Leiper v. Baltimore & Philadelphia Railroad

Citations

• 262 Pa. 328
• 105 A. 551
• 1918 Pa. LEXIS 646

Syllabus

<p>Public service corporations — Railroads—Act of July 26,191S, P. L. 187h- — Contracts—Rates—Jurisdiction of Court of Equity — Injunction — Public Service Commission — Jurisdiction.</p> <p>1. A Court of Equity has no jurisdiction to restrain a railroad company from charging a shipper a higher rate than that fixed by a contract made in consideration of the grant of the right of way over the shipper’s land, where the company is charging the regular freight rates filed with the Public Service Commission, since the shipper’s remedy is by application to the Public Service Commission for a reduction of the rate under the provisions of the Public Service Act of January 26, 1913.</p> <p>Constitutional law — Impairment of contract — Rate contract— Public Service Corporations — Power of State to regulate rates.</p> <p>2. One who enters into a contract with a Public Service Corporation fixing rates is presumed to have done so with knowledge of the right of the State in the exercise of the police power to prescribe different rates.</p> <p>3; A contract with a public service corporation fixing rates for service, whether for a definite or indefinite period, has no binding force when its terms conflict with the rates fixed in the method prescribed by the Public Service Company Law of July 26, 1913, P. L. 1374.</p>