Lim v. Clark

316 F. Supp. 515, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12800
CourtDistrict Court, C.D. California
DecidedApril 15, 1968
DocketNo. 66-1780
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 316 F. Supp. 515 (Lim v. Clark) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, C.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lim v. Clark, 316 F. Supp. 515, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12800 (C.D. Cal. 1968).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

CRARY, District Judge.

The plaintiff, George Lim, by his Amended Complaint, seeks a Certificate of Citizenship, 8 U.S.C. §§ 1103, 1452, as the son of a United States citizen, Lim Jew, whose father, Lim Sam, was born in California. The defendants, by their answer, (1) deny that the plaintiffs true name is George Lim, (2) deny that his father’s name was Lim Jew, and (3) deny that his grandfather’s name was Lim Sam.

It is the Government's position that plaintiff is not a member of the Lim family and that his true family name is Jew [also spelled Joe, Jeu, Chou, and Chow] Len [Lin] Hang [Haung], that plaintiff’s father’s true name was not Lim Jew but Jew Hoy Yin, and that the true name of plaintiffs claimed grandfather was not Lim Sam but was Eng Sam, and the Government further contends that Lim Sam was not plaintiff’s grandfather but that his true grandfather was Jew Sui Ngor.

Plaintiff first came to the United States in April, 1932. His father had first arrived in the United States in January, 1908, and had also, on two other occasions, returned to the United States from trips to China, in September, 1916, and June, 1930. The father had arranged for the necessary witnesses to testify before the Board of Inquiry of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, at the time of plaintiff's arrival in the United States, with respect to plaintiff’s name, citizenship, and so forth.

The witnesses testifying, in addition to the plaintiff, were his father and one Sue Wot, who has testified by deposition in the instant proceeding.

The plaintiff testified, at the hearing held April 22-26, 1932 [Defts.' Ex. S-3], among other things, that his only name was Lim Len Hang and that he was the son of Lim Jew [Lim Hoy Yin (Yen)]. He also testified that the persons in the United States, in addition to his father and Sue Wot, who knew that he was the blood son of Lim Jew were Sue Hem, brother of Sue Wot, and his two paternal uncles, Lim Hung Fook and Lim Jin Hen. The two uncles, he said he had never seen and did not know anything about them. Plaintiff further testified he was born February 12, 1917, in Ung Sin Village, Mow Gong Section, Hoi Ping District, China, and lived there all his life.

Plaintiff’s father testified [Defts.’ Ex. S-3], among other things, that his only names were “Lim Jew; Lim Hoy Yen”; that he was a cook and at the time lived in Merced, California; that he was born in Sai Woo Village, Sun Ning District, China; that he was 40 years of age and first came to the United States in 1908; that he was married in 1915 in “Ung Sen Village, Hoi Ping District, China”; and that he had five sons whose names were (1) Lim Fong Ngar, (2) Lim Len Hang [Applicant], born February 12, 1917, (3) Lim Len Kong, (4) Lim Len Chaw, and (5) Lim Len Woot. He stated that all of the sons but the applicant were still in Ung Sen Village, China. The father further testified he had two brothers named Lim Hung Fook, age 38, and Lim Jin Hen, age 37, and that both were last seen in San Francisco in 1917; that there were 34 or 35 houses in Ung Sen Village; that there was an Ung Sen New Village about one hundred steps north of the Old Village, and that Sue people lived in the New Village; that there were Sue and Jew family people in Chung Hong [517]*517Village, which was a little over one “li” from his Village; that one Lim Chung Suey built his house for him in Ung Sen Village in 1914; that there were eight rows of houses in the Village and [the report states, page 18, the witness volunteered] that the first three rows from the South were occupied by the Lim family and the remainder by the Jew family; and that the Ung Sen New Village had only three houses. Plaintiff’s father went on to say that Sue Wot went to school with his son [plaintiff herein] and is well acquainted with his family and knows that the applicant is his son [Page 24], that Sue Wot had been in his home with his [Sue Wot’s] mother three or four times, and that his son [plaintiff] and Sue Wot attended school together for five or six years [Page 24].

Sue Wot testified for plaintiff [Defts.’ Ex. S-3, page 27, et seq.] at the hearing in April, 1932, in part, as follows: That he was 18 years old; born in Ung Sen New Village, Hoy Ping District, China; that he had come to the United States in July, 1930; that he first met the plaintiff in 1927 when his mother took him and his brother to visit plaintiff’s home; he had visited Lim Jew’s [plaintiff's father’s] home five or six times and met plaintiff on each of these occasions; that he went to school with plaintiff for five years; that there were twenty-three or twenty-four students attending the school; Sue, Lim and Jew families attended the school, four pupils of the Sue family, five of the Lim family and three of the Jew family [pages 30-31]; and that one Jew Len Kuey attended the school and his father was a teacher in the school.

The plaintiff, Lim Len Hang, was recalled [Defts.’ Ex. S-3 page 35] and testified, in part, that he had four brothers and no sisters; that he had never seen his grandfather, Lim Sam; that Ung Sen New Village was only three houses and that he started to school in 1925 and stopped in January, 1932; that his teacher was Jew Hoy Seung; that Sue Wot was 17 or 18 years old as of April, 1932; that six Lim family boys attended school when he did and there were also Jew and Sue boys in attendance; that Jew Lin Kuey sat directly in front of him in school; that Sue Wot visited his home over ten times; that plaintiff's father was home then; sometimes Sue Wot came to their home with his brothers and not his mother; and he last saw Sue Wot in China on May 21, 1930, when he came to bid plaintiff’s family good-bye when he [Sue Wot] was going to the United States.

The Board of Inquiry voted to deny plaintiff admission but the ruling of the Board was reversed on appeal and plaintiff was admitted to the United States.

The record of proceedings had April 22-26, 1932 [Defts.’ Ex. S-3], was offered by defendants in evidence to show the claims of plaintiff and the evidence before the Board on which action was taken and not for the truth of the facts stated therein.

The plaintiff testified in the case at bar in conformance with his testimony before the Board in 1932 as to the identity of his father, his father’s brothers, his grandfather, his mother, and his brothers, together with his place of birth, age, acquaintance with Sue Wot, coming to the United States in 1932, and trips to China in 1947 and 1963 and return to the United States. He stated that his oldest brother, whose name was Lim Fong Ngah, was living in Los Angeles and his mother and brother, Lim Len Kong, were living in Hongkong and that his two younger brothers were still in Communist China. At the time of trial, plaintiff testified that the families living in Ung Sen Village were Jew, Lim, Sue and Wong. At the hearing in 1932, he had stated that the families living in the Village were Jew, Lim and Sue. The name Wong was not then included.

With respect to one Wong Foo, plaintiff testified that he had worked for plaintiff at the Kowloon restaurant in Los Angeles for over ten years, was a friend but not a relative.

[518]*518In 1954 and 1958 Wong Foo made affidavits relative to the identity of plaintiff, plaintiff’s father, and father’s sons [plaintiff’s brothers].

The affidavit signed August 11, 1954, [pltf.’s Ex.

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316 F. Supp. 515, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12800, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lim-v-clark-cacd-1968.