Alaska Packers' Ass'n v. Hedenskoy
| Decision Date | 07 September 1920 |
| Docket Number | 3493. |
| Citation | 267 F. 154 |
| Parties | ALASKA PACKERS' ASS'N v. HEDENSKOY. [1] |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit |
Rehearing Denied October 18, 1920.
In April, 1919, libelant and certain assignors, residents of California, were hired by the defendant, a California corporation, salmon fisher and packer, and shipped for a fishing venture to Alaska and return to San Francisco agreeing to work as seamen and fishermen, beachmen, and trapmen. After they had unloaded cargo at a point in Alaska they worked as salmon fishermen during the salmon run, or about 35 days, and then loaded canned salmon on ships bound for San Francisco, there to be distributed to other places. Except for a small sum, the earnings of libelant and his assignors were payable in San Francisco.
On May 1, 1919, the Legislature of Alaska passed an act to impose a tax upon male persons in Alaska for school purposes (Laws 1919, c. 29), 'providing means for its collection.' Section 1 is as follows: 'There is hereby made, imposed and levied upon each male person, except soldiers, sailors in the United States Navy or Revenue Cutter Service, volunteer firemen, paupers, insane persons or territorial charges within the territory of Alaska or the waters thereof, over the age of twenty-one years and under the age of fifty years, an annual tax in the sum of five dollars, to be paid and collected in the manner provided in the following sections of this act, and to be deposited by the treasurer of the territory of Alaska in a separate fund called the 'school fund' and used for no other than school purposes. ' Section 2 provides for the method of appointment of the school tax collector. Section 3 provides for advertisement by the school tax collector by notice, setting forth that the tax is due and payable and warning persons of the need of payment. Section 4 makes the tax payable between the first Monday in the month of April and the first Monday in the month of August of each year: 'Provided, that all persons subject to the tax who are in the territory of Alaska on the first Monday in the month of April shall pay said tax on or before the 1st day of May in the same year, and all persons arriving in the territory of Alaska after the first Monday in the month of April shall pay said tax within thirty days after such arrival: Provided, further, that all persons subject to said tax shall pay the same within ten days after a written or oral demand by the said school tax collector made within the period between the first Monday in April and the first Monday in August in each year. ' Section 8 provides that the school tax collector shall demand, and it shall be the duty of every person or corporation employing labor in Alaska to furnish such collector upon demand, a list of employes subject to the tax imposed 'and for this purpose the territorial treasurer shall furnish to each school tax collector suitable blank forms for the making of such lists, which blank forms shall be delivered by the school tax collector to the employers of labor aforesaid. ' The employer is required to deduct from the wages of each of its employes subject to the tax the amount thereof. By section 10 the treasurer of the territory shall, before the first Monday in the month of April in each year, deliver to each school tax collector blank tax receipts in book form with stubs numbered. Section 13 provides that the tax imposed by the act shall be due and payable 'as to all persons within the territory subject to said tax at the time of the passage of this act, immediately upon its passage and approval, and, as to all persons arriving in the territory after the passage of the act, as elsewhere in this act provided.'
On August 12, 1919, the school tax collector for the Bristol Bay school district, where the libelant was during the time he was in Alaska in 1919, by telegram demanded that the corporation pay the tax of all of its employes, and the bookkeeper of the corporation presented a statement to the libelant and his assignors showing the deduction of $5 each for the tax, but libelant and his assignors refused to agree to the payment with the deduction included. Thereafter, in September, 1919, the corporation, without the knowledge or consent of the libelant or any of his assignors, paid the tax.
Chickering & Gregory, of San Francisco, Cal., and J. C. Murphy, Atty. Gen., for appellant.
H. W. Hutton, of San Francisco, Cal., for appellee.
Before GILBERT, ROSS, and HUNT, Circuit Judges.
HUNT Circuit Judge (after stating the facts as above).
We agree with the District Court in its view that the libelant was subject to the tax involved, but we disagree with the decision, which was that the necessary steps were not taken whereby to fix liability. Libelant was not a mere sojourner bound through Alaska for another place. He agreed to perform work within the territory during the fishing season of 1919. The hours, compensation, and the nature of the work to be done are all set forth in detail in the contract, which also requires that libelant should be given a statement of the Alaska account before the vessel sailed for her home port. The...
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