City of Seattle v. Puget Sound Traction, Light & Power Co.

174 P. 464, 103 Wash. 41, 1918 Wash. LEXIS 1075
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedJune 28, 1918
DocketNo. 14582
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 174 P. 464 (City of Seattle v. Puget Sound Traction, Light & Power Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of Seattle v. Puget Sound Traction, Light & Power Co., 174 P. 464, 103 Wash. 41, 1918 Wash. LEXIS 1075 (Wash. 1918).

Opinion

Holcomb, J.

— Since 1900, appellant and its predecessors have paid to the city of Seattle two per cent of the gross receipts from operation of its street railway, as required by its franchises. In January, 1917, it refused to pay the sum of $64,387.78, the amount due for 1916, except upon conditions which were unacceptable to the city. Respondent brought action to recover the amount. A demurrer was sustained to appellant’s affirmative defenses, and also to each of the three alleged defenses in its amended answer. Refusing to plead further, judgment was entered against appellant as prayed in the complaint.

Appellant assigns as errors the action of the court: (1) In sustaining respondent’s demurrer to appellant’s [43]*43first defense;- (2) in sustaining respondent’s demurrer to appellant’s second and affirmative defense; (3) in sustaining respondent’s demurrer to appellant’s third and affirmative defense, and in holding that the action of respondent set forth in such defense did not impair the obligation of the contract between respondent and appellant, in contravention of § 10, art. 1, of the constitution of the United States, and did not deprive appellant of its property without due process of law and deny it the equal protection of the law, in contravention of the fourteenth amendment to the constitution of the United States, and also in contravention of §§ 3 and 23, art. 1, of the constitution of the state of Washington; (4) in rendering judgment in favor of respondent against appellant for the sum sought to be recovered by respondent, and thereby upholding the action of respondent whereby the obligation of the contract between appellant and respondent was impaired, in contravention of § 10, art. 1, of the constitution of the United States, whereby appellant was deprived of its property without due process of law, in contravention of the fourteenth amendment to the constitution of the United States, and also of §§ 3 and 23, art. 1, of the constitution of the state of Washington; (5) in not holding that the third and affirmative defense constituted a complete estoppel against respondent, estopping it from recovering in this suit until it should refund to appellant the loss sustained by appellant by the enactment and enforcement of ordinance No. 28,253.

The main question for us to decide is whether the demurrer to appellant’s amended answer has been properly sustained. We will attempt to follow appellant’s assignments in order.

Appellant concedes that, until the enactment of the public service commission law in 1911 (Laws 1911, p. 538; Bern. Code, §8626-1 et seq.), the condition in the [44]*44franchises requiring the payment of a percentage upon the gross earnings of the street railways was one with which it could legally comply. Appellant admitted the actual terms of the franchises, but denied the legal conclusions pleaded in the complaint. There is no dispute as to the amount involved, nor is there any question involved which makes it necessary to distinguish between the appellant and its predecessors in interest. Although the first defense, standing alone, raised an issue by denials, nevertheless appellant either conceded or admitted the facts triable under that issue, attempting to avoid the obligation pleaded in the complaint by its affirmative defenses.

In its second and affirmative defense, appellant pleads, in substance, the passage by the 1911 legislature of “an act relating to public service properties, providing for the regulation of the same, fixing penalties for the violation thereof, making an appropriation, and repealing certain acts,” which has ever since been, and is now, in force and effect; that defendant is a corporation authorized to construct, maintain and operate street railways in the cities of Seattle and Belling-ham, and that it has been for four years last past a common carrier of passengers upon the street railways authorized to be constructed and operated under the ordinances mentioned in the complaint; that the franchises of Seattle require that a percentage of the gross receipts of appellant be paid it, while the franchises granted to appellant by the city of Bellingham do not require such percentage; that the provision of the franchises mentioned in the complaint in this action, requiring the payment to Seattle of a percentage upon the gross receipts derived from the operation of the street railways under such franchises, is an undue and unjust discrimination against persons and localities in and outside of Seattle, and since the enactment of the [45]*45public service commission law, approved March 18, 1911 (Laws 1911, p. 538; Rem. Code, §8626-1 et seq.), was, and now is, against the public policy of the state of Washington.

Appellant claims that the legislative authority of a city, acting as an agency of the state, has no power to prescribe for its own benefit terms and conditions not subject to future state control. In 1890, the legislature passed the enabling act relating to cities. Subdivision 9, § 5, of this act (Laws 1890, p. 218), Rem. Code, § 7507, contains the following grant of power:

“To authorize or prohibit the locating and constructing of any railroad or street railroad in any street, alley, or public place in such city, and to prescribe the terms and conditions upon which any such railroad or street railroad shall be located or constructed; ...”

This is a plain and specific grant by the state to the city of power to impose terms and conditions upon which any of its streets may be used by a street railroad. Specific and broader language could hardly be used.

In Tacoma R. & Power Co. v. Tacoma, 79 Wash. 508, 140 Pac. 565, it was held the legislature intended to, and did, vest the city with the whole of the state’s police power touching the subject-matter. State ex rel. Spokane & B. C. Tel. Co. v. Spokane, 24 Wash. 53, 63 Pac. 1116; Western Union Tel. Co. v. Richmond, 224 U. S. 160; Coverdale v. Edwards, 155 Ind. 374, 58 N. E. 495; State ex rel. Tacoma v. Sunset Telephone & Telegraph Co., 86 Wash. 309, 150 Pac. 427, L. R. A. 1917F 1178; State ex rel. Tacoma R. & Power Co. v. Public Service Commission, 101 Wash. 601, 172 Pac. 890.

The question here is whether the public service commission law, either by its terms or by necessary implication, attempted to confer power upon the public [46]*46service commission to modify or abrogate franchise provisions which had theretofore been imposed by the city in granting the franchises under the specific grant of the legislature. Rem. Code, § 7507, subd. 7'. Appellant points us to § 21, p. 555, Laws 1911, Rem. Code, § 8626-21, which is as follows:

“Unreasonable Preference. — No common carrier shall make or give any undue or unreasonable preference or advantage to any person or corporation or to any locality or to any particular description of traffic in any respect whatsoever, or subject any particular person or corporation or locality or any particular description of traffic, to any undue or unreasonable prejudice or disadvantage in any respect whatsoever. ’ ’

Appellant claims that, if a.

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Bluebook (online)
174 P. 464, 103 Wash. 41, 1918 Wash. LEXIS 1075, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-seattle-v-puget-sound-traction-light-power-co-wash-1918.