Imperial Beverage Co. V. Superior Court Of Alameda County

CURTIS, J. -- These two proceedings grew out of a personal injury action brought by one Dino Preftokis in the Superior Court of the County of Alameda against the three petitioners herein. One of the petitions is a joint petition by the Imperial Beverage Company and the New Century Beverage Company, and the other is by the Charles E. Hires Company alone. All of them were defendants in said personal injury action and they will occasionally be referred to as defendants. The trial of said action was  before the court with a jury and resulted in a verdict in favor of the defendants, upon which a judgment was entered against the plaintiff, Dino Preftokis, who will be referred to herein as the plaintiff. Thereafter plaintiff moved for a new trial and for a stay of all proceedings in said action under the Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act of 1940. (50 U.S.C.A. Appendix, §§ 501-585; hereinafter referred to as the act.) The trial court denied both of these motions. The plaintiff then filed a notice of appeal from the judgment and made a second motion for a stay of proceedings under the Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act of 1940. This motion for a stay was granted. The order of the court granting said motion was of date February 15, 1943, and, as subsequently modified, is as follows: "That the motion to stay any further proceedings including proceedings on appeal be and the same is hereby granted, on the ground that, in the opinion of this Court, the plaintiff cannot properly prosecute this action, by reason of his military service; and that said plaintiff, DINO PREFTOKIS, is granted a stay of proceedings for the period of his military service in the armed forces of the United States of America and for a period of sixty days thereafter, in which to prepare his record on appeal, together with the bill of exceptions."