Court Opinion

ID: 9530437
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:59:49.559275+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:28:06.899249
License: Public Domain

Finley, J.
(dissenting) — The majority concede that the association known as the Sidney Road Riders Club is not a common carrier, inasmuch as it does not undertake for hire to carry all persons indifferently who may apply for passage. In my opinion, that should end the matter. Section 2 of the Auto Transportation Companies Act (Laws of 1921, chapter 111, p. 338, as amended by Laws of 1927, chapter 166, p. 179), now codified as RCW 81.68.020, provides as follows:
“Section 2. No corporation or person, their lessees, trustees, receivers or trustees appointed by any court whatsoever, shall engage in the business of operating as a common carrier any motor propelled vehicle for the transportation of persons, and/or, property between fixed termini or over a regular route, for compensation on any public highway in this state, except in accordance with the provisions of this act.” (Italics mine.)
Section 4 of the same statute, upon which the majority rely in holding that the defendant’s association may not lawfully operate without obtaining a certificate of public convenience and necessity, provides that
“No auto transportation company shall hereafter operate for the transportation of persons and, or, property for compensation between fixed termini or over a regular route in this state, without first having obtained from the Commission under the provisions of this act a certificate declaring that public convenience and necessity require such operation; ...” (Cf. RCW 81.68.040)
It may well be that the defendant’s association comes within the statutory definition of “auto transportation company;” see § 1 of the statute — RCW 81.68.010 — quoted in the majority opinion. However, § 4 is not to be read alone; *228it is to be read in conjunction with § 2. Carlsen v. Cooney (1923), 123 Wash. 441, 212 Pac. 575. Reading the two sections together, I am convinced that the legislature intended the requirement of a certificate of public convenience and necessity to be applicable only with respect to those auto transportation companies desiring to operate as common carriers. A careful reading of the two sections will reveal that, had the legislature intended otherwise, there simply would have been no reason for inserting the phrase, “as a common carrier,” into § 2 of the act. Consequently, I would affirm the judgment of the trial court without qualification.