AMERICAN FURNITURE INC v AMERIC
Annotate this Case
Download PDF
NO. 85-267 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF MONTANA 1985 AMERICAN FURNITURE, INC., a Mont. corp., and BORCHERS, INC., a Mont. corp. Plaintiffs and Respondents, AMERICAN FURNITURE WAREHOUSE CO., a Colorado Corp., d/b/a AMERICAN FURNITURE WAREHOUSE, JAKE JABS & DOROTHY HEITZMAN, Defendants and Appellants. APPEAL FROM: District Court of the Thirteenth Judicial District, In and for the County of Yellowstone, The Honorable Diane G. Barz, Judge presiding. COUNSEL OF RECORD : For Appellant: Pedersen Montana & Conrad; Carol Hardy Conrad, Billings, For Respondent: Smith, Baillie Montana & Walsh; ?ames R. Walsh, Great Falls, Submitted on Briefs: Sept. 26, 1985 Decided: December 5, 1985 Mr. Justice William E. Hunt, Sr., delivered the Opinion of the Court. The respondents, American Furniture, Inc., and Borchers, Inc., brought an action in District Court against the appellants, American Furniture Warehouse Co. and Jake Jabs to permanently enjoin the appel-lants' use of the name "American Furniture Warehouse" and any variation of the name "American Furniture" in Montana. restraining enjoining order the The District Court issued a temporary and later appellants' a preliminary use of the injunction name "American Furniture," or any variation thereof, in Montana, until the action was fully litigated. The respondents later moved that the injunction be applied to the appellants' use of the name "American Home Furnishings Center." that the name "American Home The District Court found Furnishings Center" was deceptively similar to "American Furniture" and any attempted use thereof violated the injunction. granted. Plaintiffs' motion was The defendants appeal. We affirm. The merits of the preliminary injunction are not before this Court. Whether the respondent has a protectable right to the name in question and whether the appellant violated that right are matters to be decided at a District Court hearing on a permanent injunction. The matter before this Court at this time concerns the District Court's order that the name "American Home Furnishings Center" is deceptivel-y similar to the name "American Furniture" and therefore within the names precluded by the preliminary injunction. Two issues are before this Court: 1. Whether the order is an appealable order. 2. Whether the District Court erred in issuing the order. The respondents are a family corporate business having operated in Montana Furniture." for about 60 of as "American The appellants are a foreign corporate business establishing operations in Montana. use years the name The appellants' planned "American Furniture Warehouse" and any variation of the name "American Furniture" was enjoined by a preliminary injunction on March 18, 1985. At the time that this injunction issued the appellants were in the process of securing an assumed business name from the Montana Secretary of State. Center." The name sought was "American Home Furnishings This name was approved and the appellants received a certificate for that name from the Montana Secretary of State. On March 28, 1985, the District Court granted the respondents' motion to apply the preliminary in-junction to appellants' newly-acquired name on the basis that the use of OR April the newly-acquired name violated the injunction. 26, 1985, the appellants' appealed from that order. The first issue presented is whether the District Court's order of March 28, 1985, finding a violation of the preliminary injunction is an appealable order. A District Court's granting or dissolving an injunction or refusal to grant or dissolve an injunction may he appealed. M.R.App.Civ.P. Rule 1 (b), We do not believe that the order is properly classified as an injunction in itself and it is therefore not properly appealable as such under Rule 1 (b), M.R.App.Ci\r.P. We agree with the respondents' argument that the March 28, 1985, order wa.s merely an interpretation of the preliminary injunction therefore an interlocutory order, not appealable. We agree that the appellants were barred from appeal 30 days from the time the preliminary injunction issued under Rule 5, M.R.App.Civ.P. We hold that the order of March 28, 1985, was not an appealable order. The second issue presented is whether the District Court erred in enjoining the appellants' use of the name "American Home Furnishings Center" as being deceptively similar to the name "American Furniture." Because of our decision on the first issue this issue need not he decided. Affirmed. We Concur: *.p ,;H PC_- Chief Justice
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
