Allegheny Beverage Corp. v. Conel Corp.

55 Pa. D. & C.2d 404, 1971 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 206
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County
DecidedDecember 10, 1971
Docketnos. 3407 and 3426
StatusPublished

This text of 55 Pa. D. & C.2d 404 (Allegheny Beverage Corp. v. Conel Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Allegheny Beverage Corp. v. Conel Corp., 55 Pa. D. & C.2d 404, 1971 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 206 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1971).

Opinion

CODY, J.,

Defendants in the above-captioned suits, Conel Corporation (Conel), Harold Yoskin, and Ernest Blumenthal, filed motions for summary judgment in their favor, in accordance with the provisions of Pennsylvania Rule of Civil Procedure 1035(a) and (b); and the corporate defendant moved for summary judgment in its favor on its counterclaims against the two plaintiffs, Associated Royal Crown Bottling Company (Royal Crown) and Allegheny Beverage Corporation (Allegheny). Defendants, in support of their motions for summary judgment, rely on the pleadings themselves, the lengthy oral depositions taken by both sides of the controversy, and certain affidavits which have been filed, which, taken together, defendants maintain demonstrate conclusively that there is no genuine issue of fact requiring a trial. We were constrained to agree, and, accordingly, entered the orders from which plaintiffs have appealed.

We have approached the problem with certain well-established principles in mind: That the function of summary judgment procedure, both under our rule 1035 and under its parent Federal rule 56, is not to try disputed facts but to determine whether there are genuine issues of material fact to be tried; that defen[406]*406dants have the burden of showing by affidavits, depositions, discovery or other supplementary procedures, that there is no issue on which plaintiffs have a right to trial, and that the affirmative defenses pleaded are conclusive: Ruhe v. Kroger Company, 425 Pa. 213 (1967), and the numerous decisions of the Federal courts under rule 56; and that where allegations of fact in a pleading are based on the interpretation of documents attached as exhibits and the documents themselves do not warrant the allegations, the allegations may be disregarded as mere legal conclusions: Greek Catholic Congregation v. Plummer, 338 Pa. 373 (1940).

The depositions supplied are those taken by plaintiffs of Alfred H. Juechter, President of Royal Crown at the time of the transaction in suit; Martin D. Kamison, at that time President of Porto Rico Beverage Company, Inc. (Porto Rico); Norman Spector and Ernest Blumenthal, accountants employed by the firm of Laventhol, Krekstein, Horwath; and those taken by defendants of Morton M. Lapides, President of Allegheny; and Charles M. Cohen, now deceased, who was, at the time of the transaction, Secretary of Royal Crown and who later became its president. Plaintiffs also supplied an affidavit of Joseph I. Abramson, Vice President of Allegheny; and defendants filed affidavits of Alfred H. Juechter and of Harold Yoskin, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Conel.

These two actions, one in trespass brought by Royal Crown, the other in equity brought by Allegheny, have identical factual bases. They were indeed both filed on the same day, and though the two plaintiffs are represented by different counsel, the wording of the two complaints is, for the most part, identical. Each complaint has attached to it the same exhibits, and each recites that by an agreement dated August 7, 1969, [407]*407Conel sold to Royal Crown all the issued and outstanding stock of Porto Rico for an agreed price of $542,007.43, consisting of a cash payment of $102,007.43 and Royal Crown’s note for $440,000. There is no question that at the signing of the agreement of sale Conel delivered to the purchaser, Royal Crown, the stock of Porto Rico and that Royal Crown made the required cash payment and delivered to Conel its judgment note for $440,000, payable in one year, with interest at the rate of seven and one-half percent per year; nor is there any question that, simultaneously, Allegheny, plaintiff in the equity action, executed an agreement to be surety for and guarantee the obligations of Royal Crown under the note and the contract.

In its trespass action, Royal Crown charged that Conel and its officers, the individual defendants, (a) willfully and deliberately misrepresented the financial condition of Porto Rico, (b) misrepresented the obligation of Porto Rico under the lease agreement with the Tioga Company, and (c) deliberately and willfully failed to advise Royal Crown of the provisions of labor agreements as required by the purchase agreement, and seeks substantial compensatory and punitive damages because of defendants’ “willful, deliberate and fraudulent misrepresentations.”

Allegheny, in its equity action, makes- the same charge as that of Royal Crown in clause (a) of the above paragraph, and seeks rescission of its surety agreement and an award of compensatory and punitive damages.

Each of the complaints under consideration contains a further averment, that “Defendants and each of them made other deliberate and willful misrepresentations ... as shall be shown at trial.” Such averments fall far short of the requirements of rule [408]*4081019(b). “Averments of fraud are meaningless epithets unless sufficient facts are set forth which will permit an inference that the claim is not without foundation nor offered simply to harass the opposing party and to delay the pleader’s own obligations. For this reason our rules require that fraud in either a complaint or reply must be "averred with particularity’ . . . The pleadings must adequately explain the nature of the claim to the opposing party so as to permit him to prepare a defense and they must be sufficient to convince the court that the averments are not merely subterfuge”: Bata v. Central-Penn National Bank of Philadelphia, 423 Pa. 373, 379, 380 (1966).

We direct our attention first to the averment contained in paragraph 16 of Royal Crown’s complaint in trespass, that ""Defendants and each of them misrepresented the obligation of Porto Rico Beverage Company under the lease agreement with the Tioga Company.”

Nowhere in the lengthy exhibits or in the evidentiary documents is there any reference to a lease agreement to which Porto Rico is a party. The contract for the sale of the Porto Rico stock is attached to the complaint, with numerous schedules and exhibits forming part of the contract. One of these is a lease agreement between Tioga Company as owner and Conel as tenant of a building located at Tulip and Tioga Streets in Philadelphia, into which it was planned that Porto Rico was to move its operations following Porto Rico’s acquisition by Royal Crown and the sale of the premises formerly owned and occupied by Porto Rico at 1918-22 Germantown Avenue. This lease, which was for a term of 10 years commencing January 14, 1969, was, as part of the contract for the sale of the Porto Rico stock, assigned by Conel to Royal Crown; the assignment was accepted by Royal Crown, and Allegheny became surety to the owner and guaranteed [409]*409Royal Crown’s obligations as tenant under the lease. This assignment was duly and formally accepted by Tioga Company, the owner.

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Related

Bata v. Central-Penn Nat. Bank of Phila.
224 A.2d 174 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1966)
Greek Catholic Congregation v. Plummer
12 A.2d 435 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1940)
Ruhe v. Kroger Co.
228 A.2d 750 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1967)

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Bluebook (online)
55 Pa. D. & C.2d 404, 1971 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 206, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/allegheny-beverage-corp-v-conel-corp-pactcomplphilad-1971.