Franklin v. Nw. Tel. Co.

• Decision Date: 14 June 1886
• Citation: 28 N.W. 461,69 Iowa 97
• Parties: FRANKLIN v. NORTHWESTERN TELEPHONE CO.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

69 Iowa 97

28 N.W. 461

FRANKLIN

v.NORTHWESTERN TELEPHONE CO.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

June 14, 1886.

Appeal from Harrison circuit court.

Action to recover for labor rendered by plaintiff for the defendant under a written contract. The action was brought originally before a justice of the peace of Harrison township, Harrison county. Judgment was rendered for the plaintiff. An appeal was taken by the defendant to the circuit court, and judgment was again rendered for the plaintiff. The defendant appeals to this court.J. W. Barnhart, for appellant.

Charles Mackenzie and S. H. Cochran, for appellee.

ADAMS, C. J.

The case involves less than $100, and comes to us upon a certificate of appeal. The questions presented pertain to the jurisdiction of the justice of the peace, and to the jurisdiction of the circuit court. The defendant is a corporation organized under the laws of Iowa, and having its principal place of business in Ida county; and it contends that neither the justice of the peace of Harrison county nor the circuit court of Harrison county had jurisdiction to try the case. Sections 3507 and 3513 of the Code provide that the jurisdiction of a justice of the peace does not embrace suits for the recovery of money against actual residents of any other county, except that, upon written contracts stipulating for payment at a particular place, suit may be brought in the township where the payment was agreed to be made. The defendant being a corporation organized under the laws of Iowa, and having its principal place of business in Ida county, is to be regarded as a resident of that county. The contract sued on does not provide for payment at a particular place. Such being the facts, the justice of the peace manifestly did not have jurisdiction unless the jurisdiction was conferred by other provisions.

Section 2882 of the Code provides that actions may be brought against telegraph companies in any county through which the line passes or is operated. In the case at bar it was shown that the defendant's line, though not open for general business, passed through Harrison county, and was operated in that county. In Telephone Co. v. Board of Equalization, 25 N. W. Rep. 155, it was held that a telephone company was to be regarded, for the purposes of taxation, as coming under the denomination of a telegraph company, within the meaning of the statute. We are not able to see why the reasoning, as as applied to that case, based upon the...