Woodman v. Ackerman

249 Cal. App. 2d 644, 57 Cal. Rptr. 687
California Court of Appeal·Decided March 22, 1967·No. 23703·Published·Cited by 28 cases

Opinion

249 Cal.App.2d 644 (1967)
57 Cal. Rptr. 687

ROY H. WOODMAN et al., Plaintiffs and Appellants,
v.
FREDERICK W. ACKERMAN et al., Defendants and Respondents.

Docket No. 23703.

Court of Appeals of California, First District, Division One.

March 22, 1967.

*645 Philip A. Ray and Kelso, Cotton & Ernst for Plaintiffs and Appellants.

Marion B. Plant, Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison, Harold C. Faulkner, W. Burleigh Pattee, William L. Ferdon, Chickering *646 & Gregory, Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro, Noble K. Gregory, William I. Edlund, Walter R. Allan and Parker A. Maddux for Defendants and Respondents.

ELKINGTON, J.

This is an appeal from orders of the superior court, in a corporate shareholders' derivative action, granting motions of defendants below and respondents here, that plaintiffs (appellants here) be required to furnish security in accordance with the provisions of Corporations Code section 834.

Section 834 provides a procedure in a shareholders' derivative suit for requiring a plaintiff therein to furnish security for the "probable reasonable expenses" of certain defendants. The section states in part that such defendants "shall have recourse to such security in such amount as the court shall determine upon the termination of such action. The amount of such security may thereafter from time to time be increased or decreased in the discretion of the court upon showing that the security provided has or may become inadequate or is excessive. If the court, upon any such motion, makes a determination that security shall be furnished by the plaintiff as to any one or more defendants, the action shall be dismissed as to such defendant or defendants, unless the security required by the court shall have been furnished within such reasonable time as may be fixed by the court.... If any such motion is filed, no pleadings need be filed by the corporation or any other defendant, and the prosecution of such action shall be stayed, until 10 days after such motion shall have been disposed of...."

The sole issue before us at this time concerns the appealability of the orders in question. Appellants insist that such an appeal lies, while respondents contend that an appeal may be taken only from the judgment of dismissal provided for upon the nonposting of the required security.

[1] If the orders with which we are here concerned are not appealable, the appeal must be dismissed. An appellate court lacks jurisdiction to consider an appeal from a nonappealable order. (Rossi v. Caire, 189 Cal. 507, 508 [209 P. 347]; Sherman v. Standard Mines Co., 166 Cal. 524, 525 [137 P. 249]; Efron v. Kalmanovitz, 185 Cal. App.2d 149, 152 [8 Cal. Rptr. 107]; Estate of Vai, 168 Cal. App.2d 147, 149 [335 P.2d 501].) [2] The court must of its own motion dismiss such an appeal. (Efron v. Kalmanovitz, supra; Olmstead v. West, 177 Cal. App.2d 652, 654 [2 Cal. Rptr. 443]; Corbett v. *647 Petroleum Maintenance Co., 119 Cal. App.2d 21 [258 P.2d 1077]; 3 Witkin, Cal. Procedure (1954) Appeal, § 9, p. 2150.)

The question before us has never, so far as we have been able to determine, been squarely decided in this state.

We find in Burt v. Irvine Co., 237 Cal. App.2d 828, 836 [47 Cal. Rptr. 392], dictum suggesting the probable appealability of such orders as constitute the subject of this appeal. In Wood v. Gordon, 112 Cal. App.2d 374, 376 [246 P.2d 84]. appears language which seems to indicate that an appeal lies directly from such orders. (See also 12 Cal.Jur.2d 780.) However, from a careful study of the opinion in that case it appears that the appeal there was in fact from judgments of dismissal entered following failure to deposit security as ordered. (See discussion in accord with this view in Efron v. Kalmanovitz, supra, 185 Cal. App.2d 149, 157-158.) In Marble v. Latchford Glass Co., 205 Cal. App.2d 171 [22 Cal. Rptr. 789], the court entertained an appeal from an order granting such a motion for security under section 834. However, the question of the appealability of such an order was neither raised nor considered in that opinion.[1] [3] Appellate decisions have no authoritative value as to points not raised or considered by the court. (General Motors Accept. Corp. v. Kyle, 54 Cal.2d 101, 114 [4 Cal. Rptr. 496, 351 P.2d 768].)

We find language in the appellate decisions of this state, which must also be treated as obiter dicta, tending to support the proposition that such an order is not appealable. This language is rather persuasive. (3 Witkin, Cal. Procedure (1954) Appeal, § 226, p. 2442.) In Hagan v. Superior Court, 53 Cal.2d 498 [2 Cal. Rptr. 288, 348 P.2d 896], the court, in an opinion granting a writ of prohibition, which, in part, prevented the enforcement of an order requiring posting of security under section 834, stated (p. 501): "Real parties in interest contend that the remedy by appeal is adequate. Petitioners could request, and if necessary compel, respondent court to enter a judgment dismissing their complaint ... for failure to comply with its security order. [Citations.] An appeal could then be taken from such dismissal challenging the propriety of the security order." Efron v. Kalmanovitz, supra, 185 Cal. App.2d 149, concerned an appeal from, among *648 other things, an order denying a motion to furnish security under section 834. The court said (pp. 156-157): "[I]t is to be observed that the Legislature has provided in Corporations Code, section 834, that in the event an order for security is made and is not furnished, `the action shall be dismissed.' Although the section does not expressly provide for the entry of judgment of dismissal, it appears to be contemplated and is the established practice. A judgment of dismissal is obviously appealable." In Melancon v. Superior Court, 42 Cal.2d 698 [268 P.2d 1050] (prohibition proceedings in which the court refused to consider the validity of a security order made under section 834) it is stated (pp. 704-705): "... it appears that the remedy by appeal from the judgment of dismissal which presumably will follow if the ordered security is not furnished is not only an adequate, but is clearly a more appropriate remedy than the writs here sought.... [N]o such aggravated circumstances or consequential damages would appear to flow from the order requiring the furnishing of security by plaintiff in the derivative stockholders' action, or from the entry of an appealable judgment of dismissal which would follow plaintiff's failure to comply with the security order."

Cases in which appellate courts have heard and decided appeals from judgments of dismissal, following failure to post security as ordered under section 834, follow: Beyerbach v. Juno Oil Co., 42 Cal.2d 11 [265 P.2d 1]; Hogan v. Ingold, 38 Cal.2d 802 [243 P.2d 1, 32 A.L.R.2d 834]; Chase v. Super

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Woodman v. Ackerman, 249 Cal. App. 2d 644, 57 Cal. Rptr. 687 (Cal. Ct. App. 1967).

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