Opinion ID: 1677397
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 10

Heading: evidence considered

Text: In the first summarized assignment of error, Diller Telephone urges that in connection with the adequacy of service issue, the PSC erred in considering certain evidence, including the testimony that those calling the son must pay toll charges. More specifically, Diller Telephone urges that § 75-613(1) precludes consideration of any toll charges in determining whether service is adequate. This is simply not so. The statute clearly precludes the PSC from considering the applicants' toll charges for long-distance calls they make. But there is no mention in the statute prohibiting the PSC from taking into consideration that members of an applicant's community of interest are reluctant to call the applicant because of toll charges they would incur. In construing a statute, a court must determine and give effect to the purpose and intent of the Legislature as ascertained from the entire language of the statute considered in its plain, ordinary, and popular sense. Fecht v. The Bunnell Co., 243 Neb. 1, 497 N.W.2d 50 (1993); Curry v. State ex rel. Stenberg, 242 Neb. 695, 496 N.W.2d 512 (1993); In re Interest of M.J.B., 242 Neb. 671, 496 N.W.2d 495 (1993). It is a court's duty, if possible, to discover the Legislature's intent from the language of the statute itself. Fecht v. The Bunnell Co., supra ; Curry v. State ex rel. Stenberg, supra ; In re Interest of M.J.B., supra . In the absence of anything indicating to the contrary, statutory language is to be given its plain and ordinary meaning; when the words of a statute are plain, direct, and unambiguous, no interpretation is necessary or will be indulged to ascertain their meaning. Fecht v. The Bunnell Co., supra ; Curry v. State ex rel. Stenberg, supra ; Hamilton v. Hamilton, 242 Neb. 687, 496 N.W.2d 507 (1993); In re Interest of M.J.B., supra . The plain meaning of the statutory language allows the PSC to consider, in determining the adequacy of the service the applicants receive, the evidence that toll charges deter others in the son's community of interest from calling him. The issue is not, as Diller Telephone asserts, that it is accountable for toll charges which persons in adjacent telephone service areas are required to pay, but, rather, that the service as operated curtails calls to the son from those in his community of interest. In view of this determination and the conclusion which follows, we need not, and therefore do not, concern ourselves with whether the PSC properly received the other evidence before it.