County of Los Angeles v. Gen. Tel. Co. of Cal.

SHINN, J.* The action is by the County of Los Angeles to collect rental from General Telephone Company of California for the use of county bridges for its transmission cables. The court denied the motion of the county for judgment on the pleadings and granted a similar motion of the defendant. The county appeals.

The company maintains and operates a telephone system in Los Angeles County and elsewhere in California under a legislative franchise found in section 7901 of the Public Utilities Code which reads as follows: “Telegraph or telephone corporations may construct lines of telegraph or telephone lines along and upon any public road or highway, along or across any of the waters or lands within this State, and may erect poles, posts, piers, or abutments for supporting the insulators, wires, and other necessary fixtures of their lines, in such manner and at such points as not to incommode the public use of the road or highway or interrupt the navigation of the waters. ”

The original legislation on the subject was a statute of 1850 (Stats. 1850, p. 369, amended, Stats. 1857, p. 171) relating to telegraph companies which read: “ § 150. Such association is authorized to construct lines of telegraph along and upon any of the public roads and highways, or across any of the waters within the limits of this State, by the erection of the necessary fixtures, including posts, piers, or abutments, for sustaining the cords or wires of such lines: Provided, the same shall not be so constructed as to incommode the public use of said roads and highways, or injuriously interrupt the navigation of said waters; nor shall this Chapter be so construed as to authorize the construction of any bridge across any of the waters of this State. ’ ’

[905]The statute, as amended in a minor particular, was codified in 1872 as section 536 of the Civil Code. In 1905 (Stats. 1905, p. 492) the franchise was extended to telephone companies and in 1951 section 536 became section 7901 of the Public Utilities Code.

In 1941 the county adopted an ordinance under which anyone desiring to lay a pipeline (includes conduit, cable or wire) upon a bridge must first obtain a permit from an authorized county officer and pay yearly in advance certain specified charges. Prior to 1952 the company obtained permits and paid the charges. Since that time it has obtained permits but has paid none of the rental charges. The present action is for the recovery of accumulated charges since 1952 for the use, at various times, of seven county bridges upon which the company’s pipe lines have been laid and maintained. The demand is for $19,217.69.