Amar v. Garnier Enterprises, Inc.

41 F.R.D. 211, 10 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 284, 1966 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10650
CourtDistrict Court, C.D. California
DecidedNovember 10, 1966
DocketCiv. A. No. 66-340
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 41 F.R.D. 211 (Amar v. Garnier Enterprises, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, C.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Amar v. Garnier Enterprises, Inc., 41 F.R.D. 211, 10 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 284, 1966 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10650 (C.D. Cal. 1966).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION

WILLIAM P. GRAY, District Judge.

The plaintiff, a resident of Idaho, seeks to bring this shareholder’s derivative action against a California corporation and its officers, all of whom are residents of California. The defendants successfully moved to dismiss the action on the basis of the original complaint. They now similarly attack the second amended complaint and also have moved for summary judgment.

The Background, Facts. The pertinent, facts, as determined from the complaint, the records of the California state courts, the deposition of the plaintiff, and several affidavits, are summarized (and substantially simplified) as follows:

Constance Gamier, a woman of advanced years, owned a valuable parcel of land in Southern California. In 1937 she placed the land in trust, one-third for the benefit of her son, Camille; one-third for the benefit of her daughter, June; and one-third for her own benefit. Constance was and is the trustee, and the trust is irrevocable with respect to the interests of Camille and June. In 1948 Constance withdrew her undivided one-third interest from the trust property and transferred it to Gamier Enterprises, Inc., a California corporation that she formed for such purpose (the Corporation). She caused one thousand shares of the Corporation to be issued, five hundered of which she distributed by gifts among Camille and his then wife and children; four hundred went to June and her family; and Constance kept one hundred shares.

The real property had been and was being operated as a ranch, and after the Corporation was formed, it, with its one-third interest in the land, and Con[213]*213stance, as the trustee holding the remaining two-thirds, formed a partnership which continued to operate the ranch under the name of San Jose Ranch Company (Ranch).

From the time of the formation of the partnership, in about 1948, until 1959, Camille acted as managing agent of the Ranch and was in full charge of its operations. In the latter year, Constance terminated Camille’s authority to act on behalf of Ranch, and she caused his removal as an officer of the Corporation. There ensued a virtual deluge of litigation in the Los Angeles County Superior Court (thirty-one cases) in which Camille sought and still seeks to regain control over the activities of Ranch and the Corporation; and Constance and June seek, on behalf of the trust and the Corporation, recovery and accounting from Camille for alleged misappropriation of funds and other abuses of his fiduciary responsibilities.

The efforts of Constance and June in this litigation have been frustrated by Camille’s amazingly persistent refusal to complete the giving of his deposition. This persistence, which still endures, has resulted in his having served a twenty-day jail sentence for contempt and a court enforced proscription against his engaging in any further discovery for his own purposes until he shall have completed his deposition.

Camille has displayed an extremely active desire to accomplish discovery from his adversaries, despite the above mentioned proscription, and much of the litigation has stemmed from his attempts to fulfill such desire. However, on each of his many encounters in the state court, whether in furtherance of his efforts to obtain discovery, or in connection with other interlocutory battles, the rulings of the superior court judges have been against him. On thirteen occasions, he has sought relief from the California appellate courts, and there too he has been completely unsuccessful.

Of the thirty-one cases filed in the superior court among the parties, three are reasonably illustrative and otherwise pertinent to the problem here concerned. Case No. 788,262 was brought on behalf of Constance, individually and as trustee, June and the Corporation. It charged Camille with substantial diversion of Ranch funds for his own purposes and other breaches of fiduciary duty. Camille cross-complained against Constance and June, alleging, among other things, mismanagement of the trust and failure to cause it to produce income, improper distribution of trust funds by Constance to herself and June by way of salaries, and improper payment of trust funds to attorneys to cover professional services rendered personally to Constance and June. An accounting by Constance and June was sought.

In case No. 810,831, Camille as plaintiff seeks involuntary dissolution of the Corporation, and in case No. 810,833 he prays for the removal of Constance as trustee.

Orders to show cause why receivers should not be appointed were issued in each case, and following hearing the court ruled against receivership and directed that the three above mentioned cases be consolidated for trial.

Because of Camille’s persistent refusal to complete his deposition, as hereinabove mentioned, in each of the three cases judgment was entered denying all relief sought by him. In all other respects, the cases are still pending.

Having been denied relief and the use of discovery processes in the California courts, Camille determined to try his luck here, and he accordingly filed an action in this court (case No. 65-1531-CC) against his usual adversaries, including particularly his mother and sister and the Corporation. Many of the same allegations were made that permeated his pleadings in the state court. On January 4, 1966, Judge Carr granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss the action for lack of jurisdiction.

[214]*214Less than two weeks later (on about January 13) Camille went to Idaho and visited his cousin, Fidele Amar. In the course of his two-day stay, Camille talked with Amar about the litigation with his family and lamented the fact that for the past two and one-half years he had been “stymied and stopped” in his efforts to gain access to the books and other information concerning the operations of the Corporation and the Ranch. He also mentioned that if there were a new stockholder of the company, the latter might be able to get into such records. Before Camille’s visit terminated, the two cousins had reached an understanding that Camille would assign to Amar sixteen of his corporate shares at a stated price of $650.00 per share (a total of $10,400.00), and that Amar would institute a new legal action against Camille’s adversaries.

The Commencement Of The Present Action. On February 24, 1966, the present action was filed. Amar’s complaint, in form of a shareholder’s derivative suit, alleged that he had purchased sixteen shares of the Corporation on January 17, 1966. The allegations of mismanagement of the Corporation and misappropriation of its funds were substantially similar to the contentions that Camille had made in the California litigation. The only thing new was the assertion that the Corporation had entered into a contract to sell its real property; that the price, terms and conditions of the sale were unreasonable and detrimental to the shareholders; and that this court should enjoin such sale. The attorney (Schumacher) that had regularly represented Camille in the state court actions became and still is the principal attorney of record for the plaintiff in the present suit.

On May 3, 1966, Judge Crary, my colleague on this court, granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss the amended

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Bluebook (online)
41 F.R.D. 211, 10 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 284, 1966 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10650, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/amar-v-garnier-enterprises-inc-cacd-1966.