City of San Diego v. Southern California Telephone Corp.

Plaintiff city of San Diego, by Ordinance No. 5681 granted defendant Southern California Telephone Company1 a franchise to construct, maintain, and operate *114a system of telephone poles and wires upon the public streets of the city for a period of 30 years from August 7, 1914. When the franchise expired in 1944, the company assumed that under section 536 of the Civil Code (now Pub. Util. Code, § 7901) it had the right to use the streets without a franchise, and therefore did not seek a new franchise. The city brought suit to enjoin the' company from using its streets. On May 23, 1946, the…