Damiani v. Public Service Commission

Citations

• 73 Pa. Super. 37
• 1919 Pa. Super. LEXIS 168

Syllabus

<p>Public Service Company Law — Common carriers — Operating automobiles as common carriers — Jurisdiction of commission — ■ Pleadings.</p> <p>1. The Public Service Company Law does not require that a complaint before the commission shall be drawn with technical accuracy, and it is sufficient if the facts be stated in the common -language of the people, in such manner as to clearly disclose to the respondent the grounds upon which the jurisdiction of the commission is invoked. A complaint which informed the respondent that he was charged with operating “autobusses or taxicabs” within designated points, without a certificate of public convenience authorizing him to do so, does not necessarily have to include the charge that he was operating as a common carrier, Where the defendant clearly discloses by his answer that he was charged with being a common carrier of passengers and specifically denied such charge, and thus clearly defined the issue, to which evidence taken before the commission, was directed, he cannot afterwards be permitted to take advantage of any defect in the complaint which did not go to the merits and which did not mislead him.</p> <p>2. The owner of an automobile who operates it for hire to a certain point and vicinity, and while so operating carries all passengers who may apply for transportation, and who gives no one exclusive use of his ear, but receives all passengers who arrive at the same time ánd desire to be carried, must be considered a common carrier, and such a finding by the Public Service Commission, supported by competent evidence, will not be disturbed by the Superior Court.</p>