PHIL'S YELLOW TAXI CO., INC. OF MIAMI SPRINGS, A FLORIDA CORPORATION, WHITE CAB CO., INC., A FLORIDA CORPORATION, AND S & J TRANSPORTATION, INC., A FLORIDA CORPORATION, PETITIONERS,
v.
CHAIRMAN JERRY W. CARTER, COMMISSIONER WILBUR C. KING, AND COMMISSIONER EDWIN L. MASON, AS MEMBERS OF AND CONSTITUTING THE FLORIDA RAILROAD AND PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION, AND THE FLORIDA RAILROAD AND PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION, RESPONDENTS

Fla. | 1961-11-01
No. 31124
ROBERTS, C. J., and TERRELL, THORNAL and O’CONNELL, JJ., concur.
134 So. 2d 230 Florida Supreme Court (1961) Positive Treatment
Cited by 20 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

The Florida Supreme Court held that the Dade County Port Authority's contract with Red Top Sedan Service for airport ground transportation was invalid because it granted rights to serve "all points" in the county rather than "designated points" as required by statute. The court quashed the Public Utilities Commission's certificate of public convenience and necessity issued pursuant to the defective contract.


Holding

The court held that the contract and resulting certificate were invalid because the statute requires contracts to specify designated points for transportation service, not all points. The legislature's mandate that the commission grant a certificate "as a matter of right" upon a valid contract does not require the commission to issue a certificate based on a contract that fails to comply with the statutory requirement of designated points.


Key Quotes

“power to transport to and from designated points is not met by fixing no points at all”

The court's holding that the statute's requirement for 'designated points' is not satisfied by allowing transportation to all points without specification.

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

The Dade County Port Authority, which owns and operates Miami International Airport, contracted with Red Top Sedan Service, Inc. on October 7, 1958, t…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
THOMAS, Justice.

THOMAS, Justice.

In Sec. 331.15(2), Florida Statutes 1959, and F.S.A., it is provided that the board of county commissioners in any county owning and operating an airport shall be empowered to contract with automobile transportation companies for carriage of persons between the airport and “designated points within such county * * * ”; also that Florida Railroad and Public Utilities Commission shall “thereupon, as a matter of right and without a hearing, issue to every such * * * company a certificate of public convenience and necessity” authorizing the company to carry passengers on the streets and highways of the county between the “airport and the point or points designated in such contract” with the board of county commissioners. We have italicized the words upon which will hinge our decision of the point presented to us.

Relying upon the cited section for authority the Dade County Port Authority, owner and operator of the Miami International Airport, on 7 October 1958 contracted with Red Top Sedan Service, Inc., for transportation on the ground of travellers arriving and leaving by air. Under the agreement the company was given “exclusive concession right” to furnish transportation of passengers and baggage between the airport and “all points” within Dade County.

Afterward Red Top Sedan Service, Inc., obtained from Florida Railroad and Public Utilities Commission an order (No. 5092) granting it authority to transport passengers between the Miami International Airport and “all points” in Dade County.

In few words, the immediate question under consideration is whether legislative authority to contract - for the transportation of passengers between the airport and designated points is observed by contracting for such transportation between the airport *232and all points without specifying any of them.

The service to passengers arriving at the airport and leaving it is of a character distinct from taxicab service, as we said in Roberts v. Carter, Fla., 76 So.2d 789. The distinction seems to have been recognized by the county in the contract we have described for it was provided in that instrument that “taxicab service [was] specifically excluded.”

Whether or not it was the intent of the legislature to distinguish between taxicabs and “motor propelled vehicles, including, * * * busses and sedan automobiles” operating between airports and “designated points within [the] county” we will not undertake to decide although from references in the act and the very nature of the two services that seems likely and logical. But we do say that the language of the act is quite clear and, as we have announced, by definite phraseology in statutes the courts will be bound. Tropical Coach Line, Inc. v. Carter et al., Fla., 121 So.2d 779.

Without speculating on the reason for the restriction we decide that power to transport to and from designated points is not met by fixing no points at all.

The respondents have directed us to our decision in Pensacola Transit, Inc. et al. v. Douglass et al., Fla., 34 So.2d 555, that the burden is on the petitioner in a certiorari proceeding to show that a challenged order is illegal. We have no idea of receding from that ruling but in the present case the burden seems to be sustained by submission of the simple language the legislature chose.

The finding of the commission in their order was that inasmuch as the Port Authority had granted the exclusive concession we have already described, it thereupon became the duty of the commission to grant the requested authority “as a matter of right and without hearing.” There is no doubt that the act mandates the commission to grant a certificate of public convenience and necessity once such a contract has been entered, but we cannot conclude that the certificate can be efficacious if the contract is inefficacious. The contract granting the right to operate to and from all points would not be such a firm foundation for a certificate of like provision as to make the latter immune to attack even indulging the respondents the view that when the contract was executed they had no choice but to follow it regardless of the clear failure to track the law.

We can only conclude that the order of the commission be quashed.

ROBERTS, C. J., and TERRELL, THORNAL and O’CONNELL, JJ., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By (13 total)

  • City OF Miami Beach v. Rocio Corp., 404 So. 2d 1066 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981)
    …clearly not a statement of preemption, but is instead a prohibition against condominium discrimination. The plain language of a statute must be read to mean what it says. Carson v. Miller, 370 So. 2d 10 (Fla.1979); Phil’s Yellow Taxi Co. v. Carter, 134 So. 2d 230 (Fla.1961). We conclude that the legislature has expressed its purpose to afford municipalities home rule with the exception of preempted subjects. We find no preemption of the subject of condominium conversion. The City is therefore permitted to e…
  • Solimena v. State, 402 So. 2d 1240 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981)
    …Division rules. Section 550.02(3) compels the Division to regulate the conduct of races and imposes a “mandatory” duty on the Division to exercise control and power. Clear language in statutes is binding on courts. Phil’s Yellow Taxi Co. v. Carter, 134 So. 2d 230 (Fla.1961). The clear language of sections 550.02(3) and 550.24 provides legislative authorization for combining the absolute insurer rule with the medication rule. See Florida Growers Coop Transport v. Department of Revenue, 273 So. 2d 142 (Fla. 1s…
  • S & J Transp., Inc. v. Gordon, 176 So. 2d 69 (Fla. 1965)
    …tation of passengers between the airport and designated points, as opposed to all points, in Dade County. In previous litigation they have been successful in sustaining this position. Phil’s Yellow Taxi Company of Miami Springs v. Carter, Fla. 1961, 134 So. 2d 230, S & J Transportation, Inc. v. McGahey, Fla.App.1961, 135 So. 2d 442; and Red Top Sedan Service, Inc. v. S & J Transportation, Inc., Fla.App.1963, 150 So. 2d 450. To enable the Port Authority and the limousine companies to overcome the effect of th…

Previewing 3 of 13 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw