State v. Florida East Coast Ry. Co.

• Decision Date: 29 June 1909
• Citation: 50 So. 425,58 Fla. 524
• Parties: STATE ex rel. RAILROAD COM'RS v. FLORIDA EAST COAST RY. CO.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

50 So. 425

58 Fla. 524

STATE ex rel. RAILROAD COM'RS v. FLORIDA EAST COAST RY. CO.

Florida Supreme Court

June 29, 1909

Headnotes Filed and Rehearing Denied Oct. 12, 1909.)

In Banc. Original application for mandamus by the State, on relation of the Railroad Commissioners, against the Florida East Coast Railway Company. Demurrer to return overruled.

Syllabus by the Court

SYLLABUS

The valid administrative orders of the railroad commissioners should be obeyed, and those who are subject to such orders violate them at their peril.

In seeking relief from orders or rules of the railroad commissioners thought to be unduly burdensome or otherwise illegal, railroad companies should apply to the railroad commissioners for changes or modifications of such orders or rules.

While the conduct of a railroad company in violating an order made by the railroad commissioners, without applying to the commissioners for a change or modification of the order, is emphatically disapproved by this court, yet if, under changed conditions, the order disobeyed would operate arbitrarily and be detrimental to the public welfare, and violate constitutional rights of the carrier, the order will not be enforced.

The initial discretion as to the means and manner of operating a railroad is in those charged with its management. It should be exercised in accordance with law, in good faith, and in the interest of the general welfare. Such discretion is subject to lawful governmental supervision and regulation, to prevent abuses, unjust discriminations, and other illegal actions or results.

Rules and regulations adopted by the railroad commissioners for the lawful supervision and regulation of the service rendered by railroad companies are administrative in their nature, are presumed to be reasonable and just, and are subject to judicial review by appropriate proceedings.

The special and general statutory authority given the railroad commissioners to make and enforce reasonable and just regulations to require railroads to provide all necessary facilities and proper schedules to serve the uses, comfort and convenience of the public, and to operate the roads for the public good, includes authority to make and enforce reasonable rules and regulations to require the furnishing of facilities for making connections between different roads for the use and convenience of the public.

The duty of a railroad company to furnish reasonably adequate facilities is commensurate with the powers and privileges conferred upon the corporation and the just requirement of the public to be served by it. In determining the obligation of the corporation in the discharge of its duties to the public, the corporate business as a whole, the character of the service required, the need of its performance, and the various rights of the public and of the carrier should be considered.

All reasonable and just rules and regulations made by the railroad commissioners within the authority conferred upon them by law should be enforced to carry out the expressed purpose of the law in the interest of the general welfare but unreasonable regulations are not within the authority conferred by law upon the railroad commissioners, and when regulations appear from the pleadings or the evidence in a case to be unreasonable and violative of constitutional provisions for the protection of private property rights such unreasonable regulations will not be enforced by the courts.

Where it is in effect admitted by demurrer that the enforcement of an order of the railroad commissioners will be injurious to the public welfare and will violate constitutional rights of the carrier, the order will not be enforced, even though the carrier failed to apply to the railroad commissioners for relief from the order before disregarding it.

COUNSEL L. C. Massey, for relators.

Alex. St. Clair-Abrams, for respondent.

OPINION

WHITFIELD C.J.

In a former opinion overruling a demurrer to the alternative writ herein it was held that the railroad commissioners had authority under the statutes of this state to make just and reasonable regulations of the schedules of railroads with reference to connections between different railroads, so as to afford reasonable convenience and commfort to the public affected by the service, and that all such regulations, when made, are by the statute declared to be prima facie reasonable and just. State v. Florida East Coast Railway Co., 57 Fla. ----, 49 So. 43.

The respondent operates a railroad running north and south on the east coast of Florida, connecting at Jacksonville with several lines extending into other states and at its southern terminus with steamboats for points further south. The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company operates a line of railroad from the southwestern coast of Florida through the state and to points in other states to the north. The two systems are connected at points on the peninsula of the state by branch roads operated by the respondent. The order made by the railroad commission affects the schedules on the respondent's main line, as well as on its branches that connect with the Atlantic Coast Line road. The branch roads serve the local communities through which they run, as well as the business between the two different roads; and the rights of such local communities should be considered in connection with the rights of others of the public and of the respondent company in determining the reasonableness of schedules that necessarily affect them all.

A return to the alternative writ has been filed, and the relators have demurred to it. By this demurrer the relators admit the averments of the return, which in effect are that the respondent, in good faith and for the prompt dispatch and convenience of the great majority of its passengers, changed the schedule, as it believed it had the right to do, from the one ordered by the commissioners; that the schedule prescribed by the railroad commissioners was changed to properly serve business from its connecting lines at its terminals; that a change in circumstances affecting the bulk of its patrons necessitated the change made; that to operate the schedule as required...