Muncy Electric Light, Heat & Power Co. v. People's Electric Light, Heat & Power Co.
| Decision Date | 25 June 1907 |
| Docket Number | 114 |
| Citation | 67 A. 956,218 Pa. 636 |
| Parties | Muncy Electric Light, Heat & Power Company v. Peoples' Electric Light, Heat & Power Company, Appellant |
| Court | Pennsylvania Supreme Court |
Argued March 19, 1907
Appeal, No. 114, Jan. T., 1907, by defendants, from decree of C.P. Lycoming Co., March T., 1907, No. 1, on bill in equity in case of the Muncy Electric Light, Heat & Power Company and Jennie A. Painter v. The Peoples' Electric Light, Heat & Power Company of Muncy, Pa., and the Burgess and Town Council of the Borough of Muncy. Affirmed.
Bill in equity for an injunction.
The bill alleged that the Muncy Electric Light, Heat & Power Company was incorporated under the laws of the state of Pennsylvania in 1893, for the purpose of furnishing light heat and power by electricity in the borough of Muncy, that by ordinance No. 89 of the borough of Muncy approved September 11, 1893, and the proposition referred to therein said borough, for a valuable consideration, granted to the Muncy Electric Light, Heat and Power Company plaintiff, the exclusive right to erect poles and extend wires upon the highways of the borough; that nevertheless said borough on October 1, 1906, passed an ordinance granting to the Peoples' Electric Light, Heat and Power Company of Muncy, Pennsylvania, the right and power to erect and maintain poles, and extend its wires upon the highways of said borough for the purpose of supplying light, heat and power by means of electricity, to the borough and citizens of Muncy, and that in pursuance of such authority, said Peoples' Electric Light, Heat and Power Company were planting their poles and stringing their wires on the highways of the borough, and prayed for an injunction to restrain the Peoples' Electric Light, Heat and Power Company, defendant, from exercising its corporate functions within said borough.
The borough of Muncy and the Peoples' Electric Light, Heat and Power Company, defendants, filed a joint answer and denied that the borough of Muncy by virtue of said borough ordinance No. 89, dated September 11, 1893, or by any agreement, granted to the Muncy Electric Light, Heat and Power Company, plaintiff, the exclusive right to erect poles and extend its wires upon the public highways of the borough, or that any consideration for such exclusive right passed from said Muncy Electric Light, Heat and Power Company to said borough. The answer further averred that the Peoples' Electric Light, Heat and Power Company was duly chartered under the laws of the state of Pennsylvania on October 23, 1906, for the purpose of the manufacture and supply of light, heat and power or any of them by means of electricity to the public in the borough of Muncy; that by virtue of an ordinance of the burgess and town council of the borough of Muncy dated October 1, 1906, the Peoples' Electric Light, Heat and Power Company was authorized to erect its poles and extend its wires upon the highways of said borough, and that said Peoples' Electric Light, Heat and Power Company was in good faith prosecuting its chartered privileges, when arrested by injunction.
The case was heard on bill, answer and proofs.
The court in an opinion by HART, P.J., filed the following decree:
1. That the ordinance of the borough of Muncy, dated October 1, 1906, in so far as the same purports to grant to the Peoples' Electric Light, Heat and Power Company of Muncy, Pennsylvania, or to any person or persons in its behalf, authority to erect and maintain poles and extend electric wires through the streets, alleys and thoroughfares for the purpose of supplying light, heat and power by means of electricity to the borough and the citizens of Muncy and vicinity, is declared null and void.
2. That the Peoples' Electric Light, Heat and Power Company of Muncy, Pennsylvania, one of the defendants, is enjoined and restrained from erecting poles or extending electric light wires in the streets, alleys or thoroughfares of the borough of Muncy aforesaid, for the purpose of furnishing light, heat or power to the borough and citizens of Muncy, until September 11, 1913, the date of the expiration of the contract entered into between the said borough of Muncy and the Muncy Electric Light, Heat and Power Company of Muncy, Pennsylvania, dated September 11, 1893.
Error assigned amongst others was the decree of the court.
Decree affirmed.
William P. Beeber and John J. Reardon, for appellants. -- The borough had no right to grant an exclusive franchise to the plaintiff: Whelen's App., 1 A. Repr. 90; Meadville Nat. Gas Co. v. Meadville Fuel Gas Co., 1 Pa. C.C. Rep. 448; Home Electric Co., 11 Pa. C.C. Rep. 179; Freeport Water Works Co. v. Prager, 129 Pa. 605; Clarksburg Electric Light Co. v. Clarksburg, 47 W.Va. 739 (35 S.E. Repr. 994); Grand Rapids Electric Light & Power Co. v. Edison Electric Light & Fuel Gas Co., 33 Fed. Repr. 659.
Seth T. McCormick, for appellees. -- There can be no doubt whatever that the borough of Muncy had the power to contract for a supply of light for the borough and its inhabitants: Wade v. Oakmont Borough, 165 Pa. 479; Seitzinger v. Electric Illuminating Co., 187 Pa. 539; New Orleans Gas Light Co. v. Light, etc., Mfg. Co., 115 U.S. 650 (6 S.Ct. Repr. 252).
The principle that the grant of exclusive privilege is not prohibited by the constitution or void from being against public policy has been repeatedly affirmed by this court, in the case of water companies supplying water to the inhabitants of municipalities under legislative enactment authorizing the same: White v. City of Meadville, 177 Pa. 643; Metzger v. Beaver Falls Borough, 178 Pa. 1; Wilson v. Borough of Rochester, 180 Pa. 509; Troy Water Co. v. Troy Borough, 200 Pa. 453; Penna. R.R. Co. v. Pass. Ry. Co., 167 Pa. 62; Allegheny v. St. Ry. Co., 159 Pa. 411; Erie v....
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