Darling v. Darling

118 Misc. 817
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedJune 15, 1922
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 118 Misc. 817 (Darling v. Darling) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Darling v. Darling, 118 Misc. 817 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1922).

Opinion

Cheney, J.

Plaintiff brings this action to obtain a judgment restraining the defendant from operating a motor bus line and vehicles in connection therewith along certain streets and highways in the city of Little Falls as a part of a route extending from Main and Second streets in the city of Little Falls along the state road to Dolgeville, in the town of Manheim, Herkimer county.

The action was commenced November 3, 1921, and a temporary injunction was granted by the county judge of Herkimer county. This was continued during the pendency of the action by the Special Term held by Mr. Justice Devendorf. The case was tried at the December Special Term, Herkimer, at which time the counsel for the public service commission, state of New York, was permitted to appear as amicus curiae, and argue certain questions of law involved.

It fairly appears from the evidence that the plaintiff is and for some years last past has been engaged in the business of operating a motor bus line from the city of Little Falls to the village of Dolgeville. In the operation of such bus line he used the route beginning at the waiting room of the New York State Railways near the corner of Main and Second streets in the city of Little Falls, thence over the streets and highways of said city forming the usual route to the state highway leading to Dolgeville, and thence over said state highway to Dolgeville. On May 24, 1921, plaintiff obtained the consent of the local authorities of the city of Little Falls to the operation of his said bus line over that portion of the route which was located in that city, as required by section 26 of the Transportation Corporations Law, and on July 28, 1921, he obtained from the public service commission of the state of New York a certificate of public convenience and necessity for the operation of said bus line over the streets named in said consent from the city of Litt’e Falls as a part of a stage route to be operated between the city of Little Falls and the village of Dolgeville, as required by section 25 of the Transportation Corporations Law.

[819]*819Plaintiff carries on this business by means of substantial buses, run on an hourly schedule, and has a very considerable sum of money invested in the business.

Defendant was in the livery business in Dolgeville and some time ago started in the business of carrying passengers over the same route between Little Falls and Dolgeville in motor vehicles consisting of touring cars, in opposition to plaintiff. He applied to the local authorities of the city of Little Falls for a consent to operate his bus line over the portion of the route located in the city and the consent was granted. He thereafter applied to the public service commission for a certificate of public convenience and necessity. Upon that application a hearing was held by the public service commission, and on September 15, 1921, the commission denied the application, holding that the operation of another bus line over the same route was not necessary. Defendant thereafter applied to the public service commission for a rehearing of the application for the certificate, which rehearing was refused. Notwithstanding the denial of his application, the defendant continued to operate his bus line without having obtained such certificate until restrained by the injunction in this action.

Section 25 of the Transportation Corporations Law provides that any person or corporation which owns or operates a stage route, bus line or motor vehicle line or route or vehicles carrying passengers at a rate of fifteen cents or less within the limits of a city or in competition with another carrier which is required by law to obtain the consent of the local authorities of said city to operate over the streets thereof, wholly or partly upon and along any street, avenue or public place in any city, shall be deemed a common carrier within the meaning of the Public Service Commission Law, and shall be required to obtain a certificate of convenience and necessity for the operation of the route or vehicles proposed to be operated, and shall be subject to all the provisions of that law applicable to common carriers.

Section 26 of the same law provides that no such bus line, stage line nor motor vehicle line or route, nor any such vehicles shall be operated wholly or partly upon or along any street, avenue or public place in any city, nor receive a certificate of public convenience and necessity, until the owner or owners thereof shall have procured the consent of the local authorities of said city to such operation.

Section 53 of the Public Service Commission Law provides that no common carrier shall exercise any franchise or right under any law, not theretofore lawfully exercised, without first having obtained the permission and approval of the commission, and gives power [820]*820to the commission to grant such permission and approval whenever it shall after due hearing determine that such exercise of the franchise or privilege is necessary or convenient for the public service.

This legislation must be construed in view of the conditions which prompted its enactment, and in the light of the evil which it was intended to correct. This is very well expressed in the language of the court in Lane v. Whitaker, 275 Fed. Rep. 476, 480, as follows: “ The citizen has the right of travel upon the highways, and may transport his property thereon in the ordinary course of life and business; but this is a very different thing than permitting the highway to be used for commercial purposes, as a place of business, for private gain, in running jitney busses. The right, common to all, to the use of highways, is the ordinary use made thereof; but where, for private gain, a jitney owner wants a special and extraordinary benefit from the highway, to use it for such commercial purpose, the Legislature may, in the exercise of its police powers, wholly deny such use or it may permit it to some and deny it to others, and this is because of the extraordinary nature of such use. And where the Legislature grants the permission to use the highway, it may do so under regulations which are common to all applicants. They may grant, refuse, or revoke the license, and in so doing the Legislature may permit of rules and regulations when such use is granted. This it has done in the act in question, by providing that a body created under the law (the Public Utilities Commission) may make such rules and regulations and grant such license when public convenience and necessity require it.”

When it appears that a person is operating any such route or vehicle without obtaining the consent of the municipality or the certificate of public convenience and necessity from the public service commission, such operation is unlawful and a case is presented for the prevention of such unlawful act by injunction. Pub. Serv. Comm. v. Mt. Vernon Taxicab Co., 101 Misc. Rep. 497; Public Service Commission v. Hurtgan, 91 id. 432; Niagara Gorge Railroad Co. v. Gaiser, 109 id. 38; United Traction Co. v. Smith, 115 id. 73; Brooklyn City Railroad Co. v. Whalen, 191 App. Div. 737.

Defendant contends that as in the operation of his bus line he does not pick up passengers within the limits of the city of Little Falls for the purpose of carrying them to another point within said city and that no separate charge is made for any part of the transportation that is within the city of Little Falls, his operations do not bring him within the terms of sections 25 and 26 of the [821]

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Related

Surface Transportation Corp. v. Reservoir Bus Lines, Inc.
271 A.D.2d 556 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1946)
Darling v. Service Transportation Corp.
118 Misc. 811 (New York Supreme Court, 1922)

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Bluebook (online)
118 Misc. 817, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/darling-v-darling-nysupct-1922.