Hocking Glass Co. v. Ohio Light & Power Co.
Hocking Glass Co. v. Ohio Light & Power Co.
Opinion of the Court
The conceded facts as presented by the pleadings in the case and agreed to by counsel in oral argument are:
Plaintiff is a corporation duly organized, incorporated and existing under the laws of Ohio, with its principal place of business at Lancaster, Fair-field county, Ohio. The defendant, The Ohio Light & Power Company, is a public utility corporation
Under the terms of the franchise by which The Ohio Light & Power Company operates in the city of Lancaster, Ohio, there are no provisions as to the rates which may be charged by the company, and, further, the city of Lancaster has enacted no rate-regulating ordinances establishing the rates which may be charged by public utilities operating electric light, heating and power plants in said city.
The relief sought by plaintiff in its petition is that said defendants be enjoined from shutting off the service of electricity from plaintiff’s plant and
Learned counsel for plaintiff lay down three propositions which they claim are decisive of the present case and fully authorize the granting of the relief prayed for in plaintiff’s petition:
1. That the legislature of Ohio has not conferred upon the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio authority to fix basic rates, save and except in cases of appeal to that body, thereby leaving it entirely open and free for parties to fix their own rates for services by agreement.
2. That the parties hereto had a right to enter into a private contract, and that such contract is .valid, and can not be set aside or abrogated by the filing of a future schedule or schedules with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.
3. That under the facts and the law, defendants •and each of them are estopped from setting up the defenses claimed by them to be a bar to.the relief Bought by plaintiff.
To us there is but one question involved in this suit, namely, Did the filing of the new schedule
It is maintained by counsel for plaintiff that a proper and legal adoption of a new schedule of a public utility by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio does not supersede or supplant a contract previously entered into.
It must be conceded that when the legislature of Ohio passed the public utilities act it did so for /some reason, and that it had some object in view at the time. This leads us to inquire what it was. The public utilities in our state had become numerous, and there was almost endless litigation resulting therefrom. Our courts had become clogged with this class of litigation, and the Public Utilities Commission was created by law as and for a clearing house through and by which the rights of public utilities and those dealing with them could be properly determined, settled and disposed of, without burdening our courts with that kind of litigation, which in many instances lasted for years and in the end seemingly failed to satisfy either litigants or the public in its conclusions. And the process of reaching these conclusions was entirely too slow. True, the act in question is
An examination of the provisions of this act leads us at once to conclude that in many ways the act is most drastic, and especially wherein it changes or modifies the ancient rule as to contract, but to this we must accede, because it is the law and was the law when the contract upon which plaintiff relies was entered into. We are bound to know the law, and, it being statutory and in full force at the time of the making of said contract, the statute must and does govern.
After the initial filing of rates, as required in Section 614-16, the further provision is found in Section 614-20 that such rates so established are not to be changed unless ordered by the Public Utilities Commission, save and except by thirty days’ notice to said commission, or by the filing of new schedules thirty days prior to the time they are to take effect. By the conceded facts it is shown this procedure was clearly followed by The Ohio Light & Power Company.
Plaintiff further- urges that defendants, having induced it to act to its substantial and irreparable injury and damage in changing its plant so as to permit of the defendants’ service exclusively, that they, the defendants, are estopped from maintaining their alleged defenses.
We do not feel inclined to discuss this question at length, but we will content ourselves by saying that upon the facts and law of the case this claim of plaintiff is not well founded.
Mr. Justice Day, of the United States Supreme Court, has laid down a rule of law clearly applicable to this case, and we hold that it is decisive of it. While the rule was applied to an act of congress, yet it is clearly applicable to a law enacted by a state legislature. We refer to the case of Armour Packing Co. v. United States, 209 U. S., 56, in which Justice Day, speaking for the court, says, at page 81:
“It may be, as urged by petitioner, that this construction renders impossible the making of contracts for the future delivery of such merchandise as the petitioner deals in, and that the instability of the rate introduces a factor of uncertainty, destructive of contract rights heretofore enjoyed in such property. This feature of the law, it is insisted, puts the shipper in many kinds of trade at the mercy of the carrier, who may arbitrarily change a rate, upon the faith of which contracts have been entered into. But the right to make such regulations is inherent in the power of Congress to legislate respecting interstate commerce, and such considerations of inconvenience or hard
The rule is well known that courts are bound to construe and interpret laws as they come from the legislature, and can not modify or change them at will, although such laws may seemingly work ’ a hardship.
If the public utilities act of Ohio, as it now stands, is found inadequate, or does not fully meet the demands of the people, the remedy is with the legislature and not the courts.
Under the facts, and the law governing them, we find for the defendants. Petition of plaintiff dismissed.
Petition dismissed.
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