Overview

HOLDINGS: [1]-The appellate court held that a gas company had to bear all of the costs of relocation of its pipelines. The PUC is a governmental entity with the authority to acquire, construct, maintain, and operate public transit systems. It necessarily followed that, when PUC demanded that the company relocate its pipeline to make way for an extension of its existing rail line, it had a proper governmental purpose; [2]-The appellate court also held that at those points where the company held licenses for its pipelines, once PUC terminated the licenses, the company could be held liable for trespass; [3]-The opinion in Bello v. ABA Energy Corp., which is the leading authority concerning the scope of a local government's power to allow a utility to use the local government's right-of-way over a third party's land, was fully applicable to this dispute, even though PUC is a railroad.

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Outcome

The trial court's order summarily adjudicating the PUC's trespass cause of action was reversed. In all other respects, the orders on the cross-motions for summary adjudication were affirmed. The judgment was reversed, and the matter was remanded for further proceedings on the trespass cause of action.