Fletcher v. Bordelon

56 S.W.2d 313
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 11, 1933
DocketNo. 2414.
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 56 S.W.2d 313 (Fletcher v. Bordelon) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fletcher v. Bordelon, 56 S.W.2d 313 (Tex. Ct. App. 1933).

Opinion

O’QUINN, J.

. This is an appeal by E. A. Fletcher, mayor of the city of Beaumont, and other city officers, from a judgment of the district court of Jefferson county, Tex., perpetuating and mating permanent an injunction against them from enforcing or attempting to enforce the provisions of a certain ordinance passed by the city of Beaumont in regard to the operation of automobiles in the transportation of persons for hire on and over the streets of said city, known as the “Hack and Carriage Ordinance.” The enacting clause of said ordinance is as follows: “An Ordinance entitled an ordinance defining hacks and carriages, providing that it shall be necessary to procure a special permit for the operation of same, and the provisions under which a permit may be issued, regulating the operation thereof in the city limits of the City of Beaumont, prohibiting their operation under various conditions, declaring the unrestricted .operation of said hacks and carriages to be a nuisance and unlawful, repealing all ordinances and parts of ordinances in conflict herewith insofar as in conflict and no further, and providing a penalty for the unlawful operation thereof.”

Appellees, R. J. Bordelon, J. Rizzo, Bennie Salach, E. T. Hyde, and O. B. Payne, Jr., alleged that they had associated themselves together for the purpose of operating a business of carrying passengers for hire in the city of Beaumon,t, and that their association was known as the “Blue Bird Taxi Association.” That in carrying on said business they were using, and would continue to use, vehicles known as automobiles, and that they had expended a large sum of money in equipping said automobiles for the transportation of passengers for hire and had also arranged and equipped a depot or headquarters for the transaction of said business. They further alleged that Carl E. Kennedy, chief of police of the city of Beaumont, was threatening to arrest sai*d appellees for operating their said business in violation of said Hack and Carriage Ordinance, and would do so unless restrained, and prayed for a writ of injunction against the mayor, E. A. Fletcher, Carl E. Kennedy, chief of police, Paul Millard, city manager, Steve King, city attorney, Sam Z. Powell, and George A. Wells, city commissioners, which was granted, and, as above stated, made permanent.

The ordinance is quite lengthy, consisting of some twenty-three sections and covering many pages of the record. We shall not set same out at length, but will refer to such portions as are necessary to be discussed. The city of Beaumont is now, and has been, since prior to September 11, 1928, operating, under the Home Rule Amendment to the Texas Constitution (art. 11, § 5) and the Enabling Act thereto. September 11, 1928, it. passed what is termed a Hack and Carriage Ordinance. .June 17, 1932, the ordinance was: amended in certain particulars. That is the ordinance in question.

Section 1 of said ordinance reads:

“Section 1. Unless it appears from the context that a different meaning is intended, the following words shall have the meaning attached to them by this Section:
“a. The word street shall mean and include any street, alley, avenue, lane, public place or highway within the city limits of the City of Beaumont. ¡
“b. The word hack is hereby defined to' mean, cover and embrace any vehicle for hire for the purpose of transporting passengers' upon or over the streets of the City bf Beaumont, whether operated- wholly within the city or between points outside of the city and points within the city, except vehicles operated upon rails or tracks.
“c. The term carriage is hereby defined to mean, cover,' and embrace any vehicle operated for hire for the purpose of transporting goods, wares, merchandise, baggage -or freight upon or over the streets of the City of Beaumont, except vehicles operated upon rails or tracks.
“d. The word person includes both singular and plural and shall mean and embrace any .person, firm, corporation, association; partnership or society.”

■ Section 2 relates to obtaining a certificate of public convenience and necessity authorizing the operation of vehicles.. Subdivision (a) is: “Certificate of Public. Convenience and Necessity: No hack or carriage shall hereafter operate within the corporate limits of the City of Beaumont, Texas, without first having obtained from the City Commission of the City of Beaumont, Texas, under the provisions of this Ordinance, a certificate declaring that the public convenience and necessity requiring such operation exists, and without having a license as herein provided.” Subdivision (b) provides that such application shall be made to the city commission, and shall furnish certain information to be considered by said commission on hearing. Subdivision (c) provides that the city commission shall determine whether the public convenience and necessity requires the operation of such vehicles and authorized said commission to investigate the fitness of the applicant to operate such vehicles, and in doing so, among other things, to give weight and due regard to (1) the probable permanence and quality of the services offered by the applicant; (2) the financial ability and responsibility of the applicant; (3) the char *316 acter of vehicles, and character and location of depots and terminals to be used; (4) the experience of the applicant in the transportation of passengers for hire in automobiles; and (5) the adequacy of the hack service and other forms of transportation for passengers already existing in the city.

Section 3 provides: “(a) Issuance or refusal of certificates. The Oity Commission shall have the authority to either grant an application for which an application is made, or to grant a certificate to the applicant for a lesser number of vehicles than specified in said application, provided, the City Commission first finds that public convenience and necessity demands the granting of said certificate ; if the City Commission finds that public convenience and necessity do not require the operation of any such hack or hacks, or carriages, as is specified in the application, or that the applicant is not fit to conduct such business, it shall forthwith refuse such application and no certificate of convenience and necessity shall be issued to such applicant. The burden shall be upon the applicant to establish the existence of a public convenience and necessity for the operation of hacks or carriages designated in the application.”

Subdivision (b) provides for the issuance of the certificate of convenience and necessity, if the necessity therefor is found to exist and the applicant has furnished the information required, and same supports the application.

Subdivision (c) makes the certificate nontransferable without the consent and approval of the city commission, and prescribes the manner of transfer.

Subdivision (d) provides that license to the applicant shall be issued within thirty days after the certificate of convenience and necessity is granted and proof of payment of required license fees. It further provides that no license or renewal of license shall be issued until the holder of the certificate shall show that all taxes levied and assessed by the city against the vehicle, if due, have been paid, and that said vehicle has been rendered to the city assessor and collector for taxation for the current year for which the said license is sought.

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

Related

Ex Parte Abell
613 S.W.2d 255 (Texas Supreme Court, 1981)
City of San Antonio v. Wallace
338 S.W.2d 153 (Texas Supreme Court, 1960)
City of Abilene v. Woodlock
282 S.W.2d 736 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1955)
Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion
Texas Attorney General Reports, 1953
Town of Ascarate v. Villalobos
223 S.W.2d 945 (Texas Supreme Court, 1949)
Reed v. City of Waco
223 S.W.2d 247 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1949)
East Texas Motor Freight Lines v. Loftis
219 S.W.2d 133 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1949)
Moore v. Cox
215 S.W.2d 666 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1948)
Beene v. Bryant
201 S.W.2d 268 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1947)
City of Corpus Christi v. Texas Driverless Co.
190 S.W.2d 484 (Texas Supreme Court, 1945)
North Little Rock Transportation Co. v. City of North Little Rock
184 S.W.2d 52 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1944)
N. L. R. Transportation v. City of N. L. R.
184 S.W.2d 52 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1944)
City of Dallas v. Harris
157 S.W.2d 710 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1941)
Commercial Standard Ins. Co. v. Shudde
76 S.W.2d 561 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1934)
Dallas Taxicab Co. v. City of Dallas
68 S.W.2d 359 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1934)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
56 S.W.2d 313, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fletcher-v-bordelon-texapp-1933.