Opinion ID: 493658
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Presumed Negligence.

Text: 17 Under the statutory provision for presumed negligence, any applicable statute, ordinance, or regulation defines the extent of the defendant's duty. See Cal.Evid.Code Sec. 669 (West Supp.1987). By its own terms, GO 95 applies only to overhead electrical supply and communication lines that come within the jurisdiction of the California Public Utilities Commission (the Commission). GO 95, Rule 12. The district court held GO 95 inapplicable because the United States did not function as a public utility in maintaining power lines at the missile facility. We agree. 18 The principal regulatory power of the Commission extends only to public utilities. See Cal.Pub.Util.Code Secs. 201-2115 (West 1975 & Supp. 1987). The predecessors of these provisions, originally enacted in 1911, created the California Railroad Commission (now the Commission) and gave it power to regulate utilities. 1911 (extra session) Cal.Stat. 18, ch. 14. Sections 216-218 currently define public utility as including, inter alia, (1) an electrical corporation that owns, controls, or operates fixtures for the transmission of power, for compensation, to the public or any portion thereof, see Cal.Pub.Util.Code Secs. 216(a), (b), 217, 218(a) (West 1975 & Supp.1987), and (2) a person or corporation that performs any service for, or delivers any commodity to, an entity that in turn performs that service for, or delivers any commodity to, the public or some portion thereof, see id. Sec. 216(c) (West Supp.1987). The government in this case clearly does not fall in either category. 19 Henderson argues, however, that GO 95 was enacted pursuant to Sec. 8037, whose different statutory history purportedly demonstrates that the regulation is of broader application. In 1911, the California legislature, pursuant to its general police powers, enacted what is now Cal.Pub.Util.Code Secs. 8001-8036 (West 1965 & Supp.1987), which regulate the placing, erection, use, and maintenance of electrical poles, wires, and cables. 1911 Cal.Stat. c. 499, Sec. 1. By their terms, these provisions apply to everyone, see Cal.Pub.Util.Code Sec. 8002 (West 1965), and from 1911 to 1915 they were subject to enforcement only through the normal criminal processes. In 1915, the California legislature enacted what is now Cal.Pub.Util.Code Sec. 8037 (West 1965). This section gave the Commission the duty to enforce Secs. 8001-8036 and authorized the Commission to make such further additions or changes as the commission deems necessary for the purpose of safety to employees and the general public. Pursuant to Sec. 8037, the Commission enacted General Order 26, which later became General Order 64, 64-A, and finally, GO 95. See In re Reasonableness of Rules for Overhead Elec. Line Constr., 43 Cal. RR Comm'n 872, 873 n. 1 (1941). 20 Henderson contends that GO 95 is applicable to the United States because Sec. 8037 is part of legislation that was not limited to public utilities, as are the provisions in Secs. 201-2115. This argument overlooks the fact that the constitutional provisions in force at the time Sec. 8037 was enacted did not confer on the California legislature the power to regulate nonutilities. 21 In 1913, the constitutional provisions allowing the California legislature to grant additional powers to the Commission were as follows: 22 The Railroad Commission shall have and exercise such power and jurisdiction to supervise and regulate public utilities, in the state of California, and to fix the rates to be charged for commodities furnished, or services rendered by public utilities as shall be conferred upon it by the Legislature, and the right of the Legislature to confer powers upon the Railroad Commission respecting public utilities is hereby declared to be plenary and to be unlimited by any provision of this Constitution.... Nothing in this section shall be construed as a limitation upon any power conferred upon the Railroad Commission by any provision of this constitution now existing or adopted concurrently herewith. 23 Cal. Const. Art. XII, Sec. 23 (amended 1911, 1914, repealed 1974) (emphasis added). 24 No provision of this Constitution shall be construed as a limitation upon the authority of the Legislature to confer upon the Railroad Commission additional powers of the same kind or different from those conferred herein which are not inconsistent with the powers conferred upon the Railroad Commission in this Constitution, and the authority of the Legislature to confer such additional powers is expressly declared to be plenary and unlimited by any provision of this Constitution. 25 Cal. Const. Art. XII, Sec. 22 (amended 1911, 1946, repealed 1974). 26 Case law construing these constitutional provisions indicates that the legislature could grant additional powers to the Commission, but such legislation must appear on its face to be cognate and germane to the regulation of public utilities. Frost v. Railroad Comm'n, 197 Cal. 230, 241, 240 P. 26, 30-31 (1925) (stating that this grant of authority to confer additional powers [under Article XII, Sec. 22] is limited (so far as applicable to the question here under consideration) to such additional powers as are cognate and germane to the regulation of railroads and other transportation companies), rev'd on other grounds, 271 U.S. 583, 46 S.Ct. 605, 70 L.Ed. 1101 (1926); Ivanhoe Irrigation Dist. v. All Parties & Persons, 47 Cal.2d 597, 644, 306 P.2d 824, 852 (1957) (Assuming the plenary power of the Legislature to enact laws respecting the regulation and control of public utilities notwithstanding any provision of the Constitution to the contrary, Art. 12, Sec. 22, Constitution, nevertheless such legislation must appear on its face to be cognate and germane to the regulation of public utilities to come within the Legislature's plenary power.), rev'd on other grounds, 357 U.S. 275, 78 S.Ct. 1174, 2 L.Ed.2d 1313 (1958); Morris v. Sierra & San Francisco Power Co., 57 Cal.App. 281, 289-90, 207 P. 262, 266 (1922). Henderson has not cited any California authority that squarely holds that the Commission has power to regulate non-utilities. Cf. In re Los Angeles Metro. Transit Auth., 60 Cal. PUC 125, 133 (1962) (stating, in the context of publicly owned and privately owned utilities, that GO 95 applies to private persons, including corporations). Thus, the applicable constitutional provisions did not give the legislature authority to confer upon the Commission a general police power to regulate the placing, erection, use, and maintenance of electrical poles, wires, and cables, regardless of whether or not the party was a utility. 27 In 1974, California adopted Article XII, Secs. 3 and 5, of the California Constitution, which empowers the legislature to confer any necessary authority upon the Commission to define broadly the persons affected by its regulations. Since that time, however, the California Legislature has not conferred additional authority on the Commission. We therefore conclude that GO 95 is not applicable to non-utilities such as the United States in this case. Accordingly, Henderson's claim of presumed negligence cannot be founded on an alleged violation of GO 95. 5 28