 1953, provides, among other things, that “any company owning and operating a telephone exchange or doing a telegraph business, in any municipal corporation in this state, may construct and maintain underground wires, pipes, conduits, and other fixtures for containing, protecting, and operating such wires, in the streets and public ways of such municipal corporation, when the consent of such municipal corporation has been obtained. * * *.” Section 4931.24, Revised Code, which became effective October 1, 1953, provides that “no person shall erect a telegraph or telephone pole within that portion of a municipal corporation where subways have been constructed, unless such pole is required for distributing wires from such subways to subscribers ’ stations and is located in an alley if practicable, or [163]*163shall within such municipal corporation, construct or maintain underground wires, or pipes, conduits, and other fixtures for containing, protecting, and operating such wires, in the streets and public ways thereof, without obtaining the consent of such municipal corporation.”

In summary, what is now Section 4931.01, Eevised Code, was originally enacted in 1852. In 1865, provisions for reference to the Probate Court were added for a means of settling disputes that might arise between telegraph companies and municipalities concerning the use of streets for telegraph facilities. In 1887, the statutes were extended to include telephone companies.

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Bluebook (online)
215 N.E.2d 631, 7 Ohio Misc. 159, 34 Ohio Op. 2d 445, 1964 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 195, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cincinnati-suburban-bell-telephone-co-v-city-of-cincinnati-ohprobcthamilto-1964.