State ex rel. Railroad Commission v. Great Northern Railway Co.

Citations

• 68 Wash. 257
• 123 P. 8
• 1912 Wash. LEXIS 1278

Syllabus

<p>Railboads — Regulation — Facilities — Order of Railroad Commission for Depot — Validity—Time for Performance. Under the railroad commission act, Rem. & Bal. Code, § 8629, making the commission an intermediate tribunal with original jurisdiction to hear and determine questions relating to the duty of common carriers to furnish additional transportation facilities, with power to order the construction of depots, its orders being final unless appealed from, under fixed penalties for violation of the order, the power to fix the time within which a depot must be completed is conferred by necessary implication.</p> <p>Railroads — Regulation — Order of Commission — Finality. A railroad company having failed to avail itself of the right to appeal from a decision of the railroad commission ordering the construction of a depot within a specified time, is precluded from questioning its reasonableness or legality; the statute making the decision final if not appealed from.</p> <p>Railroads — Regulation—Orders of Railroad Commission — Penalties — Statutes—Construction. Under Rem. & Bal. Code, § 8631,' prescribing a penalty if a railroad company “refuse or neglect” to obey any order of the railroad commission, the penalty is imposed for neglect, as well as refusal, to obey an order to construct a depot within a specified time, and the penalty cannot be restricted to cases of wilful or contumacious refusal to obey an order; the word “neglect” meaning omission or forbearance, irrespective of carelessness or imprudence.</p> <p>Same — Action foe Penalties — Defenses—Excuses fob Delay. A penalty for failing to obey an order of the railroad commission to construct a depot within a specified time attaches at the expiration of the time limited, and it is no defense that the depot was constructed before suit for the penalty was commenced.</p> <p>Same. In a prosecution to recover a penalty for failing to obey an order of the railroad commission to construct a depot within a specified ti