New York Cent. R. Co. v. Conlin Bus Lines, Inc.

• Decision Date: 04 March 1927
• Citation: 155 N.E. 601,258 Mass. 498
• Parties: NEW YORK CENT. R. CO. v. CONLIN BUS LINES, Inc.
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

258 Mass. 498

155 N.E. 601

NEW YORK CENT. R. CO.

v.CONLIN BUS LINES, Inc.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Suffolk.

March 4, 1927.

Report from Superior Court, Suffolk County; Frederick Lawton, Judge.

Suit by the New York Central Railroad Company against the Conlin Bus Lines, Inc., and petition by plaintiff that defendant and Thomas F. Conlin, its president, be adjudged in contempt of court. On report after findings for plaintiff and order adjudging defendants in contempt. Findings and order to stand.L. Kofsky, of Boston, for plaintiff.

F. P. Ryan, H. P. Scannell, and S. Perman, all of Worcester, for defendant.

RUGG, C. J.

The plaintiff is a duly organized corporation, operating a railroad between Worcester and Springfield in this commonwealth and having a large capital invested therein; the defendant, a corporation operating motor busses on public highways for the carriage of passengers. A temporary injunction was issued on August 24, 1925, restraining the defendant from operating busses for the transportation of passengers for hire within and through the town of Palmer without any license as required by G. L. c. 159 (as amended by Laws 1925, c. 280), §§ 45 to 48b. On September 5, 1925, and thereafter, the defendant operated busses for the carriage of passengers for hire on a regular schedule between Worcester and Springfield, passing through Palmer and Monson. At the trial the defendant contended and the plaintiff disputed that all its busses were operated to points in the state of Connecticut. The defendant has no license from the selectmen of Palmer or from the selectmen of Monson. It has no certificate of public necessity and convenience from the department of public utilities to operate busses between Worcester and Springfield through Palmer. It has filed no bond with the town of Palmer or the town of Monson. It has proper licenses and certificate to operate busses between Worcester and the Palmer line. The route of the defendant's busses in general is parallel with the line of the plaintiff's railroad. The defendant competes with the plaintiff for passenger traffic and has caused it loss of substantial revenue. The trial court was unable to find ‘how many, if any, of the busses' of the defendant make continuous trips from Worcester through to any part of the state of Connecticut, or what proportion of passengers make such through trip, but found that the great bulk of the carriage is intrastate. He decided that the facts did not ‘require or warrant a finding that the defendant ‘is engaged in the carrying of passengers for hire interstate,’' and was fully satisfied that the defendant was not engaged in the carriage of passengers exclusively interstate.

[1] The plaintiff is entitled to prevail. The findings all appear to have been justified and the order as to final decree was right. They were in conformity to the...