Georgia Power Co. v. City of Macon

187 S.E.2d 262, 228 Ga. 641, 1972 Ga. LEXIS 873
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedFebruary 11, 1972
Docket26922
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 187 S.E.2d 262 (Georgia Power Co. v. City of Macon) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Georgia Power Co. v. City of Macon, 187 S.E.2d 262, 228 Ga. 641, 1972 Ga. LEXIS 873 (Ga. 1972).

Opinion

Grice, Justice.

This action arose when the appellants Georgia Power Company, an electric utility corporation, and Ed Grubb, its district superintendent, filed a complaint in the Superior Court of Bibb County against the City of Macon and William Branan, Jr., its Director of the Bureau of Inspection and Fees, seeking to enjoin the prosecution of three summonses against each appellant in the City Court of Macon.

[642]*642Each summons charged the appellants with violation of 13 separate subsections of the City of Macon Electrical Code on 14 occasions, for a total of 66 violations against each appellant, regarding electrical installations installed by them in the city. The maximum punishment for each alleged violation is 60 days in the city stockade or a fine not exceeding $300.

The complaint alleged, in substance, that Georgia Power Company and all its employees are exempt from the City of Macon Electrical Code because the work involved in the summonses was performed pursuant to rights on private property established by easements granted them by the owners of the property involved.

The complaint also alleged that the defendants would continue to make cases against the Georgia Power Company and its employees for similar type work which they will perform from day to day; that they would continue to prosecute the plaintiffs and other employees of Georgia Power Company and subject them to fines and imprisonment as set forth above unless enjoined by the court; that the court should take jurisdiction to prevent a multiplicity of actions; that an actual controversy exists as to whether the ordinances which the plaintiffs are charged with violating apply to Georgia Power Company and Ed Grubb; and that pursuant to Code Ann. § 110-1101 et seq. the court should determine once and for all their liabilities, if any, as to the ordinances they are accused of violating and the right of the defendants to issue summonses and subject them to prosecution for such alleged violations.

The prayers were that the court (1) declare the rights, obligations and responsibilities of the parties in the matters complained of; (2) declare that Georgia Power Company and its employees are exempt from the application of the ordinances which they are charged with violating, and that said summonses are null and void; (3) temporarily and permanently enjoin the defendants from prosecuting any of these alleged violations; (4) issue a rule nisi order; and (5) grant general relief.

[643]*643The defendants answered denying the essential allegations of the complaint.

They conceded that Georgia Power Company had easements and that the work for which charges were made by the aforesaid summonses was done pursuant to these easements, but they denied that Georgia Power Company and its agents, including Grubb, were exempt from the provisions of the City Electrical Code.

Upon the interlocutory hearing the defendants presented no testimony. After hearing evidence, the trial court granted an interlocutory injunction on behalf of the plaintiffs as to two of the summonses, but denied it as to the other four.

In regard to the denial of injunctive relief the order recited in essential part as follows:

"The contention of the plaintiffs that they are exempt from the application, coverage and requirement of the City ordinances of the City of Macon by virtue of the language of Section 90-2 (b) (5) of the National Electrical Code is not well taken. It is the opinion of this court that this language contained in said Code does not purport to exempt petitioners from the operation of the Code but that Section 90-2 (b) is merely a statement by the codifiers reciting certain areas and types of installations which are not provided for in the Code. This court does not determine that this is intended to act as an exemption. The court further determines that even if the said language should be construed as being intended to create an exemption, the matters complained of do not fall within the exemption since in the opinion of the court the mere obtaining of an easement does not place in the complainants the exclusive control of the electric wiring. .

As to the four summonses which it refused to enjoin, the trial court’s order provided that "although the court finds from the evidence submitted that neither of the plaintiffs installed or had anything whatsoever to do with service-entrance conductors, the plaintiffs can as easily present this evidentiary defense in the Municipal Court of Macon, Geor[644]*644gia, to which the involved summonses are directed, as they can in this court, and thus present here no grounds for the aid of equity.”

The appeal is from this order.

The appellants contend that the trial court erred in holding that the language of the Electrical Code does not purport to exempt Georgia Power Company’s installations from its operation.

In this connection, Section 90-1 (a) of the City Electrical Code, adopted from the National Electrical Code, sets forth its purpose as being "the practical safeguarding of persons and of buildings and their contents from hazards arising from the use of electricity for light, heat, power, radio, signalling and for other purposes.” (Emphasis supplied.)

Under the caption "Scope,” Section 90-2 sets forth in detail those items and installations which are either "covered” (90-2 (a)) or "not covered” (90-2 (b)) by the Code.

Section 90-2 (b) (5), which is the only one of the five specified categories involved here, provides that the Code does not cover "Installations under the exclusive control of electrical utilities for the purpose of communication, metering or for the generation, control, transformation, transmission and distribution of electrical energy generated in buildings used exclusively by utilities for such purposes or located outdoors on property owned or leased by the utility or on public highways, streets, roads, etc., or outdoors by established rights on private property.” (Emphasis supplied.)

The word "cover” has many meanings and usages in our language. The definition in Webster’s New International Dictionary, 2d Ed., Vol. I, is applicable here, to wit: "To comprehend, include or embrace; as cases covered by a law.”

This court has also employed the word "cover” in this same context, such as the following: "The principal question left for decision, therefore, is whether the plaintiffs’ trucks are exempted from or covered by the Act.” Benton Bros. Drayage &c. Co. v. Mayor &c. of Savannah, 219 Ga. 172, 175 (132 SE2d 196). (Emphasis supplied.)

[645]*645In the instant situation it is clear that in the city ordinance involved the word "cover” includes or embraces those items set forth in Section 90-2 (a), and does not include or embrace those items and installations recited in Section 90-2 (b) (1, 2, 3, 4, and 5).

For the foregoing reasons we conclude that those installations set out in Section 90-2 (b) (5) are exempt from the city electrical code, and that the trial court erred in its order in this respect.

The appellants also urge as error the holding of the trial court that "the mere obtaining of an easement” does not place them in exclusive control of the installations here involved so as to exempt them under the provisions of Section 90-2 (b) (5) of the Code.

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Related

Bibb County v. Georgia Power Co.
525 S.E.2d 136 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1999)

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Bluebook (online)
187 S.E.2d 262, 228 Ga. 641, 1972 Ga. LEXIS 873, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/georgia-power-co-v-city-of-macon-ga-1972.