Stark County v. Public Utilities Commission
Stark County v. Public Utilities Commission
Opinion of the Court
This proceeding was instituted before the Public Utilities Commission where the plaintiff sought “an order compelling The Northern Ohio Traction & Light Company to charge rates of fare to passengers between Canton and Beach City and the intermediate points according to the terms of the contract entered into between the county commissioners of Stark county and the village of Navarre as to the rate of fare to be charged between Canton and Massillon and Massillon and Navarre and that they be compelled to charge rates of fare fixed by the Public Utilities Commission between Navarre and Beach City and the intermediate points thereof.”
The Public Utilities Commission found that the fares charged by the company, and the practice complained of, did not violate any of the provisions of any franchise under which the defendant operates, that the rates charged for carrying passengers between the points named are the rates carried in defendant’s schedule on file with the commission, that the practice complained of is in accordance with such regulation, and that the same was not unreasonable or unjustly discriminatory. The commission refused to order any change made therein.
A motion for rehearing having been overruled by the commission the action was filed in this court
The record discloses that The Northern Ohio Traction & Light Company is operating an interurban railway from Canton, Ohio, to Beach City, Ohio, passing through the following points, Massillon, Navarre, Harmoii, Justus and Target Stop; that on December 1, 1919, it entered into a franchise-contract with the board of county commissioners of Stark county, wherein it was stipulated that the rate of fare between Canton and Massill®n should be fifteen cents; and'that on June 11, 1919, it entered into a franchise-contract with the village of Navarre, wherein it was stipulated that the rate of fare between the village of Navarre and the city of Massillon should be ten cents.
No contract, other than those above stated, has been entered into wherein the rate of fare to be charged between any points on said road has been fixed or stipulated, and the rates of fare charged between the points on said road, other than those stipulated in the contracts above referred to, are the rates of fare fixed by and set forth in the schedule of rates filed by the company with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. The rates charged, therefore, between the various points on said road are in full compliance with said schedule.
The complaint of the plaintiff in error was based upon the provisions of Section 524, General Code, the sole contention being that the rate fixed by the schedule on file is unreasonable and unjustly discriminatory in that it provides for a charge for
By the provisions of Section 527, General Code, the commission, if it finds a rate complained of to be unreasonable or unjustly discriminatory, is required to fix and order substituted therefor such rate of fare as it shall have determined to be just and reasonable. But here there is no claim that the charge made is excessive or unreasonable. The sole ground upon which it is sought to have the company’s schedule of rates modified seems to be that the terms of said separate contracts should be so construed and applied as to extend the benefits thereof to all points along the line of the interurban company, and that such contract rates should be treated as a basis of rates to other points on the line of the company’s road.
Order affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.