Union Transportation Co. v. Bassett
Union Transportation Co. v. Bassett
Opinion of the Court
The plaintiff is a corporation organized under the laws of this state for the purpose of carrying passengers and freight on steamboats to be run upon the navigable waters of this state, and especially between the cities of Stockton and San Francisco. In February, 1892, plaintiff applied to the defendants for a suitable berth for their boats at some one of the wharves under their control or supervision at the waterfront of the city of San Francisco. Thereafter, on June 8, 1892, the defendants assigned and set apart berth room for plaintiff’s boats at and upon Clay street wharf, which plaintiff thereafter occupied and used as a landing place for its boats, and by discharging freight thereon and receiving passengers and freight therefrom daily, until the commencement of this action. On August 2, 1892, the board of harbor commissioners adopted a resolution by which their former order assigning berths to the steamers of the plaintiff at Clay street wharf was rescinded, and berths were assigned to them on Mission street wharf, to be selected by an agent of the plaintiff and the chief wharfinger. This order was opposed and protested against by the plaintiff on the ground stated in the complaint, and was immediately followed by a protest, signed by about forty firms of produce and commission merchants, as follows:
“Gentlemen: We, the undersigned, produce and commission merchants of San Francisco, learning that steps are being taken to remove the steamers of the Union Transportation Company from Clay street wharf to Mission street wharf, most earnestly protest against such change, for the following reasons: First. The center of the produce and commission business in San Francisco is, and has been for many years, on Jackson, Washington, and Clay street wharves, and it would be injurious to such business to have steamers bringing produce to land as far away as Mission street. Second. It is for the interest of the general public, as well as ourselves, to have a competing line of steamers on the San Joaquin river; and, if the Union Transportation Company’s line of steamers should be compelled to go to Mission street wharf, it would preclude the possibility of our having produce shipped by that line, as we would be unable to dispose of it at Mission street wharf. Third. From actual experience, it has been*501 proven that to undertake to transfer the produce business to Mission street wharf results in destroying that business. Wherefore, we most respectfully ask that the steamers ‘Captain Weber’ and ‘Dauntless’ be permitted to land at Clay street pier, as heretofore.”
On August 25th the board passed another resolution relating to the same matter, as follows: “On motion of Mr. Alexander, seconded by Mr. Brown, the following resolutions were adopted: Resolved, that any use heretofore permitted of the Clay street wharf, on the harbor front of city and county of San Francisco, by the Union Transportation Company, a corporation, for the docking of its vessels at said wharf, and the use thereof by said company of any portion of said wharf for wharfage or other purposes, be, and the same is hereby terminated. This resolution to take effect, and such use terminate, on Tuesday, the 27th day of September, 1892. Resolved, further, that said company be notified at least thirty days prior to said September 27th of said notice and resolution, and termination on that day, and of such use; that on said day such further proceedings, by resolutions or otherwise, will be taken to render effectual the termination of any use by said company. Also, that a copy of this resolution be served by the chief wharfinger, or secretary or assistant secretary of this board, on the president, secretary, manager, or other officer or agent in charge of said company’s affairs in this city and county; and that a copy be forthwith addressed by mail to said company, at Stockton, California. Resolved, further, that the chief wharfinger be, and he is hereby, instructed to execute the purposes of this resolution, and of any further resolutions hereafter passed in the premises. Resolved, that, after September 27th next, said company be assigned to the use of Mission street wharf, at such berth or place to be mutually agreed upon by the chief wharfinger and agent of said company: provided, however, that nothing in the resolution contained shall be intended or construed as giving or granting to said company any right to the use of said wharf other than that they may now have, or may have already had, by operation of law.”
On October 5, 1892, this action was commenced to enjoin the defendants from enforcing said resolutions and orders; and such injunction pendente lite, or until the further order of the court, was then issued and served on defendants. The
The court, without a jury, found the facts and conclusion of law as follows:
“Finding of Facts. All and singular the allegations contained and set forth in the complaint, and in the amendment to the complaint, at the trial, are true in point of fact, and were true at the commencement of the action. The order made by the defendants in the month of August, 1892, purporting to change the docking place and berth room of the plaintiff’s boats from Clay street, where they then were, was arbitrary, and was made without any just cause, and without any reason or motive therefor on the part of the defendants, other than that of injuring and damaging the plaintiff in its transportation business, and to assist others, its rivals and competitors in the business, in forcing the plaintiff*504 to discontinue the running of its said boats. The orders and action of the defendants in and about the removal of the plaintiff’s said boats from said Clay street wharf were not made or taken by the defendants for any reason or upon any ground or with any intent such as they have alleged in their answer therein, but were made only with the intent and for the purpose on their part as is alleged in the complaint in their behalf.
" Conclusion of Law. There must be a decree for the plaintiff as prayed in the complaint, and it is so ordered.”
A final decree was entered in accordance with these findings. The defendants’ motion for a new trial having been denied, they have appealed from the final decree, and also from the order denying their motion for a new trial.
Appellants contend that none of the findings of fact from which the conclusion of law was drawn are justified by the evidence. The evidence is voluminous, occupying two hundred and seventy pages of the printed transcript. Then there are twenty-six specifications of insufficiency of evidence, occupying nine pages, and consisting principally of statements of “what the evidence fails to show.” Eleven of these specifications apply to issues tendered by the affirmative allegations in the answer of the defendant; and these specifications are “that the evidence fails to show” that any one of such affirmative allegations in the answer is true, and that none of such allegations are justified by the evidence. All this, however, is in perfect accord with the findings of the court. Perhaps the attorney for defendants did not intend what he plainly said in these so-called specifications, and they are here referred to only for the purpose of calling attention to the incoherency, indefiniteness and tiresome prolixity of the statement on motion for new trial. Then there are forty-nine specifications of errors in law, occupying fifteen pages. The principal specification of insufficiency of evidence urged here is that the evidence is insufficient to justify the finding that the order for the removal of plaintiff’s boats was unreasonable and unjust. This, however, is not a fact, but, in cases of this kind, is a conclusion of law, deduced by the court from the facts and circumstances proved: Dill. Mun. Corp., 4th ed., sec. 327; Ex parte Frank, 52 Cal. 610, 28 Am. Rep. 642. The facts and circumstances found by the court surely support the conclusion of law that
The powers of the commissioners are defined, and their duties prescribed, so far as they relate to the subject of this action, by section 2524 of the Political Code, as follows: “The commissioners shall have possession and control of that portion of the Bay of San Francisco [described], together
It is urged by the defendants that the slip between Clay street wharf and Washington street wharf, in which plaintiff’s boats were first assigned a berth, was overcrowded, and for that reason it was absolutely necessary that some of the boats should be removed therefrom to some other wharf. Conceding this, it does not appear that it was necessary to remove plaintiff’s boats to another wharf which was unsuitable to its business. On the contrary, it appears that at least two other boats that occupied berths in said slip, to wit, the “General McDowell,” a government boat, and the steamer “Humboldt,” might have been removed to other wharves suitable to their business, and without prejudice to their interests. When asked why they determined to remove plaintiff’s boats, rather than one of the other lines, Mr. Alexander, a member of the board, answered: “To move the other vessels would not accomplish what we wanted to accomplish particularly. The ‘Humboldt’ had already been moved once. She had been moved from her place at Clay street to Washington, and even if it accomplished the object, I don’t think the board would be inclined to move her from pillar to post.” No reason was given why the “General McDowell” could not have been removed. What object the board “wanted to accomplish particularly,” other than to relieve the crowded condition of Clay street wharf, appears only by the further testimony of Mr. Alexander, who said: “The condition of that part of the city was becoming so crowded, we recognized the fact it was necessary to distribute this line of business [produce business] all over the city. To concentrate it for the next twenty years is out of the question.” Tet the policy of the law creating and governing the harbor commission seems to favor the concentration of each kind of business, and it is obvious that the public would be better accommodated by such concentration. One who desires to buy a particular kind of goods, say lumber, coal, fish or farm produce, must find it very inconvenient to travel two or three miles along the waterfront to ascertain where he can buy to the best advantage. .Therefore, I think the court properly found against the plea of necessity.
Of the forty-nine specified errors in law, the only one urged here is that the court erred in admitting certain hearsay evidence. C. M. Keniston, a witness for plaintiff, was permitted to testify to a conversation he had with a Mr. Knapp after the final order of removal was made. The testimony was objected to on the ground that it was irrelevant, immaterial and mere hearsay. The objectionable testimony was, in substance: That Knapp said to Keniston, who was the secretary of the plaintiff corporation, that he (Knapp) believed it possible that all the factions could be compromised so that plaintiff could be allowed to remain at Clay street wharf; that he knew more about the case, probably, than anyone else; that he thought he was in a position to compromise the matter, but, of course, it would require money to do it—he thought, about $2,000; parties would have to be fixed up, in order to allow plaintiff to remain at Clay street wharf. That Knapp repeated the substance of the above to Mr. G-illis, the
The decree enjoins the board from enforcing the order of removal to Mission street, “and from unlawfully requiring plaintiff to dock its boats elsewhere than at said Clay street wharf.” Appellants contend that this gives the plaintiff a perpetual vested right to dock at Clay street wharf and enjoins defendants from interfering therewith for any cause. But such is not the meaning of the decree. The board is not enjoined from removing plaintiff’s boats from Clay street wharf for any lawful cause, nor from making any reasonable
We concur: Searls, C.; Belcher, C.
For the reasons given in the foregoing opinion the judgment and order appealed from are affirmed.
Reference
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- UNION TRANSP. CO. v. BASSETT
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- Harbor Commissioners — Review of Regulations by Courts.—Under Political Code, section 25-24, authorizing the state harbor commissioners to make “reasonable” regulations concerning the management of the property intrusted to them, and to assign suitable wharves for the exclusive use of vessels, the courts may review the regulations of said commissioners, and declare them invalid, if unreasonable. Harbor Commissioners — Reasonableness of Regulations.— Whether a regulation of the board of state harbor commissioners changing the docking place of a steamboat company, and requiring it to land its passengers and freight at a different wharf from that to which it had previously been assigned, is unreasonable, is a conclusion of law, to be deduced by the court from the facts proved. Harbor Commissioners—Restraining Regulations.—In an Action to Enjoin the state harbor commissioners from enforcing a resolution requiring plaintiff steamboat company to change its landing place from the C. wharf to the M. wharf, four hundred yards distant, it appeared that nearly all the freight carried by plaintiff and its competitors consisted of wheat and flour, which the shippers generally required should be delivered at the B. and C. wharves, near which the market for produce of this kind had been established for more than ten years; that, as there was no sale for such produce at or near the M. wharf, carriers could not procure it as freight to be delivered there; that there was active competition for freight between plaintiff and another carrier, which had a landing place at the B. wharf; that said order, if executed, would discriminate against plaintiff, to its great detriment, and compel it to suspend business as a carrier of freight on that route; and that, though the C. wharf was overcrowded, there were boats, other than plaintiff’s, which might be removed without prejudice to their interests. Held, that the resolution was unreasonable, and its execution would be enjoined. Harbor Commissioners—Action to Enjoin Resolution.—In an action to restrain the state harbor commissioners from enforcing a resolution requiring plaintiff steamboat company to change its landing place, the testimony of plaintiff’s secretary as to a conversation with one K., in which the latter suggested that he could, for a consideration, effect a compromise, was inadmissible, there being nothing to show that K. was in any way connected with defendants, or that they authorized or knew of his proposal to plaintiff. Harbor Commissioners—Action to Enjoin Resolution.—In an action to restrain the state harbor commissioners from enforcing an order requiring plaintiff steamboat company to change its landing place, the admission of hearsay evidence tending to impugn defendants’ good faith in passing the order of removal is harmless, if the court finds that the order is unreasonable, since such finding warrants the relief sought, irrespective of the motives of defendants.