State ex rel. Gilbert v. Prosecuting Attorney

Citations

• 92 Wash. 484

Syllabus

<p>Quo Warranto — Power to Institute — Discretion — Statutes. Ultimate discretion is vested in the court to order the prosecuting attorney to institute quo warranto proceedings, by Rem. & Bal. Code, § 1035, which provides that the information may be filed by the prosecuting attorney upon his own motion whenever he deems it his duty to do so, or shall be directed by the court or other competent authority; “may” being used not in the permissive, but in the alternative sense, and the statute being remedial and to be liberally construed.</p> <p>Same — Proceedings to Compel — Parties Entitled — Interest. Since no peculiar interest need be shown by the petitioner in order to invoke the power of the court to direct the prosecuting attorney to institute quo warranto proceedings against a corporation, it is immaterial that the petitioner is attorney for competitors of the corporation.</p> <p>Same — Proceedings to Compel — Against Banking Corporation— Petition — Sufficiency—Statutes. Under Rem. & Bal. Code, § 1034, authorizing quo warranto against a corporation when it does or omits acts which amount to a surrender or forfeiture of its corporate rights and privileges, or exercises powers not conferred by law, and Id., § 3317, making it unlawful to transact a banking business in cities of 50,000 inhabitants without property of the cash value of $100,000, and requiring the stock to be paid in full within a certain time and providing that failure to comply with the act shall subject it to a penalty of $100 per day, a petition to compel the prosecuting attorney to institute quo warranto proceedings makes a prima facie case, where it alleges that a bank with a capital of $25,000 disposed of its assets, ceased to do business and liquidated its liabilities in 1908, that it surrendered its stock, has not paid its penalty of $100 per day for violations of the act, and is seeking to reissue the stock to others and recommence business with $25,000 capital stock in a city of over 50,000