The Supreme Court, in a ruling involving a utility company, set a standard for determining when actions by private entities were public enough to fall under the constitutional limitations applied to the government.
A Pennsylvania resident claimed that Metropolitan Edison Co., a private utility company, failed to provide adequate notice and a public hearing before terminating her electrical service, thus violating her due process rights. The resident argued that the utility was an extensively regulated partial monopoly, but the Supreme Court did not find the company to be sufficiently public to merit the burden of the constitutional limits placed on governments. The due process clause, the Court argued, applies only to state actions, not those of a private entity such as the utility. This ruling was never overturned, but it was limited by a number of legislative enactments.
Due process, procedural
Private corporation charters
State action