Alaska Airlines, Inc., a Corporation v. Arthur W. Stephenson

Arthur W. Stephenson, plaintiff-appel-lee, is the discharged general manager of Alaska Airlines, Inc., a company organized under the laws- of the Territory of Alaska. The company was defendant in the trial court and is appellant herein. The case falls entirely on the territorial side of the district court in Alaska, i.e., no federal questions are presented and we take it that diversity of citizenship did not exist.

Stephenson seems to have had through the years a varied career in the airlines. One day he is a pilot. The next day he is an executive. In September, 1950, he was a pilot regularly employed by Western Airlines. At Western he had certain rights to continued employment. But he could take a leave of absence therefrom for a period of not to exceed six months without prejudice to his rights of continued employment with Western.

Alaska Airlines, Inc., herein called Alaska, Inc., in 1950 was a small airline operating in the Territory of Alaska. It was living from day to day in the hope of obtaining a certificate to operate from the states, probably from Seattle, Washington, to Alaska. When that day should come, it was to be a big airline.

The financial headquarters of the…