Aransas Harbor Terminal Ry. Co. v. Taber

• Citation: 235 S.W. 841
• Decision Date: 14 December 1921
• Docket Number: (No. 265-3486.)
• Parties: ARANSAS HARBOR TERMINAL RY. CO. v. TABER.
• Court: Supreme Court of Texas

235 S.W. 841

ARANSAS HARBOR TERMINAL RY. CO. v. TABER.

(No. 265-3486.)

Commission of Appeals of Texas, Section A.

December 14, 1921.

Error to Court of Civil Appeals of Fourth Supreme Judicial District.

Action by C. C. Taber against the Aransas Harbor Terminal Railway Company and another. From a judgment on directed verdict for defendants, plaintiff appealed to the Court of Civil Appeals, and on judgment there in favor of plaintiff (219 S. W. 860), defendant named brings error. Judgment of the Court of Civil Appeals reversed, and that of the district court affirmed.

Denman, Franklin & McGown, of San Antonio, for plaintiff in error.

T. O. Woldert, of Houston, and J. D. Todd, of Corpus Christi, for defendant in error.

RANDOLPH, J.

This is a suit by C. C. Taber against Aransas Harbor Terminal Railway Company and J. C. Moore to recover damages for libel. Moore having died, the cause was dismissed as to him, and trial proceeded between plaintiff, Taber, and the defendant company.

The cause of action was based upon an alleged libel contained in a letter written by Moore, vice president of defendant company, to the Railroad Commission of Texas, which was written by defendant Moore in answer to a complaint filed before the Commission by Taber. On trial in the district court the jury returned an instructed verdict in favor of defendant. The case was appealed to the Court of Civil Appeals for the Fourth Supreme Judicial District, and from a judgment by that court adverse to the defendant company (219 S. W. 860) the Supreme Court granted a writ of error.

The application for writ of error alleged four grounds of error committed by the Court of Civil Appeals:

"(a) In holding that the lower court erred in instructing a verdict for defendant; (b) in holding that the alleged libelous matter was not absolutely privileged; * * * (c) in holding that the Railroad Commission was neither a judicial nor a quasi judicial body; and (d) in holding that an official communication addressed to the Railroad Commission of Texas, one of the departments of the government of the state, was not a privileged communication."

The Court of Civil Appeals in reversing and remanding the case to the district court gave, in their opinion, as their reason for doing so that the letter from defendant was only qualifiedly privileged, because the Railroad Commission is not a judicial tribunal, or what is termed by courts quasi judicial. The determination of the correctness of this holding will be arrived at by ascertaining whether or not the Railroad Commission has quasi judicial powers, and whether or not that body is a department of the government of the state of Texas.

An absolutely privileged communication is one in respect to which by reason of the occasion on which it is made no remedy can be had in a civil action. 17 R. C. L. p. 330, § 76.

The creation by the Legislature of the Railroad Commission was authorized by article 10, section 2, Amendment 1890 of the Constitution of Texas. The Legislature, acting on that authorization, created the Commission by passing article 6653, chapter 15. Vernon's Civil Statutes of Texas 1920.

Section 12 of article 6654 requires railway companies to maintain adequate, confortable, and clean depots and depot buildings at its several stations, and to provide for the lighting thereof, and for the maintenance of adequate and suitable freight depots and buildings.

Article 6664 of that chapter contains the provision for the filing of complaints with the Commission and the procedure in the hearing of such complaints.

Article 6668 gives the Commission power to summons witnesses and to compel their attendance in making any examination or investigation, and to compel the parties to testify in such investigation.

Article 6672 provides:

"If any railway company doing business in this state shall hereafter violate any other provision of this chapter, or shall do any other act herein prohibited, or shall fail or refuse to perform any other duty enjoined upon it for which a penalty has not been provided by law, or shall fail, neglect or refuse to obey any lawful requirement, order, judgment or decree made by the Railroad Commission of Texas, for every such act of violation it shall pay to the state of Texas a penalty of not more than five thousand dollars."

Article 6673 provides the method of collecting penalties adjudged by the Commission.

Do these statutes create a body with quasi judicial powers, and is the Commission thus created a department of the government of the state? We think both of these questions should be answered in the affirmative. The...