City of Philadelphia v. Yellow Cab Co.

64 Pa. D. & C.2d 123, 1973 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 92
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County
DecidedAugust 16, 1973
Docketno. 5360
StatusPublished

This text of 64 Pa. D. & C.2d 123 (City of Philadelphia v. Yellow Cab Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of Philadelphia v. Yellow Cab Co., 64 Pa. D. & C.2d 123, 1973 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 92 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1973).

Opinion

WEINROTT, J.,

The present controversy before the court is whether or not defendants are in compliance with the obligations imposed on them by having been granted certificates of convenience and necessity to operate taxicabs and cabulances within the City of Philadelphia and its environs.

On May 8, 1973, a labor contract between defendants and the driver members of Taxicab Drivers Local [124]*124No. 156 expired, and since that time defendants have ceased to provide cab service.

We enter the following

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. Plaintiff, City of Philadelphia (hereinafter “city”), is a city of the first class organized and existing under the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

2. Plaintiff, Frank L. Rizzo, Mayor, is the duly elected chief executive officer of the city, charged with the duty of protecting the safety, health and welfare of the approximately 2,000,000 people who live in Philadelphia, and many additional millions who work in and visit the city.

3. Defendant, Yellow Cab Company, Inc. (hereinafter “Yellow Cab”), is a corporation and public utility company organized and existing under the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for the purpose of providing uninterrupted public transit service in and about the city, pursuant to certificates of convenience and necessity issued by the Public Utility Commission of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

4. Defendant, Yellow Limousine Service, Inc. (hereinafter “Yellow Limousine”), is a corporation and public utility company organized and existing under the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for the purpose of providing uninterrupted public transit service in and about the city, pursuant to certificates of convenience and necessity issued by the Public Utility Commission of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. In addition, defendant Yellow Limousine also operates a public ambulance service known as “cabulance.”

5. Defendant, Jerry Wolman, is the sole owner of the common stock of defendants, Yellow Cab and Yellow Limousine.

[125]*1256. Defendant, Philadelphia National Bank, holds a security interest in defendants, Yellow Cab and Yellow Limousine, and will retain such security interest until all certain notes are paid in connection with the acquisition of the common stock of Yellow Cab and Yellow Limousine by defendant Wolman.

7. Defendants, Howard Butcher, 3rd, W. W. Keen Butcher, Alfred Blasband, Bernard G. Segal, Jerry Wolman and Paul Levine, are directors of defendant corporations, Yellow Cab and Yellow Limousine.

8. Defendants, Milton A. Eisenberg, Louis Porretti and S. Jay Cooke, are the president, vice president and secretary, respectively, of the corporate defendants.

9. The public transportation services provided by defendants are necessary and essential to the health, safety, welfare and economic security of the city, its inhabitants, its businesses, its industries and its visitors.

10. On or about May 8, 1973, the operations and services to the public of defendants, Yellow Cab, Yellow Limousine and cabulance, ceased and were suspended by reason of the expiration of the existing contract with Taxicab Drivers’ Union Local 156.

11. There has been a continuous interruption in Yellow Cab service in Philadelphia from May 8, 1973, to the date of hearing, August 15, 1973.

12. The granting to defendant Yellow Cab by the Public Utility Commission of its certificates of convenience is a declaration that a need exists in Philadelphia for adequate cab service to serve the needs of the public, and proper and continuous service is vital for the proper operation of the city.

13. The daily number of cabs provided by Yellow Cab is approximately 850.

14. Under the Public Utility Code of May 28, 1937, P. L. 1053, art. IV, sec. 403, 66 PS §1173, defendants [126]*126are required to render services which shall be reasonable and continuous and without unreasonable interruptions or delay.

15. The mere absence of 850 plus cabs on a daily basis for a prolonged, uninterrupted period of 13 weeks in the city is sufficient to find irreparable harm.

DISCUSSION

Defendants have filed preliminary objections attacking the jurisdiction of this court.

In addition, defendant, Philadelphia National Bank, has filed a motion to dismiss as to them in that they are not a necessary party. We note that before hearing this matter, defendant bank was the moving party in the United States District Court on a petition for removal. That was denied and the case remanded to this court for adjudication. Furthermore, for all intents and purposes, defendant bank is the owner of all the common stock of defendant Yellow Cab and exercises all incidents of ownership with respect thereto. In any event, they have shown no prejudice to them, and we believe that since they have the right to exercise the voting rights of the stock for all purposes, that they are properly made a party.

The matter of jurisdiction must be considered.

The Public Utility Code of May 28, 1937, P. L. 1053, sec. 917, 66 PS §1357, recognizes the cumulative nature of its provisions and specifically preserves existing rights of action and remedies in equity.

Accordingly, the code, supra, provides, inter alia, 66 PS §1357, as follows:

“Effect on existing liabilities and rights of action
“Except as otherwise expressly provided, none of the powers or duties conferred or imposed by this act upon the commission, and none of the regulations, orders, certificates, permits, or licenses made, regis[127]*127tered, or issued by the commission, and none of the duties, powers, or limitations of the powers conferred or imposed by this act upon public utilities, contract carriers by motor vehicle, or brokers, or the performance or exercise thereof, shall be construed in anywise to abridge or impair any of the obligations, duties, or liabilities of any public utility, contract carrier by motor vehicle, or broker in equity or under the existing common or statutory law of the Commonwealth; but all such obligations, duties, and liabilities shall be and remain as heretofore. And except as otherwise provided, nothing in this act contained shall in any way abridge or alter the existing rights of action or remedies in equity or under the common or statutory law of the Commonwelath, it being the intention that the provisions of this act shall be cumulative and in addition to such rights of action and remedies”: May 28, 1937, P. L. 1053, art. IX, §917. (Italics supplied.)

The court in Rogoff v. The Buncher Company, 395 Pa. 477, discussed the concurrent jurisdiction of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, and recognized that at page 482 that:

“Both equity and the Commission have jurisdiction in their own fields. The situation is like a public road to whose center the adjoining properties extend, with rights in the owners subject to the public’s right of way. As this Court said in Reading & Southwestern Street Railway Co. v. Reading Street Railway Co., supra (361 Pa. 647, 66 A.2d 260); quoted in Reading and Southwestern St. Ry. Co. v. Pennsylvania P.U.C., 168 Pa. Superior Ct.

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Related

Rogoff v. the Buncher Co.
151 A.2d 83 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1959)
Reading & Southwestern Street Railway Co. v. Reading Street Railway Co.
66 A.2d 260 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1949)
Tate v. Philadelphia Transportation Co.
190 A.2d 316 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1963)

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Bluebook (online)
64 Pa. D. & C.2d 123, 1973 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 92, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-philadelphia-v-yellow-cab-co-pactcomplphilad-1973.