Effective - 28 Aug 1939
392.130. Companies to provide facilities to meet public needs — penalty for failure to deliver messages. — It shall be the duty of every telegraph or telephone company, incorporated or unincorporated, operating any telephone or telegraph line in this state, to provide sufficient facilities at all its offices for the dispatch of the business of the public, to receive dispatches from and for other telephone or telegraph lines and from or for any individual, and on payment or tender of their usual charges for transmitting and delivering dispatches as established by the rules and regulations of such telephone or telegraph lines, to transmit and deliver the same to designated address and to use due diligence to place said dispatch in the hands of the addressee, by the most direct means available, without material alterations, promptly, and with impartiality and good faith under a penalty of three hundred dollars for every neglect or refusal so to transmit and deliver, to be recovered with costs of suit by civil action by the person or persons or company sending or desiring to send such dispatch; two-thirds of the amount recovered to be retained by the plaintiff and one-third to be paid into the county school fund of the county in which the suit was instituted, and the burden of proof shall be upon the company to show that the wire was engaged as the reason for the delay in transmitting such dispatch.
--------
(RSMo 1939 § 5330)
Prior revisions: 1929 § 4925; 1919 § 10136; 1909 § 3330
Structure Missouri Revised Statutes
Title XXV - Incorporation and Regulation of Certain Utilities and Carriers
Chapter 392 - Telephone and Telegraph Companies
Section 392.010 - Telephone and telegraph corporations, by whom and how formed.
Section 392.020 - Articles, where filed — powers when incorporated.
Section 392.030 - Powers of corporation.
Section 392.040 - Election of directors — appointment of officers.
Section 392.050 - Directors, procedure for election of.
Section 392.060 - Meeting of board.
Section 392.070 - Consolidation of companies.
Section 392.090 - Mode of construction may be directed, by whom.
Section 392.100 - May enter upon lands, when.
Section 392.110 - No contract for exclusive use of land.
Section 392.120 - Power to own and maintain lines.
Section 392.140 - Duties in forwarding dispatches over other lines.
Section 392.160 - Penalty for transmitting false communications.
Section 392.175 - Operator services, live operator to be provided, when.
Section 392.180 - What definitions to apply.
Section 392.185 - Purpose of chapter.
Section 392.190 - Application of sections 392.190 to 392.530.
Section 392.205 - Public schools to have reduced rates.
Section 392.210 - Reports and records of telecommunication companies.
Section 392.240 - Rates — rentals — service and physical connections.
Section 392.246 - Petition for rate relief — relief to be granted, when.
Section 392.250 - Power of commission to order repairs or changes.
Section 392.310 - Approval of issues of stocks, bonds and other forms of indebtedness.
Section 392.320 - Certificate of commission to be recorded — stock dividends, permitted when.
Section 392.340 - Reorganization.
Section 392.350 - Liability for loss or damage.
Section 392.360 - Forfeiture — penalties.
Section 392.370 - Transitionally competitive telecommunications services, classified when.
Section 392.430 - Certificates to be approved, when.
Section 392.440 - Service authority, certificate of, approved when.
Section 392.451 - State adopts federal exemption for certain rural telephone companies.
Section 392.455 - Commission to establish certification process.
Section 392.461 - Exemption from certain rules, telecommunications companies.
Section 392.475 - Prohibition of resale, when.
Section 392.480 - Services to be offered under tariff.
Section 392.500 - Changes in rates, competitive telecommunication services, procedure.
Section 392.510 - Tariffs, bands and ranges allowed, when, requirements.
Section 392.520 - Private shared tenant services, coin operated telephone services, regulation of.
Section 392.530 - Construction of provisions of the chapter.