(a) Every company under the jurisdiction of the commission, and all officers, agents, and employees of every such company, shall obey, observe, and comply with every order made by the commission under authority of law. Any company under the jurisdiction of the commission, or any officer, agent, or employee thereof, who or which violates any provision of this Code section, or who or which fails, omits, or neglects to obey, observe, and comply with any rule, regulation, order, direction, or requirement of the commission, shall forfeit to the state a sum of not more than $5,000.00 for each offense, the amount to be fixed by the presiding judge. Every violation of this Code section or any other Code section, or of any rule, regulation, order, direction, or requirement of the commission shall be a separate and distinct offense; in case of a continued violation, every day a violation thereof takes place shall be deemed a separate and distinct offense.

(b) An action for the recovery of the penalty provided in subsection (a) of this Code section may be brought in the county of the principal office in this state of such company, or in the county of the state where such violation occurs and such wrong is perpetrated, or in any county in this state through which the company operates. Where the violation consists of an excessive charge for the carriage of freight or passengers or for any other service rendered, as such violation is described in Code Section 46-9-250, an action may be brought in any county in which the charges are made, or through which counties it was intended that such passengers or freight should have been carried, or through which counties such company operates. Any action pursuant to this Code section shall be brought in the name of the state by direction of the Governor.

(c) Any proceeding to enforce the penalty provided in subsection (a) of this Code section may be tried at the first term of the court to which it is brought and shall be given precedence over other business by the presiding judge. The court shall not be adjourned until such proceeding is legally continued or disposed of. The decision in such case may be taken to the Court of Appeals as in other cases.