Pon v. Wittman

81 P. 984, 147 Cal. 280, 1905 Cal. LEXIS 393
CourtCalifornia Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 10, 1905
DocketS.F. No. 3969.
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 81 P. 984 (Pon v. Wittman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pon v. Wittman, 81 P. 984, 147 Cal. 280, 1905 Cal. LEXIS 393 (Cal. 1905).

Opinions

LORIGAN, J.

—This action was brought to obtain an injunction.

The complaint, which was filed February 18, 1903, alleges (in the essential particulars necessary for consideration upon this appeal) that on February 1st of that year, plaintiff was, and at the time of filing the complaint continued to be, the owner of a certain public restaurant and cigar-stand, dependent for their existence upon public patronage, and situated at No. 1129 Dupont Street, in the. city and county of San Francisco; that ever since February 1, 1903, the defendants George W. Wittman, chief of police of said city and county, and James T. Donovan, sergeant of police thereof, have had stationed and located upon said premises, where plaintiff's said business is situated, at No. 1129 Dupont Street, in relays by day and night, a large number of uniformed police officers, for the purpose of intercepting, intimidating, and preventing, and said officers, at the direction of defendants, have intercepted, intimidated, and prevented, all persons desiring to patronize the. business of plaintiff, from entering said premises for that purpose, and from patronizing said business, and that said defendants threaten to continue to keep said police officers on said premises, and to maintain a blockade thereof and of said business; that plaintiff has already sustained damages by said acts in the sum of five thousand dollars, and that, if permitted to continue, said acts will entirely destroy said business, to the great and irreparable injury of plaintiff.

The prayer of the complaint is, that the defendants, and all persons acting under their direction or authority, be perpetually enjoined from entering into or upon, and from inter *284 fering with the plaintiff’s quiet and peaceable possession and enjoyment of said premises, and from interfering in any manner not authorized by law, with, or intimidating or preventing persons from patronizing said restaurant and cigar business, and from picketing and blockading the same by means of police officers, or otherwise.

The answer denies, among other things, that defendants intercepted, intimidated, and prevented persons from entering said premises, or that they interfered with and intimidated the customers of the plaintiff.

As a separate answer it is averred, in effect, that the premises described in plaintiff’s complaint, and more particularly 1129 Dupont Street, is the entrance to a certain court- in the rear of said 1129 Dupont Street, and that the said court was, on the 1st of December, 1900, and has continuously ever since been used for the purposes of prostitution, and contains numerous small rooms, designated as “cribs,” which are resorted to nightly by many women for the purposes of prostitution; that by reason of the said use of said premises a large number of lewd, vicious, idle, and vagrant characters did assemble, and now assemble, on said premises, and were a constant menace to the peace and quiet of the neighborhood of said premises; that it is absolutely necessary for the preservation of peace and good order that constant supervision of the aforesaid premises should be had by the police force of said city and county, and that the acts of these defendants have been done with the object of enforcing certain provisions of the Penal Code of the state and certain ordinances of the city and county of San Francisco.

Upon the trial the court found, among other things, that the defendants Wittman, as chief of police, and Donovan, as sergeant of police, respectively, did use and employ, under color of their official authority, a large number of uniformed police officers of said city and county, to locate and station themselves upon the said premises where plaintiff’s said businesses-were situated, to wit: “At No. 1129 Dupont Street in the said city and county of San Francisco, and did there establish and maintain said police officers as pickets against the said premises, and said defendants did then and there by means of said police officers establish and maintain a blockade of said premises, and did intercept and intimidate and pre *285 vent a large number of persons desiring to patronize plaintiff’s said businesses from entering upon said premises for that purpose, and did thereby prevent them from patronizing, and in consequence they did not patronize the said businesses of plaintiff, and all of said acts were committed by them under color and pretense of their official authority as such police officers, and without right; that none of said acts of the defendants ... or of said police officers . . . have been committed under or in obedience to or in execution of any order, writ, warrant or process of any court or judge, or of any authority known to the law, nor under the pretense or color of any such order, writ, warrant, process, or authority, nor in making any arrest of any person on a criminal charge; that the said plaintiff, Jean Pon, was never at any time interested in or concerned in any respect in the business of prostitution, nor in prostitution either upon said premises or elsewhere.” Upon its findings the court concludes that the plaintiff is entitled to a writ of injunction, as prayed for in the complaint, perpetually restraining, enjoining, and prohibiting the defendants and all police officers of the said city and county, and all persons acting under the direction and control, or by the order or authority of the defendants, from entering into or upon, and from in any manner whatever interfering with or infringing upon, the said plaintiff’s quiet and peaceable possession and enjoyment of the said premises, No. 1129 Dupont Street, in the city and county of San Francisco, and from in any manner not authorized by law interfering with or intimidating or preventing any person or persons from patronizing the said restaurant business or the said cigar business of the said plaintiff, and from in any manner whatever impairing or injuring either the said restaurant business or the. said cigar business of the said plaintiff, and from in any manner whatever picketing or blockading the said premises No. 1129 Dupont Street, either by means of police officers, or otherwise, or at all, and from entering upon the said premises No. 1129 Dupont Street, or any part thereof, unless in the execution of the order or judgment or writ or warrant or process of some court or judge of competent jurisdiction, particularly describing the place to be searched, or the persons or things to be seized, or unless entry is made upon said premises to arrest a person, or to arrest *286 persons then engaged in the commission or attempted commission of crime in the presence or view of the police officer .or police officers making the arrest, and such crime was attempted, or was then in the course of commission, in the view or presence of such police officer, prior to and at the time of his making the entry upon said premises for said purpose, or unless in making an arrest for treason or felony, or in making an arrest for breach of the peace when committed in the view or presence of such police officer, by means of loud and tumultuous noises, or by boisterous conduct disturbing the public peace.

A judgment to this effect was subsequently entered. The . defendants moved for a- new trial, specifying as grounds therefor insufficiency of the evidence to justify the.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

In Re Brandie W.
157 Cal. App. 3d 110 (California Court of Appeal, 1984)
Candie R. v. Robert D.
157 Cal. App. 3d 110 (California Court of Appeal, 1984)
Robins v. County of Los Angeles
248 Cal. App. 2d 1 (California Court of Appeal, 1966)
Crittenden v. Superior Court
393 P.2d 692 (California Supreme Court, 1964)
Uptown Enterprises v. Strand
195 Cal. App. 2d 45 (California Court of Appeal, 1961)
Nadell & Co. v. Grasso
346 P.2d 505 (California Court of Appeal, 1959)
Boericke v. Weise
156 P.2d 781 (California Court of Appeal, 1945)
Albright v. Karston
176 S.W.2d 421 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1943)
People v. Marron
35 P.2d 610 (California Court of Appeal, 1934)
Strand Amusement Co. v. City of Owensboro
47 S.W.2d 710 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976), 1932)
Harmon v. Police Commissioner
174 N.E. 198 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1931)
Matthiessen v. Grand
268 P. 675 (California Court of Appeal, 1928)
Dietz v. Cavender
208 N.W. 354 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1926)
Joyner v. Hammond
200 N.W. 571 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1924)
Biagini v. Shoemaker
210 P. 193 (Washington Supreme Court, 1922)
Moise v. City & County of San Francisco
203 P. 143 (California Court of Appeal, 1921)
State v. Ellis
78 So. 71 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1918)
People v. Casa Co.
169 P. 454 (California Court of Appeal, 1917)
Modern Horse Shoe Club v. Stewart
146 S.W. 1157 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1912)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
81 P. 984, 147 Cal. 280, 1905 Cal. LEXIS 393, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pon-v-wittman-cal-1905.