Useldinger v. Britt

SPENCE, J.

Petitioner filed his petition under sections 1275-1279 of the Code of Civil Procedure seeking to change his name to J ames J. Britt. The trial court, after a hearing, made its order denying said petition and petitioner appeals from said order.

Said petition was filed and the order was entered in 1938. At that time petitioner was 26 years of age. The evidence showed that he was bom in the State of Washington; that he had resided there until he was 22 years of age, at which time he came to San Francisco; that at the age of 12, he had adopted the name of James J. Britt and had been known by that name or as Jimmy Britt at all times thereafter; that he had never heard of rem entrant James Edward Britt at that time but was acquainted with Frank Britt, a fighter, and liked the name of Britt so he chose the name J ames J. Britt; that he had thereafter become a fighter; that he had married under the name of James J. Britt and that his wife and child' had been known at all times by the name of Britt; that the birth certificate of his child had been filed under the name of Britt; that he had not used the name of Useldinger for over 14 years; that after coming to San Francisco, he had managed taverns for several years and, at the time of the hearing,

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he and Frank Paehiano were operating a tavern of their own, located on Eddy Street in San Francisco and known as the “Little Louvre”; that he had never heard of remonstrant, James Edward Britt, until seven or eight years before filing his petition; and that he desired to change his name to James J. Britt because he was and had been known by that name during all of the time mentioned.

While James Edward Britt filed no objections showing good reason against such change of name (Code Civ. Proc., sec. 1278), he appeared as a remontrant and introduced some evidence. Said evidence showed that he had been at one time a well-known professional fighter but had retired from the ring in 1910; that he had thereafter been a vaudeville actor but it does not appear how long he had followed that vocation; that he had been in the plumbing business with his father before becoming a fighter but had never engaged in any business or vocation other than those herein mentioned; that at the time of the hearing, he was a W. P. A. worker, but had an intention “to open a place in the Exposition”. It further appears that for approximately two weeks after petitioner and his partner acquired the tavern known as the “Little Louvre”, a banner approximately three by five feet in size was displayed announcing ‘ that the place has changed hands and was being operated under the management of Frank Paehiano and Jimmy Britt. The remontrant James Edward Britt testified that San Francisco had been his home city; that he had first heard of petitioner when some people spoke to him about the sign thinking that he was in the tavern business; and that “there was some of them had gone in there. We laughed about it.” When asked, “What did they relate to you what happened?” he answered, “When the young man appeared, he was much younger and better looking than I was, they knew it was not me”. He further testified that he went into the tavern and asked petitioner if Jimmy Britt was around; that petitioner answered, “Yes, I am Jimmy Britt”; that he said: “That’s funny, so am I”; that petitioner said, “Oh, you are the old timer?”; that he said, “I feel younger”; that he then asked petitioner if he was going to take the sign down; that petitioner said no and “I exited laughingly”.