Murray v. City of Pocatello

214 F. 214, 130 C.C.A. 628, 1914 U.S. App. LEXIS 1133
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedMay 11, 1914
DocketNo. 2345
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 214 F. 214 (Murray v. City of Pocatello) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Murray v. City of Pocatello, 214 F. 214, 130 C.C.A. 628, 1914 U.S. App. LEXIS 1133 (9th Cir. 1914).

Opinion

ROSS, Circuit Judge.

By an ordinance, numbered 46, adopted and approved on the 4th day of January, 1892, the board of trustees of the [215]*215then town of Pocatello, in the state of Idaho, granted to F. D. Toms, John J. Cusick, and James A. Murray, their associates, successors, and assigns, the right to construct, maintain, and operate a complete system of water mains; pipes, and conduits in, along, and under the streets and alleys of the town, for the purpose of furnishing it and its inhabitants with water.

By the terms of the ordinance the franchise was to continue for 50 years from its passage and approval, and among the conditions imposed upon the grantees were the following:

They were to begin work within four months, prosecute it with reasonable diligence, and complete the plant ready for the delivery of water within a certain specified time, which water, the ordinance declared, should “be conveyed from the creeks on the Ft. Hall Indian reservation, known as Mink and Gibson Jack creeks, and shall be in quantity sufficient to supply both the public and private use and purpose of the citizens and inhabitants of the town of Pocatello, and shall be of pure and healthful quality,” and which water should be “conveyed to a point above the town of Pocatello and shall be confined in a suitable and substantial reservoir' or reservoirs”; the pipes or mains on a certain named street to “have a pressure of at least 150 feet perpendicular fall.” The ordinance provided for one designated main pipe of at least eight inches in diameter, and for certain designated laterals for ’ the distribution of the water,' and further declared that “thereafter main pipes and laterals may be laid as the occasion or consumption demand.” It further provided for the giving of a bond on the part of the grantees in the sum of $10,000 “to indemnify the said town of Pocatello against all loss and damage done or occasioned by reason of the construction, maintenance, and operation of said water system,” and further declared that, upon a failure of the grantees, their associates, successors, or assigns to perform the conditions thereby imposed upon them, the town should have the right to “revoke, avoid, and annul this ordinance and all rights, privileges, and franchises hereby granted.” '

Subsequently a corporation, styled the Pocatello Water Company, Limited, was organized, to which were assigned the rights conferred upon Toms, Cusick, and Murray by ordinance 46, following which assignment the town of Pocatello, on the 7th day of June, 1898, adopt ed an ordinance numbered 59, which confirmed to and continued in-that corporation, as such assignee, the rights and privileges theretofore conferred upon its assignors by ordinance 46, reciting in its preamble that the said assignors had fully complied with the terms and conditions of ordinance 46, and further reciting that reasonable and just rates for the water furnished had been established by a commissioner duly appointed under the laws of the state, and that for the better distribution of the water, and in order to keep the same pure and wholesome, it was necessary for the company to abandon its wooden flume and supplant it with steel, at a cost of about $30,000, proceeded to make certain stipulations in respect' to the rates (not necessary to be here enumerated), and concluded with the provision that:

•“Within thirty (30) days from the passage and approval of this ordinance the said company shall commence the improvements and the laying of said line [216]*216of pipe mentioned in tiie preamble, and carry on tbe same to speedy and effective completion without unnecessary delays, interruptions, or discontinuances, and such compliance with this ordinance shall entitle the company to the benefit of its provisions as in virtue of an executed contract; but if more than thirty (30) days shall elapse without such commencement by said company this ordinance shall lapse and be declared null and void.”

Subsequent to this the town of Pocatello became the city of Poca-tello, with an increased population, and, the appellant here being then the owner and in the operation of the system by which the city and its inhabitants were supplied with water under and by virtue of ordinances 46 and 59, the city adopted ordinance No. 86, which this suit was brought to annul, and which suit resulted in a decree annulling it, from which decree the present appeal was taken. The last-mentioned ordinance is as follows:

“Ordinance No. 86.
“An ordinance confirming and continuing certain privileges and franchises formerly granted to IT. D. Toms, John J. Cusick and James A. Murray, to and in James A. Murray, the legal successor of said parties, making a contract by the city of Pocatello with James A. Murray for supplying said city with water-for public and private use; fixing the rates to be charged for said water ; providing a means of ascertaining the value of said water system, as a basis of readjusting rates in the future, or- in the event of a sale; and waiving the right on the part of said city to build, own or acquire a competitive water system, except under stated conditions or of granting to others more favorable terms or franchises than that now held and granted to said James A. Murray.
“Preamble.
“Whereas, the town or village of Pocatello, on the 4th day of January, 1892, conferred and granted to F. D. Toms, John J. Cusick and James A. Murray, their associates, successors and assigns, the right, authority and permission to construct, maintain and operate an entire and complete system of water mains, pipes and conduits, and also a right of way over, along and under all and every street, alley and public highway within the corporate limits of the town or village of Pocatello for a period of fifty (50) years, for the' purpose of laying along, over and -under said streets, alleys and public highways, water mains, pipes and conduits for the purpose of furnishing and supplying the said town or village of Pocatello, and the inhabitants thereof with a sufficiency of pure and healthful water, and annexing certain conditions precedent to said grant; and, whereas, the said F. D. Toms, John J. Cusick and James A. Murray, and their associates, successors and assigns, fully complied with said condition precedent, and obtained vested rights under said grant; and, whereas, the city of Pocatello is a city of the second class and is the legal municipal successor of the said town or village of Pocatello; and, whereas, a commissioner duly appointed and constituted, did on or aboiit the first day of September, 1896, make and establish rates and charges for water and water service by the Pocatello Water Company, Limited, a corporation, then owner and holder of said privileges and franchises, for both public and private uses, which said rates were confirmed and continued by the provisions of ordinance No. 56 (59) approved June 8th, A. D. 1898; and, whereas, the rates .and charges so fixed and continued are now deemed and considered to be fair, equitable, reasonable and just, and will continue to be fair, equitable, reasonable and just, in the near future; and, whereas, the said James A.

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Related

State, Dept. of Parks v. IDAHO DEPT, WATER ADMIN.
530 P.2d 924 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1974)
Murray v. Public Utilities Commission
150 P. 47 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1915)

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Bluebook (online)
214 F. 214, 130 C.C.A. 628, 1914 U.S. App. LEXIS 1133, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/murray-v-city-of-pocatello-ca9-1914.