Court Opinion

ID: 9629008
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 09:35:49.878675+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:07:14.371471
License: Public Domain

THOMAS, Justice.
I dissent from that portion of the majority opinion which gives effect to and continues the injunction in full force and effect, thereby permitting the collection of the increased rates until a determination of the propriety of the injunction is made upon a full and proper hearing.
The injunction should be dissolved instanter and the funds collected from subscribers refunded.
The telephone company sought an increase in telephone rates before the Public Utilities Commission; upon a full hearing, the Commission denied any increase; immediately thereafter the telephone company sought in and received from the district court an order and decree granting a temporary injunction pendent lite authorizing the collection and impounding of the increased rates sought; for all practical *86purposes until a full hearing in the court below, the proposed increased rates must be paid by the subscribers, and this without a full and complete hearing upon the issues raised before the district court.
The discretionary power vested in the court to grant injunctive relief in such cases is not an arbitrary one; it is a sound and legal discretion which should be exercised with great caution; the requirements of caution and sound legal discretion can only be had upon a full hearing; it is indeed a delicate power which requires an abundance of caution, deliberation and sound discretion based upon a full disclosure of the facts which demonstrate with reasonable certainty and persuasiveness the probability of confiscation; it cannot be exercised soundly or with caution without hearing all the relevant facts on the issues joined with reference to the probability of confiscation.
The majority opinion holds that the trial court in summarily granting the telephone company the relief sought without hearing any evidence for and on behalf of the State in support of its answer was “unduly and prejudicially restrictive” and hence the injunction was “improvidently issued”. With this I am in agreement; however, the majority opinion not only allows the effect of such an injunction to attach from the date' of its issuance but continues it in full force and effect until upon a full hearing, at some future date, it is determined whether or not it "should have been issued in the first instance; the relief initially granted and which the majority opinion continues in full force and effect is the exact relief sought by the telephone company even though it was obtained arbitrarily and with-due process of law.
An order based upon such a record is arbitrary as a matter of law and should be set aside and the moneys collected from the subscribers refunded, and future additional payments suspended until such time as a full hearing discloses with reasonable certainty that such is justified on the ground of probable confiscation.