San Diego Gas & Electric Co. v. Superior Court

Section 1759 of the Public Utilities Code 1 declares that no court except this Supreme Court has jurisdiction to review any order or decision of the Public Utilities Commission (hereafter the commission) or to interfere with the commission in the performance of its duties. Section 2106, however, authorizes an action in superior court for damages caused by any unlawful act of a public utility. In Waters v. Pacific Telephone Co. (1974) 12 Cal.3d 1, 4 [ 114 Cal.Rptr. 753 , 523 P.2d 1161 ], this court held that “in order to resolve the potential conflict between sections 1759 and 2106, the latter section must be construed as limited to those situations in which an award of *903 damages would not hinder or frustrate the commission’s declared supervisory and regulatory policies.” We granted review in this case to determine whether section 1759 as construed in Waters bars a superior court action for property damage allegedly caused by the electric and magnetic fields arising from powerlines owned and operated by a public utility. We shall conclude that such an action would impermissibly interfere with a broad regulatory policy of the commission on this subject, and hence is…