Mutual Home Ass'n v. Joe's Bay Trading Co.
Mutual Home Ass'n v. Joe's Bay Trading Co.
Opinion of the Court
This action is brought for the purpose of recovering the reasonable rental value -of the premises owned by the plaintiff but occupied by the defendant.
To the plaintiff’s third amended complaint, a demurrer was interposed and sustained by the trial court. Thereupon the plaintiff elected to stand upon its complaint and refused to plead further. The action was dismissed. The appeal follows.
The appellant, in its third amended complaint, attempts to plead two causes of action separately stated. It is therein alleged that the appellant is a corporation, organized under and by virtue of the laws of the state of Washington providing for the incorporation of benevolent, scientific, charitable or temperance societies; that the same is not organized
The sole point at issue here is the question whether or not a cause of action is stated in the third amended complaint without alleging the payment of the last annual license fee. If the appellant is required to pay an annual license fee before it is permitted to maintain an action, it must be by reason of a statutory requirement. Aside from statute there would be no such duty resting upon it.
By Bern. & Bal. Code, § 3714, it is provided:
“Every corporation incorporated under the laws of this state, and every foreign corporation having its articles of incorporation on file in the office of the secretary of state shall, on or before the first day of July of each and every year, pay to the secretary of state, for the use of the state, the following license fees: Every corporation having a capital stock, fifteen dollars.”
And § 3715 provides:
“No corporation shall be permitted to commence or maintain any suit, action or proceeding in any court of this state, without alleging and proving that it has paid its annual license fee last due.”
Section 3715 is general in its terms and provides that no corporation shall commence or maintain an action without alleging and proving the payment of the annual license fee last due. It is necessary, then, to determine the amount, if any, of the license fee fixed by statute. The section first above quoted requires that every corporation having a capital stock pay an annual license fee in the sum of fifteen dollars on or before the first day of July of each and every year. While the language of this section is broad and compre
The judgment will be reversed, and the cause remanded with direction to the superior court to overrule the demurrer.
Crow, C. J., Ellis, Fullerton, and Morris, JJ., concur.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Mutual Home Association v. Joe's Bay Trading Company
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- Syllabus
- Corporations — License Fees — Right op Action — Statutes—Construction. A corporation having no capital stock is not required to pay an annual license fee as a condition precedent to bringing an action, under Rem. & Bal. Code, § 3714, providing that every corporation incorporated under the laws of this state shall pay the following annual license fees: “Every corporation having a capital stock, fifteen dollars,” and § 3715, providing that no corporation shall commence any suit without alleging and proving payment of its license fee last due; since the amount of the fee for such corporation is not fixed by law, and therefore cannot be demanded.