Case Name: The Chillicothe Electric Railroad, Light & Power Company v. Norfolk & Western Railway Company et al.
Court: Ohio Court of Appeals
Jurisdiction: Ohio
Decision Date: 1916-02-29
Citations: 25 Ohio C.C. (n.s.) 572
Docket Number: 
Parties: The Chillicothe Electric Railroad, Light & Power Company v. Norfolk & Western Railway Company et al.
Judges: Walters, J., and Merriman, J., concur.
Reporter: Ohio Circuit Court Reports (new series)
Volume: 25
Pages: 572–575

Head Matter:
AS TO THE LOCATION OF GATES AT A GRADE CROSSING.
Court of Appeals for Ross County.
The Chillicothe Electric Railroad, Light & Power Company v. Norfolk & Western Railway Company et al.
Decided, February 29, 1916.
Grade Crossings — Location of Safety Gates — Presumption that When Gates Save Been Placed it Has Been Done in Accordance With the Order of the Public Utilities Commission.
1. By the provisions of Section 588, the Public Utilities Commission has authority to order the erection of a gate where the tracks of a railroad cross a public street at grade,, but such gate can only be lawfully ordered erected at such crossing.
2. Such commission, being an administratrive body, is presumed to know whether its order has been obeyed, and in the absence of a suit by it tó enforce such order the courts will presume that in the opinion of the commission its order has been obeyed.
3. When the commission has ordered a gate placed at such crossing, and it has taken no steps under the provisions of Section 614-67 (Section 70) to enforce such order, the courts will conclude that in the opinion of the commission the gate has been located at the crossing and that such location of the gate is the order of the commission, and hence the provisions of Section 549 (Section 38), 103 O. L., 816, divest the court of common pleas and the court of appeals of jurisdiction to restrain the erection of such gate at such location on the ground that the gate was not located at the crossing.
L. B. Yaple and John P. Phillips, for plaintiff.
Henry Bannon and Lyle S. Evans, contra.

Opinion:
Sayre, J.
The plaintiff brought suit in the court of common pleas, seeking an injunction to restrain the defendants from erecting a gate on East Main street in the city of Chillicothe, Ohio, at the intersection of such street and the track of the defendant, Norfolk & Western Railway Company. The railway company was undertaking to carry out an order made by the .public utilities commission of Ohio, directing it to erect a gate at such crossing.