§13 — Title 47 Telegraphs, Telephones, and Radiotelegraphs | U.S. Code

Summary

If an officer or agent of a railroad or telegraph company refuses or fails to run the telegraph lines the way they are required, or refuses to give the government, the public, and connecting telegraph lines equal access and fair treatment when exchanging business, or refuses to follow an order from the Federal Communications Commission within a reasonable time, that person commits a misdemeanor. If convicted, they can be fined up to $1,000 and may be jailed for not less than six months. A harmed party can push for criminal charges against the officer or agent and can also sue the company for damages in a U.S. district court in any state or territory where the company’s road or telegraph line is located. The court will accept service of the lawsuit on any company agent found in that state or territory.

Title 47, §13

Telegraphs, Telephones, and Radiotelegraphs — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

Any officer or agent of said railroad or telegraph companies, or of any company operating the railroads and telegraph lines of said companies, who shall refuse or fail to operate the telegraph lines of said railroad or telegraph companies under his control, or which he is engaged in operating, in the manner herein directed, or who shall refuse or fail, in such operation and use, to afford and secure to the Government and the public equal facilities, or to secure to each of said connecting telegraph lines equal advantages and facilities in the interchange of business, as herein provided for, without any discrimination whatever for or adverse to the telegraph line of any or either of said connecting companies, or shall refuse to abide by or perform and carry out within a reasonable time the order or orders of the Federal Communications Commission, shall in every such case of refusal or failure be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction thereof, shall in every such case be fined in a sum of not exceeding $1,000, and may be imprisoned not less than six months; and in every such case of refusal or failure the party aggrieved may not only cause the officer or agent guilty thereof to be prosecuted under the provisions of this section, but may also bring an action for the damages sustained thereby against the company whose officer or agent may be guilty thereof, in the district court of the United States in any State or Territory in which any portion of the road or telegraph line of said company may be situated; and in case of suit process may be served upon any agent of the company found in such State or Territory, and such service shall be held by the court good and sufficient.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Codification Words “circuit or” which preceded “district court” were omitted in view of the abolition of the circuit courts and the transfer of their jurisdiction to the district courts by act Mar. 3, 1911.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Transfer of Functions

Duties, powers, and functions under this section relating to operation of telegraph lines by railroad and telegraph lines granted Government aid in

Construction

of their lines imposed on and vested in Federal Communications Commission by act June 19, 1934. See section 601 of this title.

§13 Violations; Punishment; Action for Damages