Andrikopoulos v. Minnelusa Co.

911 P.2d 663, 19 Brief Times Rptr. 1251, 1995 Colo. App. LEXIS 214, 1995 WL 411976
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 13, 1995
DocketNos. 94CA0280, 94CA1232
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 911 P.2d 663 (Andrikopoulos v. Minnelusa Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Colorado Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Andrikopoulos v. Minnelusa Co., 911 P.2d 663, 19 Brief Times Rptr. 1251, 1995 Colo. App. LEXIS 214, 1995 WL 411976 (Colo. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

Opinion by

Judge KAPELKE.

In this suit on promissory notes and guaranty agreements, defendants, The Minnelusa Company (Minnelusa) and F.H. Gower, Jr. (Gower), appeal from the summary judgment entered against them and in favor of plaintiffs, A.G. Andrikopoulos, George A. Seifert, and John E. Dunn and Marjorie 0. Dunn as trustees of the Dunn Trust. In addition, Florida Marine Construction Company (In-tervenor) appeals from the order denying it leave to intervene. We affirm.

The following facts are undisputed. Plaintiffs were previously stockholders of Minne-lusa, a Florida corporation, which operated a marina. In 1989, one of Minnelusa’s principal lenders required, as a condition of refinancing, that all of Minnelusa’s stockholders individually guarantee the loan obligation. Some of the stockholders, including plaintiffs, refused to do so.

Minnelusa then sought to repurchase the shares of the nonassenting stockholders, including plaintiffs. Plaintiffs agreed to sell their shares. As consideration for the sale, plaintiffs received promissory notes signed by Minnelusa. Each note also included a guaranty signed by Gower, who was also a shareholder.

In 1993, Minnelusa defaulted on its obligation under the promissory notes, and plaintiffs brought suit against Minnelusa and Gower. In both their answer and separate counterclaim for declaratory relief, Minnelu-sa and Gower asserted that the stock repurchase agreement was illegal and void under Florida statutory law.

Plaintiffs moved for summary judgment contending that neither Minnelusa nor Gower had standing to raise the Florida stock repurchase statute, Fla.Stat. § 607.017 (1989), as a defense to plaintiffs’ claims on the notes and guaranty agreement. On January 6, 1994, four days before the trial was set to commence, Intervenor filed a motion to intervene in order to file a complaint for declaratory judgment that the promissory notes were void pursuant to a Florida stock repurchase statute. The trial court denied the motion.

On January 7, 1994, Minnelusa and Gower filed a motion to dismiss the action for failure to join three individuals as “indispensable” parties. Two of the individuals were alleged to be other shareholders who had received promissory notes from Minnelusa as a result of the repurchase agreement, and the other was alleged to be a creditor and shareholder of Minnelusa. The trial court also denied this motion.

The trial court granted plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment on January 10, 1994, and entered judgment against Minnelusa and Gower for the principal balance of the notes together with interest. The court also dismissed the counterclaims and directed counsel for plaintiffs to file an affidavit regarding attorney fees and costs. Following the filing of such an affidavit, the court awarded plaintiffs their costs and attorney fees. This appeal followed.

[665]*665Pursuant to a limited remand ordered by this court after the notice of appeal was filed, the trial court issued written findings of fact, conclusions of law, and an order with respect to its denial of the motion to intervene.

I.

Minnelusa and Gower initially contend that the trial court erred in entering summary judgment. We disagree.

At the outset, we note that the purpose of summary judgment is to permit the parties “to pierce the formal allegations of the pleadings and save the time and expense connected with trial when, as a matter of law, based on undisputed facts, one party could not prevail.” Peterson v. Halsted, 829 P.2d 373, 375 (Colo.1992).

Summary judgment is a drastic remedy and should be granted only if there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. C.R.C.P. 56(c).

Minnelusa and Gower maintain that the trial court erred in determining that they lacked standing to invoke the provisions of Fla.Stat. § 607.017 as a defense to plaintiffs’ promissory note and guaranty claims.

Fla.Stat. § 607.017, as in effect at the time the promissory notes were executed, provided in pertinent part that:

(1) A corporation shall have the right to purchase, take, receive, or otherwise acquire, hold, own, pledge, grant a security interest in, transfer, or otherwise dispose of its own shares, but purchases of its own shares, whether direct or indirect, shall be made only to the extent of unreserved and unrestricted surpluses.
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(4) No purchase of, or payment for, its own shares shall be made by a corporation at a time when the corporation is insolvent or when such payment would make it insolvent.

Minnelusa and Gower asserted in the trial court that Minnelusa was insolvent at the time it issued the promissory notes for the stock repurchase and that the transaction was therefore illegal and void under the statute.

With respect to whether Minnelusa can invoke the provisions of the statute, we are guided by the general principle recognized in 6A W. Fletcher, Cyclopedia of the Law of Private Corporations 2861 (1990):

The corporation itself cannot have the purchase declared illegal, in states where such a purchase is allowable under some conditions, even if injured stockholders or creditors might have that right.

See also American Family Care, Inc. v. Irwin, 571 So.2d 1053 (Ala.1990); Rainford v. Rytting, 22 Utah 2d 252, 451 P.2d 769 (1969); LaVoy Supply Co. v. Young, 84 Idaho 120, 369 P.2d 45 (1962).

Under the Florida statutes, not all purchases by a corporation of its own stock are illegal. Therefore, application of the general principle set forth in the Fletcher treatise supports the trial court’s ruling that Minne-lusa is not entitled to have the purchase declared illegal.

Minnelusa and Gower rely on Naples Awning & Glass, Inc. v. Cirou, 358 So.2d 211 (Fla.App.1978) in contending that under Florida law a corporation purchasing its own stock is permitted to challenge a repurchase agreement as violative of § 607.017. In Naples, however, the court did not address the issue of the corporation’s standing and, as is revealed in a footnote in the opinion, the position that the transaction was invalid was being asserted by the assignee for the benefit of creditors of the corporation.

In light of the absence of any authority indicating that under Florida law a corporation would be permitted to raise as a defense the invalidity of the repurchase transaction, we conclude that the trial court was correct in its ruling that Minnelusa lacked standing to assert such a defense here.

As the Florida courts have recognized, “the purpose of this type of statute is the protection of the corporate creditors and the other shareholders.” Naples Awning & Glass, Inc. v. Cirou, supra.

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911 P.2d 663, 19 Brief Times Rptr. 1251, 1995 Colo. App. LEXIS 214, 1995 WL 411976, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/andrikopoulos-v-minnelusa-co-coloctapp-1995.