Utilicorp United Inc. v. Platte-Clay Electric Cooperative, Inc.

799 S.W.2d 108, 1990 Mo. App. LEXIS 1331, 1990 WL 127062
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedSeptember 4, 1990
DocketNo. WD 42703
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 799 S.W.2d 108 (Utilicorp United Inc. v. Platte-Clay Electric Cooperative, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Utilicorp United Inc. v. Platte-Clay Electric Cooperative, Inc., 799 S.W.2d 108, 1990 Mo. App. LEXIS 1331, 1990 WL 127062 (Mo. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinion

FENNER, Judge.

Appellant Missouri Public Service Company (MoPub) appeals from an order of the trial court dismissing, on the pleadings, its petition seeking injunctive relief against respondent Platte-Clay Electric Cooperative, Inc. (Co-op). MoPub sought to declare its exclusive right to provide electric service to a “new structure” within its franchise area.

In reviewing a dismissal based solely on the pleadings, an appellate court accepts the facts pleaded and all reasonable inferences arising therefrom as true. Lynn v. T.I.M.E-D.C., Inc., 710 S.W.2d 359, 360 (Mo.App.1986). Given this standard of review, the facts are as hereafter stated.

Appellant MoPub is a public utility operating under a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity from the Missouri Public Service Commission. MoPub operates in the City of Smithville, Missouri, pursuant to a franchise granted by the City.

Respondent Co-op is a rural electric cooperative existing under and subject to the Rural Electric Cooperative Law, Chapter 394, RSMo 1986.1 Co-op is entitled under § 394.080(4), to provide retail electric service in “rural areas”, which are defined in § 394.020(3) as “any area ... not included within the boundaries of any city, town or village having a population in excess of fifteen hundred inhabitants ...”. The area within the corporate city limits of the City of Smithville is not a “rural area” as defined by § 394.020(3). Section 394.080(4) also provides that when a rural electric cooperative is supplying electric energy in a rural area which by reason of increase in population is included in a city, the cooperative shall have the right to continue to supply electric energy until the holder of the city utility franchise purchases the cooperative’s property within the city.

MoPub alleges that the owners of the Big V Supermarket located within the city limits of Smithville, Missouri, are erecting a new structure immediately to the north of the existing store and that upon completion they will demolish the old structure and move into the new structure. MoPub alleges that the owners of the Big V Supermarket and Co-op have agreed that Co-op will supply electrical service to the new structure. MoPub sought to have Co-op enjoined from supplying electrical service to the new structure for which MoPub claims to be the only entity duly authorized to supply electricity.

MoPub argues that the agreement of Co-op to provide electrical service to the new structure is in violation of MoPub’s franchise with the City of Smithville and that MoPub is entitled to injunctive relief. Co-op argues that the trial court was correct in dismissing MoPub’s petition because jurisdiction over this dispute is within the province of the Missouri Public Service Commission.

The Circuit Court has general jurisdiction over disputes in law and equity. Mo. Const. Art. 5, § 14; Lake Wauwanoka, Inc. v. Spain, 622 S.W.2d 309, 314 (Mo.App.1981). Since the Public Service Commission is purely a creature of statute, its powers are limited to those conferred by statute, either expressly, or by clear implication, as necessary to carry out the powers specifically granted. State ex rel. Utility Consumers Council of Missouri, Inc. v. Public Service Commission, 585 S.W.2d 41, 49 (Mo. banc 1979). Matters within the jurisdiction of the Public Service Commission must first be determined by the Commission before the courts will adjudge any phase of the controversy. State ex rel. Cirese v. Ridge, 345 Mo. 1096, 138 S.W.2d 1012 (1940).

Section 394.315 is relevant to the issue presented herein. Section 394.315 relates [110]*110to rural electric cooperatives, such as Coop, and provides as follows:

1. As used in this section, the following terms mean:
(1) “Person” or “persons”, a natural person, cooperative or private corporation, association, firm, partnership, receiver, trustee, agency, or business trust;
(2) “Structure” or “structures”, an agricultural, residential, commercial, industrial or other building or a mechanical installation, machinery or apparatus at which retail electric energy is being delivered through a metering device which is located on or adjacent to the structure and connected to the lines of an electrical supplier. Such terms shall include any contiguous or adjacent additions to or expansions of a particular structure which was in existence on August 13, 1986, but shall not include or be construed to apply to noncontiguous additions to or expansions of new structures upon which construction is commenced after August 13, 1986, or to confer any right on a rural electric cooperative to serve new structures on a particular tract of land because it was serving an existing structure on that tract prior to August 13, 1986.
2. Every rural electric cooperative shall be entitled to continue to supply retail electric energy to persons at structures at which service is being provided on August 13, 1986_ (Emphasis added).2

MoPub does not allege that Co-op was without authorization to supply electrical service to the existing Big V Supermarket. MoPub acknowledges that Co-op began supplying electric energy to the existing Big V Supermarket at a time that it was located in a rural area, although it is now within the city limits of Smithville. However, MoPub alleges that Big V is constructing a new store and that Co-op has agreed with Big V to supply electricity to the new structure. The new structure was not completed and service was not being supplied at the time of filing of the petition.

The primary rule of statutory construction is to ascertain the intent of the legislature from the language used, to give effect to that intent if possible, and to consider the words used in their plain and ordinary meaning. Wolff Shoe Company v. Director of Revenue, 762 S.W.2d 29, 31 (Mo. banc 1988). In determining whether the language is clear and unambiguous, the standard is whether the statute’s terms are plain and clear to one of ordinary intelligence. Id.

The plain language of § 394.080(4) authorizes a cooperative to continue to supply electricity to a structure, to which it was authorized to supply electricity as being in a rural area, after the time that the structure is included in a city, until the city utility purchases the cooperative’s property within the city. It is equally clear that when construction of a noncontiguous addition to or expansion of new structures is commenced after August 13, 1986, or when a new structure is erected after said date, the cooperative is not authorized to supply service. Section 394.315.2.

Co-op argues that § 393.106.2, governing electrical corporations such as MoPub, establishes jurisdiction, of the matter at bar, with the Public Service Commission. Section 393.106.2 provides, in pertinent part, as follows:

Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, no electrical corporation

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Bluebook (online)
799 S.W.2d 108, 1990 Mo. App. LEXIS 1331, 1990 WL 127062, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/utilicorp-united-inc-v-platte-clay-electric-cooperative-inc-moctapp-1990.