City of Pomona v. Sunset Telephone & Telegraph Co.

Background

A California telephone company sued the City of Pomona to stop the city from removing its poles and wires and to prevent the city from blocking further pole and wire installations. The company originally relied on several claimed state and federal grants, but the only issue pressed to the Court was whether California law or the State Constitution had given the company a right to occupy city streets without local consent. Lower courts split: the trial court dismissed the bill, the court of appeals granted an injunction, and the matter reached this Court.

Reasoning

The Court examined a 1911 amendment to the California Constitution and a Civil Code provision (§ 536) that earlier allowed telegraph companies to use public roads. The Court found the constitutional amendment favored municipal control and did not by itself grant an unfettered right to use streets. It then analyzed a 1906 amendment to § 536 and a franchise act passed two days later. The franchise act, the Court concluded, effectively repealed § 536’s broad grant except for an express exception for “telegraph or telephone lines doing an interstate business.” Reading those words narrowly, the Court held the company may keep main through lines used in interstate service, but it does not have a statewide grant to maintain the poles and local subscriber wires that the city challenged.

Real world impact

Because the city’s action targeted local subscriber poles and wires, the Court found no present right supporting the company’s bill. The Court reversed the injunction and dismissed the bill without prejudice, leaving room for further local or later claims limited to the protected interstate main lines.