Drew v. Superior Court

This is a petition for a writ of review, by which the petitioner seeks to have an order of the superior court of Mendocino County, adjudging him guilty of contempt of court, annulled and set aside.

The material facts of the matter may be briefly stated as follows: On the twenty-eighth day of October, 1918, in an action then pending in the said superior court of Mendocino County, entitled Phil Lobree, Plaintiff v. L. E. White Lumber Company, a Corporation, and Goodyear Redwood Company, a Corporation, Defendants, judgment was rendered in favor of the plaintiff and against the defendants for the sum of $7,150, with interest and costs. On the fourth day of August, 1919, Robert Duncan, the attorney for the plaintiff in said action, filed and presented to the judge of said court his affidavit wherein he set forth the rendition of the said judgment; the issuance on November 30, 1918, of an execution against the property of the said judgment debtor, L. E. White Lumber Company, and that the execution was afterward returned wholly unsatisfied; that the said L. E. White Lumber Company had its principal place of business in the city and county of San Francisco; that said F. C. Drew was at the time of the commencement of said action and at all times since has been the president and general manager of the said L. E. White Lumber Company, and that he resides in and has his office in the said city and county *Page 152 of San Francisco; that the said company owned property and had it in its possession or under its control, not exempt from execution, which it unjustly refuses to apply to the satisfaction of said judgment, and that said Drew, as president and general manager, had property of said company in his possession and under his control, which he unjustly refuses to apply to the satisfaction of said judgment; that the said company had books of account, which were in the possession and under the control of the said Drew, as president and manager thereof, showing the properties belonging to the said company, and also showing the receipts and disbursements of said corporation, and particularly showing the receipts of moneys from the sale of its properties to the Goodyear Redwood Company, and the amounts and disbursements thereof; that the said L. E. White Lumber Company claimed to have received from said Goodyear Redwood Company a large amount in cash, within two or three years, before the making of said affidavit; that the said company and its said president, F. C. Drew, claimed that the said company was solvent and able to pay all its debts, including the said judgment.

The said affidavit prayed for the appointment of a referee in the city and county of San Francisco, and that an order be made requiring said judgment debtor L. E. White Lumber Company by its president and general manager, F. C. Drew, and by its other officers and directors, to appear before the said referee, and to answer concerning the property of said company, and to produce before the referee its books showing the property and moneys belonging to the said corporation.