Court Opinion

ID: 9767933
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 05:35:45.205009+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:34.958440
License: Public Domain

SEILER, Judge
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent. This is required, in my opinion, because Sec. 389.640, subd. 22, RSMo 1969, provides that “The commission shall have the exclusive power to determine apportionment of expenses [of such viaduct repairs and reconstruction between the railroad and city] (emphasis supplied). This being the case, the 1909 contract which provides otherwise must yield to this exercise of the police power of the state.
It is enlightening to refresh ourselves on the broad overall purpose of the Public Service Commission Act, which deals with the regulation of businesses which are monopolies, such as the railroad is in this instance. As was said in the first case to analyze the then new Public Utilities Act, State on Inf. Barker ex rel. Kansas City v. Kansas City Gas Company, 254 Mo. 515, 163 S.W. 854, 857-8 (banc 1914):
“That act is an elaborate law bottomed on the police power. It evidences a public policy hammered out on the anvil of public discussion. It apparently recognizes certain generally accepted economic principles and conditions, to wit: That a public utility (like gas, water, car service, etc.) is in its nature a monopoly; that competition is inadequate to protect the public, and, if it exists, is likely to become an economic waste; that state regulation takes the place of and stands for competition; that such regulation, to command respect from patron or utility owner, must be in the name of the overlord, the state, and to be effective, must possess the power of intelligent visitation and the plenary supervision of every business feature to be finally (however invisible) reflected in rates and quality of service. It recognizes that every expenditure, every dereliction, every share of stock, or bond, or note issued as surely is finally reflected in rates and quality of service to the public, as does the moisture which arises in the atmosphere finally descend in rain upon the just and unjust willy nilly” (emphasis supplied).
It cannot be said, in my opinion, that the only interest of the public here is in the safety of the viaducts. The public also has an interest in the quality of service provided by Kansas City Terminal Railroad Company. If Kansas City Terminal Railroad Company has to pay 100 per cent of the cost of repair and reconstruction of the viaducts over the next 134 years (this being the balance of time remaining in the 200 year contract), it could become such a burden that the railroad company would have no money left for any other purposes. Its quality of service might deteriorate. Its equipment might become unsafe. Other viaducts might fall -into disrepair. It is because of these broad considerations that the legislature saw fit to give the Public Service Commission exclusive power to apportion repair and reconstruction costs such as are here involved. There had to be considered more than the immediate question of making the viaducts safe. There also *872had to be considered the long range questions of how and to what extent the cost of repairs would affect the railroad’s ability to conduct its operations as a railroad. What the 1909 contract does as ruled by the majority opinion is to make 100 per cent cost of reconstruction and repair of the viaducts a first priority on the assets of the railroad company. Whatever else may happen the railroad company must for the next 134 years pay 100 percent of the charges involved and this could prove disastrous to the balance of their operation. The majority opinion removes from the Commission the power to determine what is best for the public as of the time it is called upon to decide.
In the example put by Judge Finch about the city ordinance requiring elimination of outdoor toilets, while the force of the ordinance was directed against the landlord or owner and he would be the one who would be prosecuted if the outdoor toilet were not removed, it made no difference to the public health of the city who paid for the improvement, so long as the outdoor toilet was removed and replaced by an inside toilet.
But in our case, the statute makes no attempt to direct its force against one party or the other to fix the cost of repairs. Instead it leaves this to the exclusive determination of the Public Service Commission. This is because in the case of public utilities it does make a difference who pays and how much; regulation of a monopoly is involved and the cost of such repairs and reconstruction is one of the factors which affect the overall ability of the utility being regulated to perform its services to the public. Allocation of costs is important to the objective sought.
For our case to be parallel to the example put by Judge Finch, the statute would have to provide that the city (or the railroad) would pay all the costs of repairs and reconstruction on viaducts. It could then be said that the only interest of the state was to see that the viaducts were safe and the situation would be comparable to Judge Finch’s example. But this is not what the statute provides and in my opinion we should not arrive at a result which is the exact opposite of what the statute prescribes. The mere statement of the position that the contract before us controls who pays for each and every viaduct or subway now existing or which the city might require the railroad to construct for the balance of the full two hundred year term of the contract demonstrates the invalidity of the contract as against the exercise of the police power of the state as set forth in Sec. 389.640, subd. 22.
I also concur in the views expressed by BARDGETT, J., in his dissenting opinion herein. ,