State v. Dean

225 P. 656, 129 Wash. 584
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedMay 9, 1924
DocketNo. 18409
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 225 P. 656 (State v. Dean) 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 v. Dean, 225 P. 656, 129 Wash. 584 (Wash. 1924).

Opinion

Fullerton, J.

On March 23, 1922, the department of public works issued to the relator Savage a certificate of convenience and necessity, pursuant to § 6390 of the code (Bern. Comp. Stat.) [P. C. § 234-6], authorizing the relator to carry passengers and express [585]*585for hire between tbe city of Cle Elum and Lake Cle Elum and intermediate points, all in Kittitas county, one of which is the city of Roslyn. The bulk of the passenger traffic over the route originates in the cities of Cle Elum and Roslyn and is carried on between them; the places being some four and one-half miles apart and connected with a paved highway. The relator, on receiving the certificate, began the operation of auto stages over the route designated therein and has continued to do so to the present time. At the time the certificate was issued, the appellants, with others, were carrying passengers in automobiles for hire between Cle Elum and Roslyn, and continued so to do after the granting of the certificate. Thereupon the relator began actions against the operators to restrain them from so doing. After a trial upon the merits, the court entered the following judgment:

“It is by the court ordered and adjudged that the defendants, their agents, servants and employes be, and they are hereby permanently enjoined and restrained from carrying or transporting any passengers or express by motor vehicle for compensation between Cle Elum and Cle Elum Lake or intermediate points in competition with plaintiff, his successors or assigns, except as hereinafter provided.
“It is by the court further ordered and adjudged that said defendants, their agents, servants and employes be, and they are hereby permanently enjoined and restrained from in any manner soliciting for the defendant the transportation of passengers or express by motor vehicle for compensation over said route, or any part thereof, or from in any manner holding out to the public that defendant is operating a public stage or buss to transport passengers or express over said route, or any part thereof.
“It is by the court further ordered and adjudged that nothing herein contained shall be construed to or shall prohibit the defendant, his agents or employes from operating a bona fide taxicab business.”

[586]*586After the entry of the judgment, the defendants in the action continued the operation of their automobiles as taxicabs, carrying passengers as they did before. The relator thereupon instituted the present proceedings against them for a violation of the judgment entered in the prior action. After a hearing upon the merits of the action, the court adjudged them guilty of contempt and sentenced them severally to pay a fine. This is an appeal from the last mentioned judgment.

° From the evidence adduced at the trial, it appeared that the appellants made frequent trips between Cle Elum and Roslyn, carrying passengers for hire, making a uniform charge of twenty-five cents per trip for each individual passenger; that they were accustomed to drive through the streets of the cities, even after they had one or more passengers, sounding the horns of their automobiles for the purpose of attracting the attention of other intending passengers, and would at times call out their place of destination for the same purpose. It was in evidence also that, when the traffic was moving in one direction, they would carry a load of passengers from the one place to the other and then go back empty for a second load; that they did not recognize the right of a passenger to ride singly in their vehicles, but would take on all others that signified an intention to ride, until the vehicles were loaded; and that none of them had taximeters on their ears, and only a part of them signs indicating that the vehicles were operated as taxicabs; certain of the witnesses testifying that the only observable difference between their method of operation and the method of operation of the licensed stage line lay in the fact that the appellants did not operate on a regular schedule or maintain fixed local stations between which they operated, as did the licensed line.

[587]*587The statute regulating the transportation of persons and property on the public highways and authorizing the issuance of certificates of necessity to companies and individuals for that purpose, excepts from its operation companies or persons who “operate or manage taxicabs.” Laws of 1921, p. 338; Rem. Comp. Stat., § 6386 [P. C. § 239]. The statute, however, offers no definition of the term “taxicab,” but it is plain that it makes a distinction between such vehicles and vehicles operated in the business of transporting persons or property between fixed termini or over a regular route. Prom the association in which the word is used in the statute, it is inferable that the legislature relegated vehicles of that sort to that class of public conveyances which they have largely, if not entirely, superseded, commonly known as cabs, cabriolets, hacks, hackney coaches, and perhaps other names; vehicles that differed from the ordinary stage coach in that they did not operate on regular schedules over designated routes, or for a stated fare, but were vehicles kept at fixed stands for the purpose of hire to persons who desired their temporary use, or for the purpose of carrying persons on call between termini designated by the person calling them, at a rate of fare measured by the length of time of the use, or the distance the vehicle was compelled to travel in the performance of the service.

Between the vehicles named and the modern taxicab there are, of course, some very radical differences. To operate the first required no very high degree of technical skill, no license was required of the operator, and, being propelled by animal power, were more slow moving, and the area over which they were operated was bounded by a somewhat narrow compass. Taxicabs, on the other hand, are motor propelled, they re[588]*588quire a skilled operator, and the driver of them must procure a license before he is permitted tó drive them upon the public highways. They are also capable of moving with great rapidity, and can be used successfully over a wide area. The effect of these differences is that few, if any, taxicabs are kept to be let for hire without a driver, and in their operation they trench upon the territory occupied by the regular carriers, which the older vehicles did not.

But, we think, nevertheless, that the legislature intended to fix bounds in their operation beyond which they should not be permitted to passthat it intended that they should be operated only after the manner of the earlier vehicles; that they should operate from fixed stands and should carry passengers, only on the call of such passengers. It is no doubt within their rights to carry passengers, when specially requested so to do, between any fixed places, whether or not the places be on a route over which another has a certificate of convenience and necessity, or whether or not it is necessary to travel over such route in the performance of the service, but that they are not permitted to hold themselves out as ready and willing to carry passengers generally between such places or over such routes; that they are not permitted, when they receive a call from a person, or group of persons, for carriage between designated places, to pick up others who do not specially solicit such carriage and carry them along with the persons specially employing them, and not even when so solicited without the consent of the persons first employing them.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
225 P. 656, 129 Wash. 584, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-dean-wash-1924.