Court Opinion

ID: 9589204
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:42:18.9221+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:32:25.113058
License: Public Domain

Candler, Justice, and Wyatt, Presiding Justice,
dissenting. *542We cannot agree with the majority opinion in this case. The plaintiff,, a nonprofit membership corporation, seeks an injunction to prohibit the defendant, a subsidiary corporation to the City of Marietta, Georgia, from invading a rural area in which it is furnishing electric energy, and from interfering with its operations and duplicating its electric service. It bases its right to that relief on equitable estoppel or estoppel in pais; and, in the circumstances of this case, we are of the opinion that its position is tenable. An equitable estoppel, when established, operates as effectively as estoppels by deed or record. It cannot, however, in the nature of things be subjected to fixed and settled rules of universal application like legal estoppels, or be limited by a technical formula, but it is entitled to a fair and liberal application like other equitable doctrines that are admitted to suppress fraud and promote honesty and fair dealing. 31 C. J. S. 436, § 148. The doctrine of equitable estoppel is based on an application of the golden rule to the everyday affairs of men. It requires that one should do unto others as in equity and good conscience, he would have thern do unto him; if their positions were reversed. Its compulsion is one of, fair play. Boddie v. Bond, 154 N. C. 359 (70 S. E. 824); McNeely v. Walters, 211 N. C. 112 (189 S. E. 114); 10 R. C. L. 688, § 19. In a plea of equitable estoppel, two things must be clearly alleged: (1) an act' of one party that would estop him; and (2) the other party has been misled by it and has acted to his injury. 19 Am. Jur. 640, § 42; Hancock v. King, 133 Ga. 734 (2) (66 S. E. 949); Fordson Coal Co. v. Garrard, 277 Ky. 218 (125 S. W. 2d 977, 121 A. L. R. 841). Equitable estoppel arises when the party asserting it has relied and acted upon the acts, conduct, or declarations of the party sought to be estopped. Peacock v. Horne, 159 Ga. 707 (126 S. E. 813). The operation of a public utility by a municipal corporation is a non-governmental function or proprietary business. Lawson v. City of Moultrie, 194 Ga. 699 (22 S. E. 2d 592); City of East Point v. Upchurch Packing Co., 58 Ga. App. 829 (200 S. E. 210), and citations. As to acts and conduct respecting its proprietary or private powers, equitable estoppel may be applied to a municipality just as it can be to a private corporation. City of Atlanta v. Gate City Gas Light Co., 71 Ga. 106; Mayor &c. of *543Athens v. Georgia Railroad, 72 Ga. 800; City of Jefferson v. Holder, 195 Ga. 346 (24 S. E. 2d 187); City of Summerville v. Georgia Power Co., 205 Ga. 843 (2) (55 S. E. 2d 540); Beadles v. Smyser, 209 U. S. 393 (28 Sup. Ct. 522, 52 L. ed. 849); 21 C. J. 1190, § 193. In City of Atlanta v. Gate City Gas Light Co., supra, it was said: “Upon every principle of equity this failure to notify the complainant of their intention [not to allow the gas company to lay its pipe along their streets] until this heavy expenditure had been made, would estop them. Such' conduct is fraudulent in the eye of the law, and where practiced upon an innocent party, who is seeking bona fide to carry out the provisions of its charter by availing itself of the powers and privileges thereby granted, would, if anything could, debar them from now being heard.” In 21 C. J. 1186, 1187, § 190, it is stated: “An equitable estoppel may be invoked against the United States, a State, a municipal corporation, or other governmental agency or instrumentality in respect of acts done in its so-called governmental or public capacity in the strict scope of which it cannot be estopped; and a failure to observe this distinction, or to recognize and point out the absence of one or more of the essential elements of a perfect estoppel, may be the reason for decisions and dicta which apparently deny this applicability of the doctrine of equitable estoppel, especially as against a State or the United States, for in some cases, it seems, the doctrine is less liberally applied against the United States or a State than it is against a municipal corporation.” It has been stated and held that the doctrine of estoppel may be invoked against a municipality where there have been positive acts by municipal officers inducing action by the other party, and where it would be inequitable to permit the municipality to stultify itself by retracting what its officers have done. 51 C. J. S. 418, § 142 (a); City of Summerville v. Ga. Power Co., supra; Trustees of Schools v. Village of Cahokia, 357 Ill. 538 (192 N. E. 565); People el rel. Petty v. Thomas, 361 Ill. 448 (198 N. E. 363). But inaction may supply the element of representation necessary to constitute an estoppel as against a municipality where, in addition to lapse of time, circumstances appear, rendering if contrary to right and justice for the public to exercise a particular proprietary or private power. 31 C. J. S. 409, § 138; *544State v. Missouri Utilities Co., 339 Mo. 385 (96 S. W. 2d 607, 106 A. L. R. 1169); City of Chetopa v. Board of County Commissioners, 156 Kan. 290 (133 Pac. 2d 174).
Applying the above principles to the allegations of the petition, which are treated as true in dealing with the demurrer, it is our opinion that the petition shows equitable estoppel or estoppel in pais; and this being true, the trial judge erred in sustaining the defendant’s general demurrer and in dismissing the petition.