Reynoldsburg Trucking, Inc. v. Public Utilities Commission

• Decision Date: 22 March 1978
• Docket Number: Nos. 77-653,77-655,s. 77-653
• Citation: 53 Ohio St.2d 201,373 N.E.2d 1250
• Parties: , 7 O.O.3d 373 REYNOLDSBURG TRUCKING, INC., Appellant, v. PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION of Ohio, Appellee. T. C. SPIRES, INC., Appellant, v. PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION of Ohio, Appellee.
• Court: Ohio Supreme Court

Page 201

53 Ohio St.2d 201

373 N.E.2d 1250, 7 O.O.3d 373

REYNOLDSBURG TRUCKING, INC., Appellant, v. PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION of Ohio, Appellee.

T. C. SPIRES, INC., Appellant, v. PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION of Ohio, Appellee.

Nos. 77-653, 77-655.

Supreme Court of Ohio.

March 22, 1978.

The Public Utilities Commission (commission), by order of May 23, 1961, enlarged the Columbus Commercial Zone to include all territory within Franklin County. Appellants, Reynoldsburg Trucking, Inc., and T. C. Spires, Inc., are holders of intrastate irregular certificates of public convenience and necessity which authorize certain motor transportation service from and to all points in Fairfield County. In order to have been granted these certificates, appellants had previously established that the public convenience and necessity required their service in Fairfield County.

In May 1974, the Columbus City Council annexed by ordinance a portion of Fairfield County into the city of Columbus.

On July 23, 1974, appellant T. C. Spires, presumably pursuant to its belief that the Columbus Commercial Zone had been enlarged to include the annexed portion of Fairfield County, issued a tariff supplement which included rates for movements from and to the Columbus Commercial Zone. By entry of April 21, 1975, the commission entered an investigation of those tariffs.

On May 16, 1975, appellants filed a petition for the enlargement (or clarification) of the commercial zone. By entry of May 27, 1975, the commission held the Spires investigation in abeyance pending the resolution of the petition of appellants.

A hearing on the petition was held on July 21, 1975. The attorney examiner's report, filed November 2, 1976, rejected the contention that the annexed portion of Fairfield County was included in the commercial zone and concluded further that the commercial zone should not be so enlarged.

On February 16, 1977, the commission issued its opinion and order affirming the attorney examiner's report and denying the petition. In March 1977, appellants filed applications for rehearing which were denied by the commission on April 13, 1977.

On June 10, 1977, appellants filed notices of appeal, and upon the allowance of the commission's motion to consolidate the two appeals, the cause is now before this court as a matter of right.

Sanborn, Brandon & Duvall and James Duvall, Columbus, for appellant Reynoldsburg Trucking, Inc.

Lewis S. Witherspoon, Columbus, for appellant T. C. Spires, Inc.

William J. Brown, Atty. Gen., Marvin I. Resnik, John W. Bentine and John W. Rudduck, Columbus, for appellee.

PER CURIAM.

Appellants assert, in effect, that because a portion of Fairfield County was annexed into the city of Columbus, the Columbus Commercial Zone should have been enlarged to include the added territory, and that therefore appellants' certificate authority was extended by operation of law throughout the entire commercial zone without a showing of public convenience and necessity.

Appellants cite Beiter Line, Inc., v. Pub. Util. Comm. (1956), 165 Ohio St. 1, 133 N.E.2d 135, as authority for the above proposition. However, such heavy reliance on Beiter Line and similar cases is unfounded, for two reasons:

First, this court in Beiter Line stated that the commission "is not...