Alaskan Airways, Inc. v. Wien

8 Alaska 179
CourtDistrict Court, D. Alaska
DecidedFebruary 24, 1930
DocketNo. 3274
StatusPublished

This text of 8 Alaska 179 (Alaskan Airways, Inc. v. Wien) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Alaska primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Alaskan Airways, Inc. v. Wien, 8 Alaska 179 (D. Alaska 1930).

Opinion

CLEGG, District Judge.

It will be observed from the foregoing that no formal answer has been filed by the defendant; that the complaint and supporting affidavit by Thompson is wholly undenied and uncontradicted by defendant’s affidavit entitled “Resistance to Motion to Show Cause”; that the contract sued upon is not attacked as to the competency of parties, execution, consideration, terms, and language, nor assailed for fraud, coercion, mistake, or undue influence, or that the subject of the contract is not lawful; that the attempted defense in defendant’s affidavit entitled “Resistance to Motion to Show Cause” might be set up as a defense to the main action and become one of the ultimate issues in the case on .trial; and that it falls far short in its allegations of fact to challenge the attention of a court of equity in the face of the rights and equities existing on behalf of the plaintiff from the allegations of the complaint and supporting affidavit. The entire resistance attempts to set up new and collateral facts in no way suggested or inspired by plaintiff’s showing, which undeniably entitles plaintiff to the relief now sought.

It is the contention of "the defendant in his showing, in substance, as follows: That on the 6th day of August, 1929, when the contract sued upon was executed, the plaintiff, being a foreign corporation, did not file a copy of its charter, articles of incorporation, financial statement, and designation of an agent upon whom service of process in Alaska might be made in the office of the clerk of the District Court of the Fourth Judicial Division of Alaska until the 12th day of September, 1929; that the office of said plaintiff and the principal place of its business in Alaska was the town of Fairbanks, Alaska; that it did not file its charter or articles of incorporation, financial statement, and designation of agent in the office of the auditor of the territory until the 22d day of October, 1929; that it did not pay the statutory corporation tax and other fees required by the laws of the territory until the 22d day of October, 1929; and that between the 1st day of August, [195]*1951929, and the 6th day of August, 1929, “ * * * the plaintiff was engaged as a common carrier in doing an airplane business transporting passengers and freight by air from one point to another within the Territory of Alaska and said plaintiff continued at all times after the 1st day of August, 1929, to do a general airplane business transporting passengers and freight in Territorial and foreign commerce; that at all times after the 1st day of August, 1929, the said plaintiff held itself out to the general public as being a common carrier in the business of transporting passengers and freight by air from point to point in Alaska and to and from points in foreign countries and Alaska and during said period, from August 1st to August 6th, 1929, did in fact as a common carrier transport passengers and freight for hire from point to point within the Territory of Alaska, and did in fact do a general transportation business by airplanes within the Territory of Alaska, between the 1st and 6th days of August, 1929, and at all times thereafter.”

These allegations must stand the test to which oral testimony would be subjected, and, examining them with reference to the filing of documents required by the law, the court accepts judicially as a fact that the plaintiff did not file a copy of its charter, articles of incorporation, financial statement, or its designation of an agent on whom process might be served in the office of the clerk of the District Court of the Fourth Division of Alaska until the 12th day of September, 1929; but the court cannot accept, even if uncontradicted, the statement that the plaintiff did not file a copy of its charter, or articles of incorporation, or financial statement, or designation of agent in the office of the auditor of the territory of Alaska until the 22d day of October, 1929, nor the statement that plaintiff paid the corporation tax and other fees required by law of foreign corporations doing business in Alaska only upon the 22d day of October, 1929. This is not even secondary, but, at most, hearsay testimony.

[196]*196Section 1872 of the Compiled Laws of Alaska provides as follows: “Sec. 1872. A judicial, legislative, or executive record of said District, or of any State or Territory of the United States, or of any foreign country, or of any political subdivision of either, may be proved by the production of the original, or by a copy thereof, certified by the clerk or other person having the legal custody thereof, with the seal of the court or the official seal of such person- affixed thereto, if it or he have a seal, or otherwise authenticated as required by sections nine hundred and five, nine hundred and six, and nine hundred and seven of the Revised Statutes of the United States.”

Without quoting them, sections 654, 655, 657, and section 660, as amended by chapter 32 of the Session Laws of Alaska 1923, contain a statement of the law governing foreign corporations doing business in Alaska, and the latter section as amended prescribes the penalty for noncompliance therewith, saying, in effect, that all contracts made by a noncomplying corporation-or company with residents of the territory which are made in the territory shall be void as to the corporation or company, and.no court of the territory shall enforce the same in favor, of the corporation or company. It is contended that the plaintiff company failed in complying with the prescribed laws in this regard, and that therefore the contract sued upon, which it is admitted was made in the territory with a resident of the territory, is void.

On this preliminary hearing, even if the best evidence were presented showing, or tending to show, that the contract sued upon was void under these sections and the facts, the court will not now enter into a consideration or determination of this question which may become one of the final issues in the case, especially where the same is not tendered to the court by a formal answer verified as required by law. The court will be content to preserve the status of the parties as fixed by the terms of the contract pending a final hearing on the merits.

[197]*197The rules by which the court and parties will now be governed may be briefly stated:

“As a general rule, where an injury committed by one against another is continuous or is being constantly repeated, so that complainant’s remedy at law requires the bringing of successive actions, that remedy is inadequate and the injury will be prevented by injunction.” 32 C.J. § 36, p. 56.
“An injunction pendente lite should not usurp the place of a final decree neither should it reach out any further than is absolutely necessary to protect the rights and property of the petitioner from injuries which are not only irreparable, but which must be expected before the suit can be heard on its merits. Only those issues will be determined which are necessary factors in granting or denying a temporary restraining order. It is not necessary that the complainant’s rights be clearly established, or that the court find complainant is entitled to prevail on the final hearing. It is sufficient if it appears that there is a real and substantial question between the parties, proper to be investigated in a court of equity, and in order to prevent irremedial injury to the complainant, before his claims can be investigated, it is necessary to prohibit any change in the conditions and relations of the property and of the parties during the litigation.”

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Bluebook (online)
8 Alaska 179, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/alaskan-airways-inc-v-wien-akd-1930.