State v. Florida East Coast Ry. Co.

• Decision Date: 05 April 1916
• Citation: 71 So. 543,71 Fla. 433
• Parties: STATE ex rel. RAILROAD COM'RS v. FLORIDA EAST COAST RY. CO.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

71 So. 543

71 Fla. 433

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

Florida Supreme Court

April 5, 1916

Original proceedings by the State, on relation of the Railroad Commissioners, for mandamus to the Florida East Coast Railway Company. Demurrer and motion to strike return to alternative writ overruled, with leave to relators to join issue.

Syllabus by the Court

SYLLABUS

A demurrer to the return to an alternative writ of mandamus admits the truth of all such matters of fact as are sufficiently pleaded.

In an application by the Railroad Commissioners for a writ of mandamus to compel a railroad corporation to establish and maintain an agency station at a certain designated point on the line of its railroad, where it appears in the return of the respondent, which was demurred to by the relators, that the respondent has an agency station on either side on its line, one of which is 'situated a trifle more than 2 miles from' and the other 'only 1.8 miles from O.,' such designated point on its line, and that the principal amount of business transacted at such point O. is during a period of four months, during which time the respondent kept and maintained a 'temporary agent' at such point, such matters of fact set out in the return, which are admitted to be true by the demurrer, show that the order made by the relators for the establishment and maintenance of an agency station at such point is unreasonable, and that no necessity exists for the establishment of such agency station.

COUNSEL

D. C. McMullen, of Tallahassee, for relators.

Alex. St. Clair-Abrams, of Jacksonville, for respondent.

OPINION

SHACKLEFORD, J.

This is an original application to this court for a writ of mandamus requiring the respondent, the Florida East Coast Railway Company, to conform to an order of the Railroad Commissioners requiring and directing the respondent to establish and maintain an agency station at Ojus, Fla. Such order of the Railroad Commissioners is as follows:

'Order No. 466.

'File No. 3603.

'Before the Railroad Commissioners of the State of Florida.

'In the Matter of the Establishment of an Agency Station at Ojus.

'After due and lawful notice to all parties in interest, the Railroad Commissioners of the state of Florida met in session at Tallahassee on the 16th day of December, 1914, at 10 o'clock in the morning, to hear and consider whether or not they ought to require the Florida East Coast Railway Company to erect a depot building at Ojus and to establish there a permanent agency. The petitioners in the said matter appeared by their attorney, R. H. Seymour, and the Florida East Coast Railway Company, having filed its written answer in the said matter, appeared by its attorney, Alexander St. Clair-Abrams. And after hearing all who desired to be heard, the said Commissioners took the matter under advisement.

'And now on this day, the Railroad Commissioners of the state of Florida, being advised in the premises, do find that the Florida East Coast Railway Company has voluntarily maintained for many years at Ojus aforesaid a nonagency station at which local passenger trains have been accustomed to stop on flag and at which freight has been received and delivered; that the said station is 2.8 miles from Hallandale and 1.8 miles from Fulford, both regular agency stations; that Ojus, having been voluntarily established by the said company as a station, ought to be provided with proper and adequate facilities for the accommodation of patrons of the said station; that the facilities now maintained and heretofore maintained at Ojus aforesaid are inadequate and insufficient for the proper accommodation of the patrons of the said company desiring to use the said railway station; that the freight and passenger traffic handled at the said point is already extensive and is increasing; that the gross earnings of the said company derived from the said station were, for the year ended June 30, 1913, $22,920.48, and for the year ended June 30, 1914, $48,470.34; and that the proper handling of the traffic at the said point requires the maintenance of an agency station until such time as the Commissioners may find the business done at said point insufficient to warrant the maintenance of an agency.

'It is therefore considered, ordered and adjudged by the Railroad Commissioners of the state of Florida that the Florida East Coast Railway Company be and is hereby required to provide adequate additional facilities at Ojus aforesaid by establishing and maintaining at the said point an agency station, and by remodeling the present station building so as to provide a waiting room for white passengers which shall contain at least 180 square feet of floor space, and a waiting room for colored passengers which shall contain at least 180 square feet of floor space.

'And it is further ordered that the said station shall be equipped with suitable closets, one for each sex for the use of white passengers and one for each sex for the use of colored passengers; and that the said station shall be provided with suitable approaches thereto and walks alongside the track and adjacent to the station building for the convenience and comfort of passengers entraining and detraining.

'And it is further ordered that the said agency shall be established on or before the 1st day of February, 1915, and shall be maintained thereafter, and the facilities herein required shall be provided and this order fully complied with on or before the 15th day of March, 1915.

'Done and ordered by the Railroad Commissioners of the state of Florida in session at their office in the city of Tallahassee, the capital, this 14th day of January, A. D. 1915.

'[Signed] R. Hudson Burr, Chairman.'

An alternative writ of mandamus issued, which is as follows:

'The State of Florida to Florida East Coast Railway Company--Greeting:

'Whereas, by petition filed in this our Supreme Court of the state of Florida, wherein R. Hudson Burr, Newton A. Blitch and Royal C. Dunn, as Railroad Commissioners of the state of Florida, are the relators, and the Florida East Coast Railway Company, a corporation, is the respondent, it has been made to appear:

'(1) The Florida East Coast Railway Company is a railroad corporation created and existing under the laws of the state of Florida and doing business in said state as a common carrier of goods and passengers; that said company is now maintaining, and has for many years last past voluntarily maintained a nonagency station at Ojus, on its line of railway in Dade county, Florida, and has been engaged in the business of transporting goods and passengers to and from said nonagency station as such common carrier for hire.

'(2) That on, to wit, the 7th day of December, 1914, the Railroad Commissioners of the state of Florida did issue their Notice No. 65, wherein and whereby they notified the said Florida East Coast Railway Company that on the 16th day of December, 1914, they would hold a session at their office in Tallahassee for the purpose of considering and determining whether or not they ought to make an order requiring the said company to establish and maintain an agency at Ojus aforesaid and to maintain an agent at said station, and to consider and determine whether or not they ought to require the said company to erect a depot building at Ojus aforesaid of suitable and necessary dimensions and arrangement, and to consider such other matters as might arise in the premises.

'(3) Pursuant to said notice the Railroad Commissioners of the state of Florida were duly in session on the date last mentioned, whereupon the Florida East Coast Railway Company appeared by its attorney, Hon. Alexander St. Clair-Abrams, and filed its written answer in the said matter, setting forth the amount of business done by the said company at the said station, among other things, and urging its reasons why an order should not be entered in the premises; and there also appeared on behalf of the petitioners Mr. R. H. Seymour, of Miami, Florida. And after hearing all who desired to be heard, the Commissioners took the matter under advisement.

'(4) Thereafter, on, to wit, the 14th day of February, 1914, the Railroad Commissioners did make and enter their Order No. 466 in the aforesaid matter, wherein and whereby they did order that the Florida East Coast Railway Company provide adequate additional facilities at Ojus aforesaid by establishing and maintaining at the said point an agency station, and by remodeling the present station building so as to provide a waiting room for white passengers which shall contain at least 180 square feet of floor space, and a waiting room for colored passengers, which shall contain at least 180 square feet of floor space. And it was further ordered that the said station be equipped with suitable closets, one for each sex for the use of white passengers and one for each sex for the use of colored passengers, and that the said station be provided with suitable approaches thereto and walks alongside the track and adjacent to the station building for the convenience and comfort of passengers entraining and detraining. And it was further ordered that the said agency station should be established on or before the 1st day of February, 1915, and be maintained thereafter, and the facilities therein required be provided and the said order fully complied with on or before the 15th day of March, 1915. A copy of the said Order No. 466 is hereto attached and made a part hereof as Exhibit A.

'(5) The said Florida East Coast Railway Company has violated disregarded and refused to obey, and continues to violate, disregard and refuse to obey, the aforesaid Order No. 466, in that it did not, on or before the 1st day of ...