Red Diamond Bus Line Co. v. Cannon Ball Transp. Co.

• Decision Date: 18 March 1930
• Citation: 233 Ky. 482,26 S.W.2d 28
• Parties: RED DIAMOND BUS LINE CO. et al. v. CANNON BALL TRANSP. CO. et al.
• Court: Kentucky Court of Appeals

26 S.W.2d 28

233 Ky. 482

RED DIAMOND BUS LINE CO. et al. v. CANNON BALL TRANSP. CO. et al.

Court of Appeals of Kentucky

March 18, 1930

Appeal from Circuit Court, Franklin County.

Proceedings by the Cannon Ball Transportation Company and others, opposed by the Red Diamond Bus Line Company and another, for certificate of public convenience and necessity to operate a motor bus line. From a judgment of the Circuit Court affirming an order of the Commissioner of Motor Transportation granting a certificate of public convenience and necessity, protestants appeal.

Reversed and remanded with directions.

Waugh &amp Howerton, of Ashland, and R. W. Keenon, of Lexington, for appellants.

Martin & Smith, of Catlettsburg, for appellees.

CLAY J.

About April 1, 1928, the Cannon Ball Transportation Company applied to the commissioner of motor transportation for a certificate of public convenience and necessity to operate a motor bus line between Portsmouth, Ohio, and Ashland Ky. via South Portsmouth, Fulton, and Greenup, Ky. for the purpose of transporting interstate passengers between Portsmouth, Ohio, and Ashland, Ky. and intrastate passengers between South Portsmouth, Ky. and Ashland, Ky. The granting of the certificate was protested by the Red Diamond Bus Line Company and the Blue Ribbon Bus Line Company, and their owners, who were operating a motor bus service between Ashland and Greenup under a permit theretofore granted by the commissioner. In support of its application, the Cannon Ball Transportation Company filed several letters recommending the additional service, also the affidavits of three employees of a company affiliated with the applicant, to the effect that on certain days they had checked the service of protestants and that they did not comply with their schedule, and that on certain occasions protestants used touring cars in place of busses. On the other hand, the protestants filed some 75 affidavits to the effect that they were amply equipped to take care of the traveling public between Ashland and Greenup, that their service was adequate, and that there was no public necessity for the granting of any additional permit between those points. Among other findings by the commissioner are these:

"The proof submitted by the applicant clearly shows that these two lines are not giving satisfactory service between these points, and that they are not maintaining their schedule as granted by the Commissioner of Motor Transportation. It further shows that they are operating touring cars as busses which have not been licensed by the Commissioner of Motor Transportation, and on which they have not secured any personal liability or property damage insurance, which is a direct violation of the Motor Transportation Laws.

From careful consideration of all the proof filed or introduced, I am of the opinion that a motor bus line between Portsmouth, Ohio, and Ashland, Kentucky, is a public convenience and necessity to the traveling public, and that the present service is inadequate."

The commissioner further found that the...