Opinion

Krings v. City of Bremerton

  • 22 Wash. 2d 220
  • 155 P.2d 493
  • 1945 Wash. LEXIS 348
Court
Washington Supreme Court
Filed
Jan 24, 1945
Status
Published
Author
Mallery
On the bench
Beals, Mallery
Cited by
2 cases
Authority
More cited than 2.3%

The opinion

Mallery, J.

(dissenting) — What is the nature of garbage collection? As between a public utility and a governmental function, I think it is clearly the former. I am willing to take judicial notice of the fact that, in innumerable instances, garbage collection has been a private enterprise.

I do not think that authorization of garbage collection by state law is decisive of the question here involved. State law can authorize the exercise of a proprietary function as well as a governmental one.

I subscribe to the doctrine set out in the dissent in the case of

Hagerman v.

Seattle, 189 Wash. 694 , 66 P. (2d) 1152 , which is held to be controlling here. I think the

Hagerman

case should be overruled to the extent that it be held that a public utility, operated by a municipal corporation in its proprietary capacity, should have no tort immunities that are not accorded to privately operated public utilities.

The judgment should be reversed.

Blake, J., concurs with Mallery, J.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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