Kissane v. Detroit, Ypsilanti & Ann Arbor Railway

79 N.W. 1104, 121 Mich. 175, 1899 Mich. LEXIS 545
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 12, 1899
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 79 N.W. 1104 (Kissane v. Detroit, Ypsilanti & Ann Arbor Railway) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kissane v. Detroit, Ypsilanti & Ann Arbor Railway, 79 N.W. 1104, 121 Mich. 175, 1899 Mich. LEXIS 545 (Mich. 1899).

Opinion

Long, J.

The defendant owns and operates a line of street railway between the cities of Ann Arbor and Detroit. This line passes through the townships of Canton, Nankin, Dearborn, the village of Wayne, and other townships and villages not material to this case. The [176]*176agreement or franchise from the township of Canton, so far as is material to the case, is as follows:

“The rate of fare for any distance on the line of said railway within the said township of Canton shall not exceed five cents, but the rate of fare for any distance on the line of said railway outside of said township shall not exceed two cents per mile.”

On April 10,.1899, plaintiff boarded one of defendant’s cars at a point in the township of Canton, with the intention of going through to Detroit. He did not communicate this intention to defendant’s conductor. The through fare from this point to Detroit was 35 cents. Plaintiff offered defendant’s conductor 10 cents, as a fare to Inkster, which is an unincorporated village on the line between the townships of Nankin and Dearborn. To reach Inkster from where plaintiff boarded the car, he had to cross a portion of the township of Canton and the whole of the township of Nankin, also through the village of Wayne, which is situate wholly within the territory of the township of Nankin. Defendant’s conductor refused to accept the 10 cents offered, and demanded 15 cents. Plaintiff paid the 5 cents under protest. The agreement or franchise from the township of Nankin, as regards fare, is almost identical with that of the township of Canton. The provisions of the franchise from the village of Wayne are that fare shall not exceed 1% cents per mile, provided that no passenger shall be carried any distance for less than 5 cents. On arriving at Inkster, plaintiff tendered defendant’s conductor a ticket. This ticket is issued pursuant to the franchise granted to defendant by the township of Dear-born, which, so far as relates to this ticket, is as follows:

“ It is further provided that said grantee shall charge not to exceed the following rates: * * * Prom any point in said township west of St. Joseph’s Retreat to Woodward avenue, in said city [Detroit], * * * strip of five such tickets for sixty-five cents, good either way.”

Defendant’s conductor refused to accept this, because plaintiff was a through passenger, and did not get on the [177]*177car at Inkster. The conductor demanded a cash fare of 20 cents, which plaintiff paid, to prevent being put off the car. This suit was brought to recover the 5 cents which plaintiff claims is an overcharge for his fare to Inkster, and 7 cents, the excess of his cash fare over the ticket from Inkster to Detroit.

The case was tried before the court without a jury. The court found:

1. That the plaintiff was entitled to ride from the point where he boarded said car, in the township of Canton, to the village of Inkster, for the sum of 10 cents, and that the additional sum of 5 cents was wrongfully exacted, and that he was entitled to recover the same.
2. That the ticket tendered at Inkster entitled the plaintiff to ride from Inkster to the city hall in Detroit, and that, therefore, the 20 cents demanded and paid was illegally and wrongfully exacted, and the plaintiff was entitled to recover the difference between 13 cents, which he had paid for his ticket, and the 20 cents exacted, or 7 cents for that part of the route, making 12 cents in all, with his costs of suit, not exceeding $25,.

Counsel for defendant asked the court to find:

“ 1. That, under the undisputed testimony, the defendant is entitled to charge and collect from a passenger boarding its cars in the township of Canton, with the intention of going to Detroit, the regular fare, 35 cents.
‘ ‘ 2. That the defendant has the right to charge and collect from passengers boarding its cars in the township of Canton to go to Inkster 5 cents for the township of Canton, 5 cents for the township of Nankin, and 5 cents for the village of Wayne.
“3. That passengers who board defendant’s cars in the township of Canton to go to Detroit do not have the right to pay fare to the line between Canton and Nankin, then 5 cents to the line between Nankin and Dearborn, and then offer a 13-eent ticket to Detroit.
‘ ‘4. That passengers who board defendant’s cars with the intention of going to points beyond the limits of the municipality within which they first take the cars do not have the right to pay local fares fixed by other municipalities through whose limits they may chance to pass.
“ 5. That a passenger who boards defendant’s cars for [178]*178the purpose of a continuous ride t© any point is governed during his whole trip by the franchise granted by the municipality within whose limits he boarded the car.”

The court refused each of those findings.

It is contended by counsel for defendant that the township of Canton gave the defendant the right to pass through its limits, and, as a local fare within its limits, fixed a maximum of 5 cents; if, however, the passenger wished to go beyond the limits of the township, the defendant had the right to charge not to exceed 2 cents per mile; that the first applied to local, the second to through, passengers. It. is also said that, when plaintiff boarded the car in Canton to go to Detroit, he selected the provision of the Canton franchise which was most to his advantage, and attempted to ignore that part which was of advantage to the defendant; that he was on defendant’s car under the Canton franchise, and by virtue of that franchise defendant agreed to convey him to Detroit, not first to Nankin, then to Inkster, and then to the city of Detroit; that plaintiff must take the contract as an entirety, or not at all; that, if defendant can charge through rates, plaintiff cannot avail himself of the 13-cent ticket from Inkster to Detroit. It is conceded by counsel that they are unable to find any adjudicated case directly in point.

We cannot agree with counsel in their contention. The Canton franchise fixed the maximum fare at 5 cents. This entitled the plaintiff to the right to be carried through that township for 5 cents, though he may have intended at the .time of taking passage to go beyond the limits of the township. This limit of fare in the franchise cannot be held to apply to local passengers alone, but must apply to all who desire passage, even if going beyond the limits of the township. The defendant had no right to make such a discrimination. The plaintiff offered the conductor 10 cents as fare to Inkster, a small unincorporated village in the township of Nankin. The township of Nankin adjoins the township of Canton on the east, and to reach [179]*179Inkster the plaintiff had to pass through a part of Canton and a part of Nankin townships. The franchise in Nan-kin limited the maximum fare to 5 cents, so that, under the franchises of the two townships, the maximum fare was 10 cents. It cannot be said that because, at the time plaintiff entered upon the passage, he was in Canton township, and intended to go to Detroit, the defendant could ignore the limit which the township of Nankin placed upon the rate of fare. Defendant is bound by the franchise in Nankin as well as in Canton, and cannot increase the rate of fare in those townships beyond the limit fixed in each.

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Related

Township of Ross v. Michigan United Railways Co.
130 N.W. 358 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1911)
Coy v. Detroit, Ypsilanti & Ann Arbor Railway
85 N.W. 6 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1901)
Rice v. Detroit, Ypsilanti & Ann Arbor Railway
48 L.R.A. 84 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1900)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
79 N.W. 1104, 121 Mich. 175, 1899 Mich. LEXIS 545, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kissane-v-detroit-ypsilanti-ann-arbor-railway-mich-1899.