Nanticoke Borough v. Bell Telephone Co.
Nanticoke Borough v. Bell Telephone Co.
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
This was a proceeding under the Act of April 17,1905, P. L. 183. As the statute expressly provides that such proceedings shall be heard and decided “in the way and manner provided by law for the hearing of cases in equity,” it would necessarily follow, as we held in P. & A. Tel. Co. v. Braddock, 43 Pa. Superior Ct. 456, that we must accept the findings of fact adopted by the learned judge who heard the cause “as having the same conclusive force and effect as would the verdict of a jury.” We cannot disturb or interfere with them except in cases of flagrant and manifest error.
Practically all of the assignments of error which have been urged upon us complain of the findings of fact. A careful examination of the testimony has satisfied us that the court found no fact without testimony to support it, and we are therefore unable to sustain any of the assignments alleging error in such findings.
The statute declares that the matter to be determined by the court in such a proceeding is “the amount of annual license fees which should be paid to the said municipal corporation in order to properly compensate it for the necessary cost of the services performed or to be performed by it for the inspection and regulation of poles, wires, etc.” As these proceedings are akin to those in equity, not only in form but in substance, it would follow that each of such cases must be determined according as the evidence in that case portrays the conditions that confront the municipality. The statute, too, contemplates that such conditions will change, and hence provides that either party, at any time after two years from a given adjudication, may begin a new proceeding for the purposes
The only assignment of error which may be said to raise a question of law is the first which complains of the action of the court sustaining an objection to the offer of the borough to show the total number of poles not only of the defendant but of all other companies, strangers to the present proceeding, which were maintained within the limits of the municipality. This assignment is in no
Decree affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.