Erlich v. Glasner
| Decision Date | 28 October 1969 |
| Docket Number | No. 22480.,22480. |
| Parties | David ERLICH, Appellant, v. Juda GLASNER, Bezlial Orlanski, Neptali Friedman, Osher Zilberstein; Juda Glasner and Osher Zilberstein doing business as the United Orthodox Rabbinate of Greater Los Angeles, United Orthodox Rabbinate of Greater Los Angeles, A. M. Bauman and Jacob Adler, Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit |
Joseph W. Fairfield (argued), Ethelyn F. Black and Alfred W. Omansky, Beverly Hills, Cal., for appellant.
Frederick C. Quimby Jr., (argued), of Veatch, Carlson, Dorsey & Quimby, Los Angeles, Cal., Thomas C. Lynch, Atty.Gen., Herschel T. Elkins, and A. Wallace Tashima, Deputy Attys. Gen., Henry F. Walker, Los Angeles, Cal., of Counsel, for appellees.
Before DUNIWAY, HUFSTEDLER and KILKENNY, Circuit Judges.
This is an appeal from a dismissal by summary judgment of appellant's Civil Rights* action. The controversy has been before this Court on two previous occasions. Erlich v. Glasner, 352 F.2d 119 (9th Cir.1965) and Erlich v. Glasner, 374 F.2d 681 (9th Cir.1967). We affirm.
Appellant and his wife own all the capital stock of West Coast Poultry Company, a California corporation. During the period in question, appellant was president and general manager of the corporation which was engaged in the business of slaughtering and dispensing kosher poultry. Appellee Glasner is a Civil Service employee, employed by the Department of Health of the State of California as Kosher Food Law representative. He is charged with the enforcement of California Penal Code § 383(b). In his official capacity, he filed two criminal complaints against appellant for alleged violations of the section just mentioned. These prosecutions were unsuccessful. In addition to his official duties as Kosher Food Law representative, the appellee Glasner, and others, are engaged in a private undertaking which oversees, to some extent, the production and distribution of kosher foods. This undertaking is conducted under the name of United Orthodox Rabbinate of Greater Los Angeles. The criminal actions were prosecuted against the appellant in his admitted capacity as president and manager of the corporation.
We are faced with the threshold question of whether appellant can maintain an action under the Civil Rights Act for damages suffered by a corporation, of which he is a stockholder.
It is clear that the claimed damages were suffered by the corporation, rather than by appellant. In the final analysis, appellant charges that appellee Glasner's interference with the business of West Coast Poultry Company "is a direct interference with plaintiff's right to operate his business and earn a livelihood for himself and family . . ." and that appellee Glasner's interference "with the business of West Coast Poultry Company is a direct interference with the right of the plaintiff to peacefully operate his business and earn a livelihood for himself and family * * *", and that as a direct result of "overt acts hereinabove set forth, plaintiff has sustained damage and injuries to his business and right and ability to earn a livelihood for himself and his family, all to plaintiff's damage in the sum of $250,000.00." (Emphasis supplied.) He also claims punitive damages. Nothing in the affidavits filed in opposition to the motion for summary judgment changes the nature of the appellant's demand for damages. For that matter, on the record before us, aside from a possible state action for malicious prosecution, it is difficult to even imagine any claim for damages, other than those suffered by the corporation, if any.
Appellant recognizes the fundamental rule that even though a...
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