Walton Electric Membership Corporation v. Georgia Power Company (two Cases)

Summary

The Court reversed the Court of Appeals and held that the Public Service Commission did not abuse its discretion in allowing Nestle to change electric suppliers. The Court construed “destroyed or dismantled” to permit substantial, but not necessarily wholesale, dismantling and construed “reconstructed in substantial kind” to require reconstruction largely, but not wholly, of the same fundamental nature or quality. It also held that the ultimate application of those standards to historical facts is reviewed for abuse of discretion, while subsidiary legal questions are reviewed de novo.