Bata v. Central Penn National Bank

57 Pa. D. & C.2d 219, 1971 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 73
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County
DecidedOctober 5, 1971
Docketno. 2495
StatusPublished

This text of 57 Pa. D. & C.2d 219 (Bata v. Central Penn National Bank) 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
Bata v. Central Penn National Bank, 57 Pa. D. & C.2d 219, 1971 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 73 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1971).

Opinion

REIMEL and SMITH, JJ.,

Between the dates of this court’s previous decree of February 3,1970, and of defendant Bata’s appeal therefrom, plaintiff petitioned the court for leave to amend his complaint. The purpose of his doing so was to enlarge his pleadings so as to assert and seek injunctive relief against conduct of defendant Bata which he believed constituted breaches of their basic agreement of March 27, 1962. These very matters had been set forth in plaintiff’s petition for further enforcement which led up to our decree of February 3, 1970, but in issuing that decree we felt compelled to deny that additional relief because the original action, in neither pleadings nor prayer, had been framed to include those alleged wrongful acts of defendant Bata within its scope.

The leave to amend was duly granted, and extensive pleadings were newly filed on both sides. With the case in this posture, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania when it came to consider defendant Bata’s appeal from the decree of February 3, 1970, in the interest of avoiding a piecemeal resolution of this long-standing and many-faceted controversy, entered this order:

“AND NOW, this 26th day of January, 1971, the Court has decided to retain this appeal, and it is hereby Ordered that the case be remanded to the lower court for an expeditious decision of the issue in Item No. 2 of the Decree of February 3, 1970, and of all other pending issues which had not been disposed of by agreement of the parties or by the lower court. Upon disposition of this issue and of all other pending issues, the case will be relisted for oral argument at the April Session, at Philadelphia.”

By stipulation of the parties, approved by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania on March 17, 1971, the [221]*221time of the relisting of the case for oral argument before the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania was fixed as the November 1971 session of that court.

Item No. 2 of the decree of February 3, 1970, directed payment of escrow costs and counsel fee of the escrow agent defendant, Central Penn National Bank, in an amount to be determined by agreement of the parties, or, failing that, by this court’s own calculation. That issue meanwhile has been resolved by agreement of the parties for payment by the escrow agent to itself out of the funds in its hands of the sum of $7,091.12.

The other pending issues referred to in the order which had not been disposed of by agreement of the parties or by this court as of January 26, 1971, were the following:

(a) Plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment requesting a further and supplemental adjudication; and

(b) the disposition of the balance of the funds remaining in escrow at the Central Penn National Bank in light of the supplemental relief sought by plaintiff.

These issues were the ones newly raised by plaintiff’s amendment of his complaint pursuant to the leave granted him. The essential substance of the amendment is contained in paragraph fifteenth and the prayer of the amended complaint, as follows:

“Fifteenth: Defendant Jan T. Bata has wrongfully refused to carry out his remaining obligations under the comprehensive settlement agreement and has openly violated its terms in that he has laid claim to the majority interest in the Dutch Bata Company, Bata-Best; he has refused to vote his shares of BataBest for the capitalization of its accumulated surplus; and he has revived litigation in Switzerland directed [222]*222at securing control of Bata-Best — all in violation of the comprehensive settlement agreement referred to in paragraphs ‘Seventh’ and ‘Eighth.’
“Sixteenth: Plaintiff Thomas J. Bata has no adequate remedy at law.
“Wherefore, plaintiff prays the court to enter an order and decree: that defendant Jan T. Bata and his counsel, Harold E. Stassen take all steps necessary to complete performance of the comprehensive settlement agreement including specifically:
“. . . to desist from any further litigation in Switzerland, Holland or elsewhere in violation of the comprehensive settlement agreement of March 1962;
“. . . to give to defendant’s Swiss counsel, Dr. von Castelberg, in writing, instructions to desist from any further litigation in Switzerland in violation of the comprehensive settlement agreement of March 1962;
“. . . to procure the retraction by defendant’s Dutch counsel, Mr. Teixeira de Mattos, of his letter dated November 29, 1968 filed with the minutes of the general meeting of Bata-Best of November 29, 1968 and of his partner’s letter dated June 9, 1969 filed with the minutes of the general meeting of Bata-Best of June 9, 1969; and in place thereof that he, Mr. Teixeira de Mattos, is to acknowledge by a writing suitable for filing with the minutes of a general meeting of Bata-Best that Leader AG is the owner of 55% of the capital stock of Bata-Best and that defendant has no claim to said 55% or interest therein whatsoever;
“. . . to give defendant’s Dutch counsel, Mr. Teixeira de Mattos, in writing, instructions to desist from any litigation in violation of the comprehensive settlement agreement of March 1962; and
“. . . to procure the vote of the 45% of the capital stock of Bata-Best held by Jan A. Bata at his death [223]*223in favor of any increase in the authorized capital of the company called for by the comprehensive settlement agreement of March 1962.”

Following the filing by defendant Bata of his answer to the complaint so amended, together with new matter and counterclaims, and plaintiff’s reply to the new matter and counterclaims, plaintiff on May 26, 1970, filed a motion for summary judgment. Accordingly, this motion was pending on the date of the Supreme Court’s order of remand, January 26, 1971, and is, by that order, now to be ruled upon. Besides moving for summary judgment, plaintiff requested an award of damages, including counsel fees, costs and disbursements.

Since the entry by the Supreme Court of its order of January 26, 1971, this court has held two further hearings on plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment, on May 19,1971, and June 15, 1971. At these hearings, plaintiff in support of his motion introduced the following evidence on the record: In paragraph 15 of plaintiff’s amended complaint, plaintiff asserts, in part, that defendant, in violation of the 1962 settlement agreement, has laid claim to the majority interest in the Dutch Bata-Best Company, Bata-Best. Defendant in paragraph 15 of his April 3, 1970 answer to plaintiff’s amended complaint does not specifically deny plaintiff’s assertion. The record of the 1966 proceedings between plaintiff and defendant, pages 249A-251A, 593A, reveals that it was agreed in the 1962 comprehensive settlement agreement that 275 of the 500 outstanding shares of Bata-Best were the property of Leader AG, a Swiss holding company, and 225 shares were the property of Jan A. Bata. That agreement further set forth that Jan A. Bata had "no legal or beneficial interest whatever in Leader AG or in its assets”; that as owner of the minority interest in [224]*224Bata-Best, Jan A. Bata would “agree with, and ratify, all steps taken by Leader AG and/or Bata-Best to secure the release of any influence or control of the Government of the Netherlands ...

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Bluebook (online)
57 Pa. D. & C.2d 219, 1971 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 73, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bata-v-central-penn-national-bank-pactcomplphilad-1971.