City of Dallas v. Dallas Telephone Co.

272 F. 410, 1921 U.S. App. LEXIS 1627
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedApril 29, 1921
DocketNo. 3654
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 272 F. 410 (City of Dallas v. Dallas Telephone Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of Dallas v. Dallas Telephone Co., 272 F. 410, 1921 U.S. App. LEXIS 1627 (5th Cir. 1921).

Opinion

KING, Circuit Judge.

The Dallas Telephone Company is a corporation of the state of Texas, formed by the consolidation, of two telephone plants owned by two telephone companies in operation in the city of Dallas, Tex. Said merger was consented to, and the right and franchise to acquire, maintain, and operate the consolidated system and its extensions granted, and its future regulation provided for, by an ordinance of the city of Dallas which provided that all rights granted and held thereunder were subject to and governed by the charter of said city.

The existing telephone companies were merged into the Dallas Telephone Company in accordance with the terms of said ordinance. The pertinent provisions of said charter are as follows:

“7. The right is hereby delegated to the city of Dallas, acting through its board of commissioners, to determine, fix and regulate the charges, fares or rates of any person, firm or corporation enjoying or that may enjoy a franchise, or exercising any other public privilege, in said city, and to prescribe the kind of service to be furnished by such person, firm or corporation, and the manner in which it shall he rendered, and from time to time alter or change such rules, regulations and compensation. The board shall make rules and regulations granting a, fair hearing to persons or corporations to ■be affected by said regulations, and no change in regulations shall be adopted except after notice to the persons affected and after a fair hearing shall be granted them. v * *
“8. * * Provided, however, that any such public service corporation may from time to time, with the consent and approval of the board of commissioners, adopt schedules governing rates, conditions or quantities of service considered and allow applicants to choose between alternative schedules, but no such schedule shall be operative, nor shall service be furnished in [412]*412accordance therewith, until filed and approved by the board of commissioners of the city of Dallas.
“227. The city of Dallas shall have the power, by ordinance, * * * to regulate and fix the fares, tolls and charges, of local telephones and exchanges, * * * and generally to fix and regulate the rates, tolls or charges, and the kind of service of all public utilities of every kind.”

Said ordinance provided that the rates for telephones should not exceed per month $5 for business and $2 for residence telephones for the period ending October 1, 1920, but that on the conclusion of said period the city should forthwith determine the rates which the telephone company might thereafter charge. One of the provisions of said ordinance was as follows:

“To the end that the rates for telephone service in the city of Dallas shall always be reasonable, the city shall have at all times the full power and authority to investigate, fix and regulate such rates under its charter and the regulatory powers of the city and by virtue hereof. The city shall have full authority to investigate and shall consider the quality and value of the service, the fair value of the property, its revenues and expenses, and shall determine and allow a fair return upon property value, and give proper consideration to every fact which in its judgment has, or may have, a bearing lupon the matter of reasonable rates. In order to ascertain any and all facts, the board shall have full power and authority to inspect, or cause to be inspected, the books of grantees, and to inventory and appraise, or cause to be inventoried or appraised, the property of grantees and to compel the attendance of witnesses, and the production of books and records, and to prescribe the penalties for the failure or refusal of grantees to testify, or to produce books and records from time to time, as required.”

The telephone company might from time to time propose changes in their rates, no higher rates to become effective until after October 1, 1920. The method of making such proposals was provided by said ordinance.

_ On May 19, 1920, said Dallas Telephone Company filed with the city of Dallas its application for increased telephone rates as per schedule attached, the same to become effective October 1, 1920. Said application was made in accordance with section 9 of said ordinance, which provided that changes of rates proposed by the telephone company should be filed with the city secretary for consideration of the board of commissioners and left on file for 30 days. If within that period the same have been approved, or have not been acted upon, by the board in whole or in part, the whole, or the part which is approved or is not acted upon, shall take effect as proposed: Provided, however, that said board shall have the right by resolution duly passed within said 30-day period to extend its time for acting upon such changes in rates for a period of not exceeding 90 additional days, in which event the board shall give to the telephone company a hearing with reference to the proposed changes in rates. After the hearing provided for is had, the board, before the expiration of such 90 days, shall either approve the proposed changes or make such order as may be reasonable, disapproving the said changes or either requiring grantees to make no changes or fixing and prescribing what change or changes grantees should make and what rates they shall charge—

[413]*413"and the proposed change or changes in rates in so far as same are contrary to such order of said board shall not take effect unless such order be thereafter rescinded or modified by the board or be held by a court of competent jurisdiction to be unreasonable or confiscatory in whole or in part of grantees’ property or rights.”

On June 21th the city by resolution of its board of commissioners directed the telephone company to be notified that they deemed it necessary to demand the largest period of time in the consideration of such matter, to wit, at least 90 days. On June 28th the board fixed July 1st" for giving a hearing to the telephone company upon said application and said hearing was then entered upon.

On September 23d the city of Dallas, through a letter from its mayor, notified the telephone company that the board of commissioners would allow an increase in rates based on a charge of $7.30 per month for business telephones and $3 per month for residence telephones (the schedule of rates which had been filed proposed a schedule based on $10 a month for business telephones and $4 a month for residence telephones), but no emergency clause would be attached to any order granting an increase in rates, and any increase granted should be effective for a period of only one year. Under the' city-charter, unless an emergency clause is attached thereto,'no order takes effect until 30 days after its passage. No ordinance was adopted or official action taken fixing the above rates, or any other, and the city insists that the above letter was not written officially, but was intended merely as a suggestion.

A bill was filed by the telephone company upon September 27th seeking to enjoin the city from interfering with its putting into effect its schedule of rates filed with said city on and after October 1st. 'flic court dismissed said bill as prematurely brought.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

City of Baytown v. General Tel. Co. of the Southwest
256 S.W.2d 187 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1953)
City of Baton Rouge v. Baton Rouge Waterworks Co.
30 F.2d 895 (Fifth Circuit, 1929)
Ward Baking Co. v. City of Fernandina
29 F.2d 789 (S.D. Florida, 1928)
Public Nat. Bank of New York v. Keating
29 F.2d 621 (S.D. New York, 1928)
Ex Parte Collins
277 U.S. 565 (Supreme Court, 1928)
King Manufacturing Co. v. City Council of Augusta
277 U.S. 100 (Supreme Court, 1928)
Opelika Sewer Co. v. City of Opelika
280 F. 155 (M.D. Alabama, 1922)
City & County of Denver v. Stenger
277 F. 865 (Eighth Circuit, 1921)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
272 F. 410, 1921 U.S. App. LEXIS 1627, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-dallas-v-dallas-telephone-co-ca5-1921.