Edison Electric Light & Power Co. v. Blomquist

124 N.W. 969, 110 Minn. 163, 1910 Minn. LEXIS 968
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedFebruary 11, 1910
DocketNos. 16,449—(197, 1)
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 124 N.W. 969 (Edison Electric Light & Power Co. v. Blomquist) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Edison Electric Light & Power Co. v. Blomquist, 124 N.W. 969, 110 Minn. 163, 1910 Minn. LEXIS 968 (Mich. 1910).

Opinion

Lewis, J.

Appeal from an order of the district court of Kamsey county directing that a writ of injunction issue restraining appellants from cutting any of the electric wires, or from removing, adjusting, or otherwise interfering with any wires or lamps belonging to respondents suspended along the route over which appellant, Blomquist, was proceeding to move a certain building.

On June 7, 1909, the commissioner of public works issued a permit to appellant, Blomquist, to move a two-story frame building, owned by defendant Johnston, from the north side of Fifth street, lot 9, block 7, Bice & Irvine’s addition, to the north side of Walnut street, on lot 9, block 10, Dayton & Irvine’s addition to St. Paul, over the following route: “On Fifth street to Smith avenue, and thence on Smith avenue to Walnut street to destination.” The permit contained the following restriction: “This permit does not allow interference with wires or any other obstructions on above route.”

Appellant- was about to proceed with the moving of the house, when respondent secured a temporary writ of injunction, and the matter came on for final determination before the court, and on August 12, 1909, an order was issued for a permanent injunction restraining appellant, Blomquist, “from cutting or severing any wires belonging to the plaintiffs, carrying electricity, which may be suspended along said route, * * * from removing or adjusting or otherwise interfering with any of said wires or lamps, unless said defendant shall first give plaintiffs twenty-four hours’ notice in writing of the necessity for so doing, to the end that plaintiffs may have an oppor[166]*166tunity of furnishing men and appliances for proper .adjustment of said wires, lamps, and equipment, and unless said defendants shall furnish a bond, to be approved by this court, indemnifying plaintiffs against any cost or expense incurred by plaintiffs in the removal, adjustment, or readjustment of said wires, lamps, and equipment.”

In 1883 the common council of the city of St. Paul passed an ordinance, known as the “Building Code,” which was amended in 1901, and provided: “Any building may be removed from one lot to another outside the fire limits, but any new work must be in compliance with this Code. No person except a licensed house mover shall remove any building within the city limits. * * The ordinance further provided that the party applying for a-license to move houses should give a bond in the sum of $1,000, running to the city, conditioned to indemnify it from all damages that might accrue from injury to streets, trees, pavements, telegraph poles, wires, etc., and further provided that “upon execution of said bond, and its approval by the corporation attorney, a license shall be issued, and the said licensed person shall in each and every instance, before removing any building, obtain a permit to do so from the commissioner of public works, stating specifically all the conditions, prescribing the route to be taken, and limiting the time for the removal.”

Subsequent to the passage of this house-movers ordinance, and long prior to the issuing of the permit to appellant, respondent companies were duly authorized by the city council to occupy the streets of the city with poles and wires and to maintain the same for the purpose of furnishing electricity to the city and its- inhabitants, and at the time of the issuing of the permit respondents had erected and were maintaining at the corners of the streets along the route designated in the permit certain arc lamps and the necessary feed wires and attachments connected therewith.

Appellant’s position in this court is that the qualification in the order for injunction, requiring payment of the expense of adjusting the lamps and wires, was an unauthorized restriction upon his legal rights.- The proposition is stated in appellant’s brief as follows: “Appellant contends most respectfully that his right to use and occupy the space above the public streets in the lawful.perform[167]*167anee of his profession as a house mover is coequal and coextensive with the rights of respondents, and antedates them in point of time; that his rights in this regard were fixed and defined by public law at 'the time respondents accepted their franchise; and that if, under such conditions, respondents so suspended their wires as to constitute an obstruction to this appellant while engaged in lawfully conducting his labors as a house mover, then it becomes the duty of said respondents, at their own expense, to remove said obstructions temporarily whenever the necessities of appellant’s business require such removal.”

This claim assumes that both parties have the right to occupy the streets for the purpose of conducting their business, subject only to the right of reasonable regulation. Such is not the law. The use of streets for moving houses is an unusual and extraordinary one. Kibbie v. Landphere, 151 Mich. 309, 115 N. W. 244, 16 L.R.A. (N.S.) 689; Northwestern Co. v. Anderson, 12 N. D. 585, 98 N. W. 706, 65 L.R.A. 771, 102 Am. St. 580; Day v. Green, 4 Cush. (Mass.) 433; Williams v. Citizens, 130 Ind. 71, 29 N. E. 408, 15 L.R.A. 64, 30 Am. St. 201; Millville v. Goodwin, 53 N. J. Eq. 448, 32 Atl. 263; Keating v. Macdonald, 73 Conn. 125, 46 Atl. 871; Harcourt v. Common Council, 62 N. J. L. 158, 40 Atl. 690. Authority to use the streets for the erection of poles and wires, and for moving houses, is vested in the city authorities, and without such authority there is no right. Eureka City v. Wilson, 15 Utah, 53, 48 Pac. 41; Wilson v. Eureka City, 173 U. S. 32, 19 Sup. Ct. 317, 43 L. Ed. 603. Respondents secured no vested rights to occupy the streets with their wires, poles, and lights, except as provided by the franchise in pursuance of which the same were erected; and appellant acquired no rights in the streets for the purpose of conducting his business of house mover, except as specified and limited by the ordinance and the permit. At the time appellant applied for his permit, respondents were.in lawful possession of the streets for the purpose of maintaining the wires and lamps involved in this action, and appellant has no standing to contest that right, unless upon the ground of an equal or prior right by virtue of the ordinance under which he was licensed to do business.

[168]*168The house-movers license ordinance simply permits the removal of a building from one lot to another outside the fire limits, and requires that, before any licensed house mover shall move any house, he shall give a bond and secure a permit from the commissioner of public works. No absolute right to use the streets is conferred upon those who may take out a license. The ordinance reserves the right of supervision for the protection of public and private property, and the commissioner was vested with authority to prescribe the route and the conditions upon which a permit might be issued. The powers, thus delegated to the commissioner are ministerial, and not legislative. 28 Cyc. 277, and cases above cited.

Appellant stands in this court upon his strict legal right to require respondents to remove their wires at their own expense, upon reasonable notice. In this he is mistaken. His right to use the streets is restricted by the permit, and there is no legal ground for the demand he makes. Whether respondents might have been compelled by the city council to take care of the wires and lamps at their own expense in such case is not involved in this action.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
124 N.W. 969, 110 Minn. 163, 1910 Minn. LEXIS 968, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/edison-electric-light-power-co-v-blomquist-minn-1910.