Multnomah County v. City & Suburban Ry. Co.

• Decision Date: 19 December 1898
• Citation: 34 Or. 93,55 P. 441
• Parties: MULTNOMAH COUNTY v. CITY & SUBURBAN RY. CO.
• Court: Oregon Supreme Court

55 P. 441

34 Or. 93

MULTNOMAH COUNTY v. CITY & SUBURBAN RY. CO.

Supreme Court of Oregon

December 19, 1898

Appeal from circuit court, Multnomah county; E.D. Shattuck, Judge.

Action by Multnomah county against the City & Suburban Railway Company. There was a judgment for defendant, and plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.

W.D Fenton and Chester V. Dolph, for appellant.

Rufus Mallory, for respondent.

BEAN J.

This is an action brought by the county of Multnomah to recovers the sum of $1,200, alleged to be due from the defendant, the City & Suburban Railway Company, for the use of Morrison Street Bridge, in the city of Portland, for the months of February and March, 1896. The facts out of which the controversy arose are as follows: The legislature of 1895 appointed a "Bridge Committee of the City of Portland," with authority to procure for it, by purchase or condemnation, the Morrison Street Bridge, a structure owned by the Willamette Iron Bridge Company; the Stark Street Ferry, owned by private parties; and the lease of the upper deck of what is known as the "Steel Bridge," owned by the Oregon Railway &amp Navigation Company, for the purpose of making them free for the use of the general public. Laws 1895, p. 421. Section 15 of the act provides that "the bridge committee, in the name of said city, is hereby authorized, in case it can secure the said Morrison Street Bridge or the upper deck of the said Steel Bridge, or the Stark Street Ferry by agreement, and finds it necessary so to do in order to effect the agreement of purchase or lease, as the case may be, to enter into such contracts as it may deem just with any line or lines of street railway operated or to be operated over and across the said bridges or the said ferry." It is further provided that after the bridges and ferry shall be so acquired, and are ready for use, the possession and control thereof shall be transferred and delivered to the county court of Multnomah county, which shall thereafter maintain and operate the same, with power, among other things, "to establish rates for the use thereof by the street-railway company and other companies or corporations not entitled to the free use of the same." In pursuance of the power conferred upon it, the bridge committee, on July 3, 1895, purchased Morrison Street Bridge for the city; but the defendant, being at the time the owner of about 75 per cent. of the stock of the bridge company, and having an exclusive right to the use of the bridge for street-railway purposes, it was found necessary to enter into an agreement with it by the terms of which it was to be permitted to use the bridge as part of its street-railway system for the term of 20 years, at the monthly rental of $150. The county court however, upon assuming possession and control of the bridge,...