United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Smith v. Illinois Bell Tel. Co., 270 U.S. 587 (1926)

Smith v. Illinois Bell Telephone Company

Nos.193, 670

Argued March 5, 1926

Decided April 12, 1926

270 U.S. 587

Syllabus

1. An order granting an interlocutory injunction is merged in a decree of permanent injunction, and, when both are appealed from, the appeal from the former will be dismissed. P. 270 U. S. 588.

2. A suit against a state commission to enjoin enforcement of confiscatory rates will not be defeated by the objection that the plaintiff should first have exhausted its legislative remedy by filing a new application for increases when the plaintiff's application for that purpose had been uniformly recognized by the commission as pending before it, and the objection was purely technical. P. 270 U. S. 590.

3. A public service company suffering from confiscatory rates is not required to await indefinitely a decision by the ratemaking tribunal on a pending application before applying to a federal court for equitable relief. P. 270 U. S. 591.

4. In a suit to restrain a state commission from enforcing confiscatory telephone rates, the telephone subscribers are represented by the commission and bound by the decree. P. 270 U. S. 592.

Affirmed.

Page 270 U. S. 588

Appeal from an interlocutory order and a final decree of the district court enjoining members of a state commission and the state attorney general from enforcing confiscatory telephone rates.