Georgia Railway & Electric Co. v. Decatur

Background

A local streetcar company and its successors operated tracks in Decatur, Georgia. The city ordered a street paved and assessed the full cost against the railway for paving between the tracks and two feet on each side, with the rest charged to abutting landowners. The railway companies refused to pay, offered to surrender their local property and franchise, and tried to prove the paving added no value and was a detriment, but a trial court excluded that testimony and the state supreme court affirmed the assessment.

Reasoning

The central question was whether denying the railway the chance to offer proof that the paving gave no benefit violated the Fourteenth Amendment’s protection against deprivation without due process. The majority said the state court treated the statute as creating a presumption that the paving benefited the railway and then refused to hear any evidence to rebut that presumption. Excluding all competent proof on that issue denied a hearing and therefore violated due process. The Court reversed and sent the case back for further proceedings consistent with allowing the contested evidence.

Real world impact

The decision requires courts to consider factual proof that a municipal improvement does not benefit a particular property before enforcing an assessment that might be confiscatory. It affects companies charged for local improvements and limits courts’ power to uphold assessments without a real chance to rebut presumptions of benefit.

Dissents or concurrances

A dissent argued the judgment should be affirmed, saying the evidence would not have overcome the presumption of benefit and that local authorities have power to require paving for street safety.