State ex rel. Tanner v. Northwestern Investment Co.

Citations

• 70 Wash. 381
• 126 P. 895
• 1912 Wash. LEXIS 1059

Syllabus

<p>Building and Loan Associations — Franchise—Forfeiture—Actions — Prerequisites—Notice—Oral Proof — Competency. Where the state auditor orally notified the attorney general that he deemed it unsafe or inexpedient for a building and loan association to continue to transact business, which by Rem. & Bal. Code, § 3620, is a prerequisite to suit by the attorney general, such notice may be proved by any competent witness who was present and heard the communication.</p> <p>Continuance — Absence of Evidence — Abuse of Discretion. In an action by the state to dissolve an unlawful building and loan association, tried by the court without a jury, it is an abuse of discretion to refuse a continuance for less than one day to enable the state to obtain competent proof of the prerequisite auditor’s notice to the attorney general to prosecute the suit, if, by any misunderstanding, counsel for the state had failed to prove such preliminary fact.</p> <p>Building and Loan Associations — Franchise—Forfeiture—Illegal Business — Evidence—Sufficiency. A suit is warranted by the attorney general to dissolve a corporation which was doing a building and loan association business without complying with the laws relative to such corporations, and without investing any capital of its own, where it had so extravagantly and wastefully managed its affairs that it had cost the investors $100,000 to invest $50,000 of their own money.</p> <p>Same — Illegal Business — Defenses — Estoppel ■— Consent op State Officials. Engaging in the business of a building and loan association without complying with the laws governing such corporations is against public policy, and the fact that the state auditor gave his consent thereto on the advice of the attorney general does not estop the state from proceeding against the corporation to prevent a continuance of the business.</p> <p>Same — Forfeiture of Franchise — Illegal Business — Rights of Investors to Assets. Where a corporation illegally engaging in a buil