Centre Hall Water Co. v. Borough of Centre Hall

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Centre Hall Water Co. v. Borough of Centre Hall, 186 Pa. 74 (Pa. 1898)
40 A. 153; 1898 Pa. LEXIS 961
Cttbiam, Dean, Fell, McCollum, Mitchell, Sterrett

Centre Hall Water Co. v. Borough of Centre Hall

Opinion of the Court

Peb Cttbiam,

So far as the facts of this case are material to the questions presented by the assignments of error, they appear to be fully and accurately stated by the learned president of the common pleas and need not be recited here ; and, as to the conclusions drawn from the facts thus established, we are all of opinion that the plaintiff companj'' is not now and never was invested with any exclusive right or authority to furnish a supply of water to the defendant borough, either by virtue of its charter rights or in consequence of anything that has been done thereunder by the parties or either of them. We find nothing in the case that brings it within the controlling principles of White v. Meadville, 177 Pa. 643, Metzger v. Beaver Falls, 178 Pa. 1, or Wilson v. Rochester, 180 Pa. 509, on which plaintiff relies. In each of those cases the respective municipalities had exercised their charter right to furnish a supply of water through the agency of the several water companies with which they respectively had entered into contractual relations for that purpose. No such relation ever existed between the parties to this *82contention, and hence defendant is not affected by the consequences that might have resulted therefrom.

The questions involved have been so fully and carefully considered and satisfactorily disposed of by the learned judge who presided at the hearing that further discussion is unnecessary. On his opinion the decree is affirmed and appeal dismissed at appellant’s costs.

Reference

Full Case Name
The Centre Hall Water Company v. The Borough of Centre Hall, Pennsylvania Samuel Shoop, Chief Burgess Clement F. Deininger, John Rider, William F. Bradford, Clement W. Luse, Jerry Miller, R. D. Foreman and M. L. Emerick, Council of said Borough
Cited By
1 case
Status
Published
Syllabus
Corporations — Water companies — Exclusive privileges — Borough. A water company incorporated without exclusive privileges prior to the act of April 29, 1874, which has supplied water to the residents of a town prior and subsequent to its incorporation as a borough, but which has never had any contract with the borough, and has never by any action of the borough been induced to extend its pipes or expend money upon its plant, is not entitled to an injunction to restrain the borough from establishing and maintaining waterworks of its own. White v. Meadville, 177 Pa. 643, Metzger v. Beaver Falls, 178 Pa. 1, and Wilson v. Rochester, 180 Pa. 509, distinguished.