State ex rel. Home Telephone & Telegraph Co. v. Hurn

180 P. 400, 106 Wash. 362
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedApril 3, 1919
DocketNo. 15061
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 180 P. 400 (State ex rel. Home Telephone & Telegraph Co. v. Hurn) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State ex rel. Home Telephone & Telegraph Co. v. Hurn, 180 P. 400, 106 Wash. 362 (Wash. 1919).

Opinion

Main, J.

This is an original application for a writ of prohibition and is based upon the following facts, as stated in the amended petition. The Home Telephone & Telegraph Company, a corporation, is engaged in the business of conducting a telephone sys[363]*363tem in the city of Spokane. In May, 1918, one A. E. Powell, as plaintiff, commenced two actions against the telephone company, in the superior court of Spokane county, one being numbered 56,732 and the other numbered 56,835. In the first named case, there is alleged one cause of action in the complaint, and the prayer is for the sum of $33 and costs. In the second cause, there are six causes of action alleged, and the prayer is for $180 and costs. On June 8th, 1918, Powell commenced two other actions in the same court, one being numbered 56,883 and the other numbered 56,884. In the first of these last two cases, there are set out in the complaint eleven causes of action and the prayer is for $182.50 and costs, and in the second cause there are set out nine causes of action and the prayer is for $180 and costs. The suit first mentioned, or that for $33, was brought by Powell in his individual capacity. In the other actions, he sues as assignee of various individuals, each cause of action alleging a different assignor.

The purpose of the various causes of action is to recover from the defendant for an overcharge for telephone services rendered to the various individuals whose causes of action are stated. All of these causes of action are now pending in the superior court of Spokane county before the Honorable D. W. Hurn, one of the judges of that court, or, in due time, will be assigned to the department of the court over which he presides.

The petitioner claims that the court has no jurisdiction to hear and determine the causes until the matter of the overcharge has been filed with and presented to the public service commission.

The actions mentioned are separate and individual actions brought by the same plaintiff, but have not [364]*364been consolidated as one action. At tbe threshold of the case, we are met with a question of jurisdiction. From the statement made, it appears that in no one of the actions does the amount of recovery exceed the sum of $200. All the actions are civil in their nature and brought at law for the recovery of money. The question involved is whether this court has original jurisdiction to issue a writ of prohibition when the amount involved is less than $200. For the purpose of this question, it will be assumed, but not decided, that the superior court is proceeding without jurisdiction.

Article 4, § 4, of the constitution of this state reads as follows:

“Jurisdiction.—The supreme court shall have original jurisdiction in habeas corpus and quo warranto and mandamus as to all State officers, and appellate jurisdiction in all actions and proceedings, excepting that its appellate jurisdiction shall not extend to civil actions at law for the recovery of money or personal property when the original amount in controversy or the value of the property does not exceed the sum of two hundred dollars, unless the action involves the legality of a tax, impost, assessment, toll, municipal fine, or the validity of a statute. The supreme court shall also have power to issue writs of mandamus, review, prohibition, habeas corpus, certiorari, and all other writs necessary and proper to the complete exercise of its appellate and revisory jurisdiction. . . .”

By this section of the constitution, this court has, first, original jurisdiction in habeas corpus and quo warranto and “mandamus as to all state officers”; second, appellate jurisdiction in all actions excepting that the appellate jurisdiction shall not extend (a) to civil actions at law for the recovery of money or personal property when the original amount in controversy does not exceed the sum of $200, and (b), unless [365]*365the action involves the legality of a tax, impost, assessment, toll, municipal fine or the validity of a statute ; and third, this court has power to issue writs of mandamus, review, prohibition, habeas corpus, certiorari and all other writs necessary and proper to the complete exercise of its appellate and revisory jurisdiction.

Owing to the large number of decisions covering various phases of when a writ of mandamus or prohibition will be issued by this court and when it will not, it is impossible here to review them in detail. There are three classes of cases which will be referred to, the last of which will involve the precise question here for determination. One class is when an application is made for a writ of prohibition and the superior court is proceeding without jurisdiction and there is no mention of the amount in controversy. As a type of this class the case of State ex rel. Martin v. Superior Court, 97 Wash. 358, 166 Pac. 630, L. R. A. 1917F 905, may be cited. There the superior court was proceeding without jurisdiction and there is no mention in the opinion as to the amount in controversy. The record however, shows that the amount was very much in excess of $200. In that case the writ was directed to issue.

Another class of cases is where the superior court had jurisdiction, but the amount in controversy was less than $200. In this class, it has been repeatedly held that, under the constitutional provision above quoted, this court has no power to issue a writ of prohibition or other writ which would accomplish the review of the judgment of the superior court by this court. The recent case of State ex rel. Swan v. Superior Court, 105 Wash. 167, 177 Pac. 679, is the last of the cases so holding. •

[366]*366The third class of cases, and the one to which the present case belongs, is where the superior court is proceeding without jurisdiction and the amount involved does not exceed the sum of $200. Upon this question in State ex rel. Alladio v. Superior Court, 17 Wash. 54, 48 Pac. 733, it was held that a writ of prohibition would issue where the superior court was proceeding in an action without jurisdiction and the amount involved was less than $200. Detailed references will not be made to the earlier decisions not cited, but referred to in that case; because, if that case is now the law, the cases upon which it is based are likewise the law, and conversely, if it has been overruled and not revived, the earlier cases share the same fate.

In State ex rel. McIntyre v. Superior Court, 21 Wash. 108, 57 Pac. 352, it was held that writ of mandamus would not issue to compel the superior court to take jurisdiction of a cause where the amount in controversy did not exceed the sum of $200. This casé does not mention the Alladio case, but the rules stated in the two cases are in direct conflict. In State ex rel. Gillette v. Superior Court, 22 Wash. 496, 61 Pac. 158, it was held that a writ of review would not issue to review a judgment of the superior court dismissing an appeal from the justice of the peace court of that county, for want of jurisdiction.

In State ex rel. Fuller v. Superior Court, 31 Wash. 96, 71 Pac. 722, it was held that a writ of prohibition would not issue to restrain a judge of the superior court from proceeding with a cause without jurisdiction where the amount did not exceed the sum of $200. In the opinion in that case the Alladio case, supra, is referred to and in effect overruled. With the decision there rendered the rule became settled [367]

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Bluebook (online)
180 P. 400, 106 Wash. 362, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-home-telephone-telegraph-co-v-hurn-wash-1919.