In Re Hancock

92 Cal. App. 2d 481
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 17, 1949
DocketCiv. No. 3909
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 92 Cal. App. 2d 481 (In Re Hancock) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Hancock, 92 Cal. App. 2d 481 (Cal. Ct. App. 1949).

Opinion

92 Cal.App.2d 481 (1949)

In re T. M. HANCOCK, for a judgment establishing the Westmorland Mail as a newspaper of general circulation. T. M. HANCOCK, Respondent,
v.
CALIFORNIA NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS' ASSOCIATION, INC. (a Corporation), Appellant.

Civ. No. 3909.

California Court of Appeals. Fourth Dist.

June 17, 1949.

Lloyd S. Nix and Robert F. Tyler for Appellant.

Whitelaw, Whitelaw & Yeager for Respondents.

GRIFFIN, J.

Separate motions and applications were filed in the two separate proceedings which were consolidated for the purpose of hearing and on appeal. *483

On October 14, 1927, the trial court, based upon the application of T. M. Hancock, entered its decree establishing the "Westmorland Mail" as a newspaper of general circulation under section 4460 of the Political Code and the amendments thereto. A hearing thereon was duly noticed and was uncontested.

On March 14, 1935, respondent F. W. Greer, who purchased the "Westmorland Mail," filed a similar proceeding respecting the "Imperial Valley Democrat." On March 25, 1935, without contest, the trial court made its order establishing it as a newspaper of general circulation.

In May, 1947, objector, California Newspaper Publishers' Association, Inc., filed a notice of motion to vacate the decision and judgment in each proceeding, alleging that the paper had ceased to be a newspaper of general circulation as required by section 6000 and 6004 of the Government Code. In October, 1947, respondent Greer answered for both papers and denied generally the allegations of the petition and denied that there had been any material change in the facts upon which the original decrees were entered; that the circulation and newsprint supply had been curtailed for reasons of war conditions during the period about which objectors complained. Evidence was produced and thereafter the trial court, in October, 1947, entered its separate order denying objector's motion to set aside the former decrees and judgments. From these orders objector appeals.

[1] Respondents previously argued, on a motion to dismiss the appeals, that the orders involved are not appealable orders under section 6026 of the Government Code. It was there contended and is again here contended that this section permits an appeal only from a final order "vacating, modifying or setting aside a decision or judgment previously entered," but under that section and the rule of expressio unius est exclusio alterius no appeal lies from an order denying such relief. The motion to dismiss the appeal was heretofore denied. Since respondents again present the question under the theory that it directly affects the objector's right to an appeal and bears on the question of the jurisdiction of this court to entertain these appeals, we are called upon to determine that question before proceeding further with the other points presented.

It is apparent that section 6026 of the Government Code prescribes no direct authority for an appeal from an order denying a motion to vacate, set aside or modify the decree previously entered. Respondents contend that the legislative *484 intent is clearly expressed by the preceding sections (Gov. Code, 6020-6023), and its intent was to give the newspaper the right of appeal but withhold or inferentially deny such right to any contestant; that the fact that express words of denial were not used in section 6026, supra, is not a valid objection because the intent to deny such right otherwise clearly appears.

While it is sometimes difficult to divine the legislative intent in enacting a particular statute, we do not construe the act as denying to such an objector the right to appeal from such an order as here involved. In re Herman [1920], 183 Cal. 153 [191 P. 934], involved an appeal from an original decree declaring a newspaper to be one of general circulation under section 4462 et seq., of the Political Code. As it then existed, there was no provision contained therein giving any right of appeal from such a decree or judgment. The right to an appeal therefrom was put in issue and it was held that such a proceeding was "a special proceeding," and that an appeal lies from a judgment in such a proceeding. Under Article VI, section 4b of the Constitution, the district courts of appeal are given appellate jurisdiction in such "special proceedings as may be provided by law."

In re Simpson, 62 Cal.App. 549 [217 P. 789], decided in June, 1923, involved an appeal from an order denying and dismissing a similar petition as here involved, under section 4462 of the Political Code. The objector appealed from the order. As of that date there was no statutory provision in the Political Code as to whether an appeal did lie from such an order. The appeal from that order was sustained. Section 963 of the Code of Civil Procedure provides that an appeal may be taken from a final judgment entered in a special proceeding or from any special order made after final judgment. It has been repeatedly held that when express provision is made for an order to vacate, an order denying such motion is regarded as a special order made after final judgment and therefore appealable under section 963, subdivision 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure. (Winslow v. Harold G. Ferguson Corp., 25 Cal.2d 274, 282 [153 P.2d 714]; California Delta Farms v. Chinese American Farms, 201 Cal. 201 [255 P. 1097]; Westervelt v. McCullough, 64 Cal.App. 362 [221 P. 661]; Andreoli v. Hodge, 71 Cal.App. 762 [236 P. 333].) It is clear, therefore, that there was a right of appeal from such an order prior to the enactment of section 4464 of the Political Code, which was added by Statutes of 1923, page 512, chapter 258, *485 section 2, and which provided for an appeal from a final judgment or from any final order vacating, modifying or setting aside the previous judgment. The language of that section was carried into section 6026 of the Government Code.

In Westervelt v. McCullough, supra, at page 363, the court held that "An order denying a motion made under section 663 is unquestionably a special order made after final judgment, and as such is appealable under section 963--unless there be some good reason for holding otherwise." The same question was there raised as to the appealability of such an order and it was contended that because in section 663a the Legislature expressly provided that an order granting such a motion may be reviewed on appeal in the same manner as a special order made after final judgment, that under the familiar rule of construction, expressio unius est exclusio alterius, it should be held that the lawmakers did not intend that there should be a right of appeal from an order denying the motion. The court in that case rejected this contention.

Under the circumstances here related, where the hearings on the motions to vacate are essentially de novo, it would hardly seem consistent to allow one of the parties the right of an appeal from an adverse judgment and deny that same right to the other party. The attack on the original decree is not based on the facts as they existed at the time the original decree was entered. It is based on the facts existing subsequent to the entry of such original decree. Thus, of necessity new evidence is adduced and new issues are formed and an entirely new hearing is had, separate and distinct from the hearing on the original adjudication. Newspapers are subject to fluctuation and change throughout the years. They are subject to change in subscribers, in name, in ownership, in management, and might even cease to exist.

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92 Cal. App. 2d 481, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-hancock-calctapp-1949.