Town of Ascarate v. Villalobos

223 S.W.2d 945, 148 Tex. 254, 1949 Tex. LEXIS 410
CourtTexas Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 19, 1949
DocketNo. A-2210
StatusPublished
Cited by62 cases

This text of 223 S.W.2d 945 (Town of Ascarate v. Villalobos) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Town of Ascarate v. Villalobos, 223 S.W.2d 945, 148 Tex. 254, 1949 Tex. LEXIS 410 (Tex. 1949).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Sharp

delivered the opinion of the Court.

This case involves the authority of the Town of Asearate to adopt an ordinance for the purpose of imposing traffic regu[257]*257lations on motor bus traffic through that town, for the protection of the public.

This suit was brought by Juan Villalobos, individually and as administrator of the estate of Alfred Villalobos, deceased, doing business as Lower Valley Bus Line, against the Town of Ascarate, to enjoin enforcement of an ordinance prohibiting any bus from stopping to pick up or unload passengers in the town, except at certain points described in said ordinance, without a franchise from the town. The trial was to the court without a jury, and an order was issued on the basis that the ordinance was void, since it discriminated between the respondent and his competitor, the El Paso-Ysleta Bus Line, Inc., in that the ordinance did not operate upon them equally in the intercity motor bus transportation between El Paso and Ysleta, through Ascarate, Texas. This was affirmed by the Court of Civil Appeals. 220 S. W. (2d) 727.

The Town of Ascarate was incorporated in 1947, and has a population of approximately 6,000. It is completely surrounded by the boundary lines of the City of El Paso, except on its southwesterly side, where it is bounded by the international boundary line which separates the United States from Mexico.

On May 4, 1948, the Town of Ascarate adopted an ordinance regulating the use of the streets of the town by motor busses and motor carriers hauling passengers and freight, defining such motor busses and motor carriers, and containing certain restrictions. The ordinance passed for the purpose of protecting the public from dangerous hazards contains many sections, and the parts of the sections complained of by respondent are copied below.

Section 1 of the ordinance defines the routes to be used by motor busses and motor carriers through the Town of Ascarate.

Subsections (a) and (b) of Section 2 of the ordinance read as follows:

“(a) A Motor Bus for the purpose of this ordinance is defined to include any motor propelled passenger vehicle with a sitting capacity of over eight passengers, not usually operated on or over rails, and used for the purpose of transporting persons for compensation or hire over the public highways and streets, whether operating over fixed routes or fixed schedules or otherwise; provided further that the term ‘motor bus’ as [258]*258used in this ordinance shall not apply to any bus operated by any person, firm or corporation having a franchise to transport passengers for hire within the limits of the Town of Ascarate, nor to busses operated by any school district, either directly or under contract arrangement, or operated by any City, Town or other Sub-Division of the State of Texas, or any department or service of the United States Government.
“(b) ‘Motor Carriers’ for the purpose of this ordinance is defined to include any motor propelled vehicle used in transporting property for compensation or hire over the public highways and streets which property is not the property of the owner or operator of said motor carrier, providing that nothing in this Ordinance shall be construed as prohibiting any motor carrier so hauling property for compensation or hire from using any of the streets or alleys of the Town for the purpose of receiving from or delivering such property to any person or place within the limits of the Town of Ascarate.”

Section 8 reads as follows:

“It shall be unlawful for any motor bus, as herein defined, to stop for the purpose of receiving or discharging passengers, at any points other than the ones hereinafter designated:
(a) At the intersection of Alameda Avenue and Hawkins Way Road; at the intersection of Alameda Avenue and Maryland Drive; at the intersection of Alameda Avenue and Seventh Avenue; at the intersection of Conception St. and Alameda Avenue; on Highway 80 at the eastern town limits.
“(b) In discharging and receiving passengers, all motor busses shall stop off the paved portion of Alameda Avenue just prior to crossing the intersection of the designated streets and shall proceed immediately after having discharged all passengers desiring to be discharged and receiving all passengers waiting at said point to ride said motor bus; however, nothing herein shall be construed to prohibit any motor bus, having stopping points at such intersections or within 200 feet therefrom off said highway on private property from stopping such motor busses at such private depot for any length of time as may be necessary to complete schedule arrangements according to the practices heretofore established.”

When it was definitely settled that the Town was an incorporated city, the Town of Ascarate undertook to regulate the motor bus service therein. Complaints had been made regarding such service, and it was decided that better and safer service [259]*259could be given the people by a motor bus line operating under a franchise granted by the Town and regulating the operations of the motor bus line. Bids were asked for, and respondent was given the opportunity to bid for the franchise. He stated that he could not obtain the equipment v/ithin the time specified by the Town. The franchise was then granted to the El Paso-Ysleta Bus Line, Inc.

In payment for the privileges accorded by the franchise issued to it by the Town, it was provided that the El Paso-Ysleta Bus Line, Inc., would pay monthly to the Town a total aggregate sum of two per cent, of the gross receipts of the Company, its successors, etc., derived from its operation within the Town of Ascarate. It was further provided that such gross receipts would consist of the total amounts received from users of the Company’s busses, entering or leaving said busses within the corporate limits of the Town of Ascrate, under the Company’s rates or fares in existence at the time of such payments. The payments were to be measured by the amount of fares paid by passengers embarking in Ascarate. and disembarking in El Paso, and the amount of fares paid by passengers embarking in El Paso and disbembarking in Ascarate. In the prosecution of its business as intercity carrier, said El Paso-Ysleta Bus Line, Inc. was authorized to take on and discharge passengers within the Town of Ascarate just as it did before the ordinance was passed, and additional busses were put into service to take care of the needs of the public. By the terms of the ordinance of which complaint is made, and which was passed by the Town subsequent to the granting of the franchise to the El Paso-Ysleta Bus Line, Inc., respondent and other motor bus carriers not having a franchise from the Town were restricted in intercity traffic to receiving and discharging passengers in the Town of Ascarate only at the points named in the ordinance. Neither by the terms of the ordinance nor by the terms of the franchise does it appear that an exclusive franchise was granted to the El Paso-Ysleta Bus Line, Inc., although it appears that the El Paso-Ysleta Bus Line, Inc. is the only motor bus line which actually has been granted a franchise by the Town.

The following facts are undisputed:

(a) The route followed by respondent’s busses through the Town of Ascarate is 1.9 miles in length, and respondent’s busses are permitted to stop at the five points designated in Subsection (a) of Section 3.

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Bluebook (online)
223 S.W.2d 945, 148 Tex. 254, 1949 Tex. LEXIS 410, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/town-of-ascarate-v-villalobos-tex-1949.