Spangenberg

In this action the plaintiff recovered a judgment against the defendant in the sum of four hundred dollars as a penalty, under the provisions of section 324 of the Civil Code, for the alleged refusal of the defendant, as the secretary of the Western Heavy Hardware and Iron Company, to transfer upon the books of the corporation and in ■the name of the plaintiff one hundred shares of its corporate capital stock, previously indorsed to plaintiff by the assignees of the original owner. Prom the judgment and from an order denying a new trial the defendant has appealed.

The defendant’s demurrer to the plaintiff’s complaint, grounded solely upon the insufficiency of the facts stated to constitute a cause of action, was properly overruled. It was not necessary to a statement of plaintiff 's cause of action to allege that the defendant had willfully and without lawful reason refused to make the requested transfer of the stock in question. A complaint which, in the language of the statute—as is the case here—alleges the refusal to comply with a request for the performance of a statutory duty prima facie states a cause of action. The reasons for such refusal, if any, are properly pleaded…