Advanced Business Communications, Inc. v. Myers

695 S.W.2d 601, 1985 Tex. App. LEXIS 12081
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 10, 1985
DocketNo. 05-84-00037-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 695 S.W.2d 601 (Advanced Business Communications, Inc. v. Myers) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Advanced Business Communications, Inc. v. Myers, 695 S.W.2d 601, 1985 Tex. App. LEXIS 12081 (Tex. Ct. App. 1985).

Opinion

GUITTARD, Chief Justice.

This suit was brought by a corporation and its principal stockholder against two former officers and stockholders. Plaintiffs alleged unauthorized withdrawals by defendants of corporate funds and fraudulent representations and breaches of warranty in connection with the formal agreement by which defendants sold certain stock to the individual plaintiff. Defendants moved for summary judgment on the ground that the corporation’s claim is barred under the authority of Bangor Punta Operations, Inc. v. Bangor & Aroostook Ry. Co., 417 U.S. 703, 94 S.Ct. 2578, 41 L.Ed.2d 418 (1974), which holds that a corporation cannot recover from its former majority shareholder for mismanagement of the corporate affairs before the present majority stockholder acquired its stock. Defendants also asserted in their motion that the individual plaintiff cannot recover because he bought his stock in reliance on correct information and, therefore, sustained no damages as a matter of law. The trial court rendered summary judgment for defendants, and plaintiffs appeal, contending that the Bangor Punta doctrine does not apply and that the evidence fails to show that the individual plaintiff sustained no damages from the breach of warranty.

We hold that Bangor Punta applies, but only to the extent of the stock sold by defendants, and that the corporation may recover on behalf of the owners of the remaining shares. We also hold that the individual plaintiff may recover for breach of warranty with respect to the stock sold to him. Accordingly, we reverse the summary judgment and remand the cause for trial.

Facts

Before October 1981, plaintiff John W. Israel and defendant James P. Myers were the principal shareholders of plaintiff Advanced Business Communications, Inc. (“ABC”). Israel was chairman of the board and owned 48% of the stock. Defendant Myers was president. Defendant Myers, defendant Morton F. Bernabi, and Benjamin Laws owned 50% of the stock.1 The parties disagreed concerning the affairs of the corporation, and litigation ensued. In settlement of this litigation, the parties entered into a formal agreement dated October 23, 1981, whereby Myers, Bernabi, and Laws sold all of their 50% stock interest to Israel and Italtel S.I.T., an outside party, for $200,000.2 The 25% interest sold to Italtel was later acquired by ABC and has since been held as treasury stock, so that Israel now owns approximately 99% of the outstanding shares.

Besides the stock sale, the settlement agreement contains various releases, warranties, and other provisions. Myers, Bernabi, and Laws agreed to resign as officers, directors, and employees of ABC, to surrender all corporate records in their possession, and to disclose all encrypting passwords known.to them applicable to any computer at ABC. The warranties now alleged to have been breached include the following:

10. Myers, Bernabi and Laws each hereby warrants, represents and covenants to Israel, and this Agreement is made in reliance on the following, each of which is deemed to be a separate covenant, representation and warranty, that at the time of this Agreement and as of the Closing:
* * * * * *
[605]*605(c) Within the six (6) month period immediately preceding the Closing, ABC has engaged in no transactions with Myers, Bernabi or Laws, or the affiliates of any of them, or any member of any of their families or any organization with or in which any of them or any family member is associated or has a direct or indirect interest, except for the payment of salaries and reimbursement of reasonable business expenses, all of which have been in the ordinary course of business of ABC.
(e) Neither Myers, Bernabi nor Laws has caused ABC to engage in any transaction affecting ABC’s business or properties not in the ordinary course of business, nor has any of them caused ABC to suffer any extraordinary loss.

ABC and Israel allege in their petition that shortly before this agreement was signed, defendants Myers and Bernabi caused ABC to make interest-free loans and unauthorized payments to them personally and to entities controlled by them, amounting to $80,000. Since the motion for summary judgment does not controvert this allegation, we accept it as true for the purpose of this appeal. The petition asserts causes of action against Myers and Bernabi for (1) actual fraud, (2) breach of contract, (3) breach of warranty, (4) breach of fiduciary duty, and (5) fraud in the sale of stock.

ABC’s Claim

Only Myers has filed a brief in support of the trial court’s judgment. Myers contends that summary judgment against ABC was proper both because the Bangor Pun-ta doctrine applies to the facts of this case and because ABC, having retained the benefits of the settlement and never having offered to rescind the agreement and return the consideration, cannot now escape the effect of that part of the agreement by which ABC and Israel released all claims against Myers, Bernabi, and Laws.

In Bangor Punta the Supreme Court held that a corporation cannot recover damages for corporate mismanagement if the present holders of all or substantially all of the shares acquired their shares for a fair price after occurrence of the wrongful conduct on which the suit is based. The rationale of this decision is that, if the new stockholders have acquired their shares from the alleged wrongdoers and have paid the reasonable value of their shares after considering the injury to the corporation from the mismanagement, to allow the corporation to recover would, in effect, allow the new stockholders to gain a windfall by recouping their purchase price. To prevent this inequitable result, the Court disregarded the separate existence of the corporation and held that recovery by the corporation, as well as by the stockholders, was barred. 417 U.S. at 711-13, 94 S.Ct. at 2583-84. Obviously, this rule should not be applied to the injury of the corporation’s creditors, but no rights of creditors are alleged to be involved here.

ABC contends that the Bangor Punta rationale does not apply here because Israel, its principal stockholder, was not a new stockholder, as was the purchaser in Bangor Punta, but owned 48% of the stock at the time of defendants’ unauthorized transactions and, therefore, would not be barred in a stockholder’s action from claiming injury from the wrongful acts alleged. Alternatively, ABC argues that Bangor Punta should be applied only pro rata to the “tainted shares” acquired by Israel from defendants.

We conclude that prior ownership of other shares does not exclude application of the Bangor Punta

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Bluebook (online)
695 S.W.2d 601, 1985 Tex. App. LEXIS 12081, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/advanced-business-communications-inc-v-myers-texapp-1985.