Mayor, etc., of Athens v. Co-op. Cab Co.

• Decision Date: 09 January 1951
• Docket Number: No. 17307,CO-OP,17307
• Citation: 207 Ga. 505,62 S.E.2d 906
• Parties: MAYOR, etc., OF ATHENS v.CAB CO. et al.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

Page 906

62 S.E.2d 906

207 Ga. 505

MAYOR, etc., OF ATHENS v. CO-OP CAB CO. et al.

No. 17307.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

Jan. 9, 1951.

On February 7, 1950, The Mayor and Council of the City of Athens adopted an ordinance regulating the use of its streets for taxicab business, and providing for the issuance of taxicab permits. Section 23(d) of the ordinance was repealed on August 8, 1950, and, in lieu thereof, it was ordained: 'No driver, owner or operator of a taxicab shall solicit passengers on a route officially designated by the City of Athens as a bus route; nor shall any driver, owner or operator of a taxicab accept any passenger on such bus route except in answer to a telephone call from such passenger requesting such service; nor shall any driver, owner or operator of any vehicle whatever stop for any reason within an officially designated bus stop area; provided, however, that the provisions of this subsection shall be inapplicable during hours when the city bus system is not in operation.'

On August 10, 1950, Co-Op Cab Company, a corporation, C. H. Settle and Fred Smith, doing business under the name and style of Veteran's Cab Company, and W. W. Brooks, an individual, brought an action in the Superior Court of Clarke County against The Mayor and Council of the City of Athens for equitable relief. In substance, their joint petition alleged: The petitioners, other than W. W. Brooks, have a permit to operate and are operating a taxicab business in the City of Athens. They have large sums of money invested in their respective business. If the city's amended ordinance is enforced, their respective taxicab business will be seriously impaired and, as a result therefrom, they will each suffer a great property loss. The city's ordinance, as amended, is null and void because it is in conflict with a general law passed by the legislature in 1941 regulating the operation of taxicabs in the several municipalities of this State. Ga.L.1941, p. 526, Code, Ann.Supp. §§ 68-635 to 68-637, 68-9922, 68-9923. Obedience to the city's amended ordinance by these petitioners, if it is enforced, will, under the provisions of the act of 1941, subject them and the drivers of their taxicabs to damages, suspension of their chauffeur's license by the Georgia Department of Public Safety, and to penal prosecutions in the courts of this State; and as a consequence these petitioners will lose much of their present taxicab patronage. The other petitioner, W. W. Brooks, is a citizen and taxpayer of the City of Athens and a frequent user of taxicabs. As such, he has a right to contract with taxicab drivers for transportation and, if the city's amended ordinance is enforced, he will be wrongfully deprived of his legal right to use taxicabs as a means of transportation. The City of Athens has instructed its police officers to enforce the provisions of the ordinance in question by arresting and making cases against those who violate it. A great many cases will be made for violations of the ordinance, and it will be necessary for the offenders to defend themselves in the recorder's court and apply for the writ of certiorari when the decision of that court is adverse to them. It was also alleged that the petitioners have no adequate remedy at law. Waiving discovery, the prayers of the petition were: 1. For process. 2. That the ordinance in question be declared null and void. 3. That the defendant be enjoined, temporarily and permanently, from enforcing the ordinance through arrests and by prosecutions. 4. For general relief. A general demurrer--which challenged the sufficiency of the petition to state a cause of action for any of the relief sought, and upon the further ground that it shows upon its face that the petitioners have an adequate and complete remedy at law--was overruled and that judgment is properly excepted to. The substantial allegations of the petition were denied by the answer. The parties submitted their evidence, and the trial judge afterwards granted the temporary injunction prayed for. The defendant excepted also to that judgment and sued out a writ of error to this court.

James Barrow, Athens, for plaintiffs in error.

Carlisle Cobb, Rupert A. Brown, Edwin Fortson, Athens, for defendants in error.

Syllabus Opinion by the Court.

CANDLER, Justice.

1. 'Equity will take no part in the administration of the criminal law. It will neither aid criminal courts in the exercise of their jurisdiction, nor will it restrain or obstruct them.' Code, § 55-102. The same rule applies in quasi-criminal proceedings; and prosecutions for violations of municipal ordinances, which are punishable by fine or imprisonment, are of that nature. Mayor, etc., of Shellman v. Saxon, 134 Ga. 29, 32, 67 S.E. 438, 27 L.R.A., N.S., 452; Starnes v. Atlanta, 139 Ga. 531, 77 S.E. 381. In several prior cases involving applications for injunctive relief,...