State ex rel. Peterson v. Superior Court

Citations

• 67 Wash. 370
• 121 P. 836
• 1912 Wash. LEXIS 1185

Syllabus

<p>Witnesses — Summons—Order to Appear — Party or Witness. In an action against a corporation, an order requiring a trustee to appear before the court for examination concerning the possession of the books and assets of the company, which the receiver was endeavoring to obtain, is a summons as a witness and not as a party, where the trustee was not a party to the suit.</p> <p>Witnesses — Attendance—Power to Require — Distance From Residence — Contempt. Since, under Rem. & Bal. Code, § 1215, a witness cannot be required to appear out of the county in which he resides and more than twenty miles from his residence, the court has no power to punish him for contempt in refusing to obey an order requiring his attendance.</p> <p>Appeal — Decisions Reviewable — Final Obdebs. An order requiring a witness to show cause why he should not be punished for contempt in failing to appear for examination, is interlocutory and not appealable as a final order.'</p> <p>Peohibition — When Lies — Contempt Pboceedings — Adequacy op Remedy by Appeal — Rights op Witness. The remedy by appeal is not adequate and prohibition lies, where the court made an order without authority of law requiring a witness to show 'cause why he should not be punished for contempt in failing to appear for examination, that he made answer showing the illegality of the summons, that the court was about to erroneously punish him for contempt, and before he could appeal from the judgment of contempt he must be fined and possibly illegally taken from one county to another and imprisoned.</p>