Public Service Commission of Wisconsin v. Wisconsin Telephone Co
| Decision Date | 27 March 1933 |
| Docket Number | No. 517,517 |
| Citation | 289 U.S. 67,77 L.Ed. 1036,53 S.Ct. 514 |
| Parties | PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION OF WISCONSIN et al. v. WISCONSIN TELEPHONE CO |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
Appeal from the District Court of the United States for the Western District of Wisconsin.
Mr. Alvin C. Reis, of Madison, Wis., for appellants.
Messrs. Edwin S. Mack and Arthur W. Fairchild, both of Milwaukee, Wis., for appellee.
This is an appeal from a decree of the District Court, composed of three judges, granting an interlocutory injunction which restrained the enforcement of an order of the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin reducing telephone rates. 28 U.S.C. § 380 (28 USCA § 380).
In July, 1931, the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin instituted a statewide investigation of the rates, rules, services, and practices of the Wisconsin Telephone Company. While hearings in this investigation were in progress, and on June 30, 1932, the commission issued an 'interlocutory' order reducing the rates for 'exchange' service, that is, rates for local service within a single exchange, by 12 1/2 per cent. The commission found that the existing rates were unjust and unreasonable and that the reduced rates would be just and reasonable to be applied for a temporary period. The rates were to be effective for one year from July 31, 1932, the commission retaining jurisdiction to modify its order at any time for cause shown. The commission rendered an elaborate opinion (154 printed pages) setting forth the 'reasons and facts' underlying its findings.
On July 28, 1932, the company brought this suit to restrain the enforcement of the prescribed rates and two days later the District Judge made a temporary restraining order. Application for an interlocutory injunction was heard by three judges on September 21, 1932. The hearing was upon the pleadings and voluminous affidavits making a record of several hundred pages. On the same day, after argument, the court announced its decision granting the injunction upon the giving of a bond for $1,000,000 and meanwhile continuing the temporary restraining order. The decree for injunction was entered on October 18, 1932, and contained a general statement that the rates prescribed by the commission's order 'would result in the confiscation of the property' of the complainant, would deprive it of its property 'without compensation and without due process of law,' and that there would be irreparable injury if an interlocutory injunction were not issued.
No opinion was rendered by the District Court and, apart from the general statement above mentioned, the court made no findings. Not only did the court fail to set forth the facts pertinent to a conclusion that an interlocutory injunction should issue, but the court declared that the prescribed rates were confiscatory without any findings warranting such a conclusion. Appellee moves to affairm the decree. Appellants, resisting the motion, contend that the District Court abused its discretion and that the decree should be reversed, or at least should be set aside and the cause remanded for findings of fact and conclusions of law.
We have repeatedly emphasized the importance of a statement of the grounds of decision, both as to facts and law, as an aid to litigants and to this court. While it is always desirable that an appellate court should be adequately advised of the basis of the determination of the court below, we have pointed out that it is particularly important that this basis should appear when the decree enjoins the enforcement of a state law or the action of state officials under that law. Virginian Railway Co. v. United States, 272 U.S. 658, 675, 47 S.Ct. 222, 71 L.Ed. 463; Lawrence v. St. Louis-San Francisco Railway Co., 274 U.S. 588,...
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