United Farmers Association of Cal. v. Klein

STURTEVANT, J.

The United Farmers Association of California, the defendants and several hundred others, are engaged in the produce business in or about Los Angeles. Heretofore they formed an organization and entered into a written agreement. In that written agreement a body was named as the Los Angeles Markets Arbitration Committee. It named the defendants Klein, Greenfield, Moreno, Teague, Anderson, and Simpson as members of the committee. It also named Homer A. Harris as manager. On July 14, 1936, the plaintiff, The United Farmers Association of California, was by the manager fined $175. That fine not having been paid, on July 17, 1936, it was fined the additional sum of $150. The fines not having been paid, the manager claiming to act under said written agreement caused proceedings in arbitration to be commenced. Such proceedings were held before the defendants as members of the arbitration committee named and designated in the written agreement. A hearing was had on July 24, 1936. The arbitration committee, on September 11, 1936, signed findings of fact and conclusions of

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law and executed an arbitrators’ award. Thereafter the committee and the manager caused proceeding No. 407,462 (records of the trial court) to be commenced in which a petition for confirmation of said award was made. The plaintiff, The United Farmers Association of California, commenced action No. 407,629 (records of the trial court) asking for declaratory relief. Answers were filed in both proceedings. Later an order was made consolidating said proceedings for trial and judgment. On January 11, 1938, the trial court made findings of fact and conclusions of law against The United Farmers Association and from the judgment based on said findings the latter has appealed.

When the proceeding came on for hearing in the trial court the committee introduced in evidence each and all of the documents constituting the judgment roll in the proceeding before the arbitration committee. Thereafter Homer A. Harris, the manager of the Los Angeles Markets Arbitration Committee, was called as a witness by The United Farmers Association. He was asked by The United B’armers Association of California to produce certain other books and papers. Counsel for the committee objected on the ground that the same were incompetent. In reply to a question by the trial court as to the purpose of producing said books, counsel for The United Farmers Association answered that it was such party’s intention to prove by the witness Harris and other witnesses to be called all of the details of the proceedings had before the so-called arbitration committee showing all of the steps taken with their respective dates, the date when each of the papers and documents considered by said board were actually prepared and filed with said board, and to show all of the evidence produced before the hearing held by said board either by the production of a transcript of such evidence and proceedings, or by secondary evidence thereof in case such transcript could not be found. The objection was sustained. No motion to vacate the award (C. C. P., sec. 1288) and no motion to modify or correct the award (C. C. P., sec. 1289) was made. In open court certain stipulations were made by counsel regarding the form of the record and thereupon the cause stood submitted. The appellant contends the trial court erred in sustaining said objection