Keystone State Telephone & Telegraph Co. v. Ridley Park Borough

Citations

• 28 Pa. Super. 635
• 1905 Pa. Super. LEXIS 257

Syllabus

<p>Telephone companies — Boroughs—Consent of borough — Use of streets— Forfeiture — Nuisance—Equity—Condition precedent.</p> <p>A telephone company was granted the right to erect and maintain poles and wires upon the streets of a borough. The ordinance provided that local telephone service' should he had by the residents of the borough on or before March 1,1902. In accordance with the ordinance the company gave a bond to the borough which provided that the construction should be complete on or before March 1,1902, or that the company should forfeit to the borough the sum of $200. The lines were not completed on the date named, and one week thereafter the company was notified by the borough to remove its poles. To this notice the company replied asserting its right emphatically and defiantly to continue the occupancy of the streets. The borough did not at once recourse to force to remove the poles, but subsequently threatened to do so, and the company then filed a bill in equity to restrain the borough officials from removing the poles. Held, (1) that the borough was not estopped from removing the poles by its delay; (2) that the forfeiture of the sum of $200 mentioned in the bond was not the sole remedy of the borough for the company’s failure to complete the construction within the time limit; (3) that the condition named in the ordinance and bond was a condition precedent, and as it was unperformed, the borough had the right to remove the poles.</p> <p>Telephone companies — Constitutional law — Amendment of statutes — Acts of May 1, 1876, P. L. 90, and June 25, 1885, P. L. 164.</p> <p>The fourth section of the Act of May 1, 1876, P. L. 90, as amended by the Act of June 25, 1885, P. L. 164, is not unconstitutional, and under its provisions construed with the Act of April 29, 1874, P. L. 73, to which it is supplementary, a telegraph and telephone company is required to apply for and obtain the permission of the borough authorities by ordinance before erecting its po