Beliveau v. Ware

87 Mass. App. Ct. 617
CourtMassachusetts Appeals Court
DecidedJuly 9, 2015
DocketNo. 13-P-1318
StatusPublished

This text of 87 Mass. App. Ct. 617 (Beliveau v. Ware) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Appeals Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Beliveau v. Ware, 87 Mass. App. Ct. 617 (Mass. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

Brown, J.

A Superior Court jury returned a verdict, based on answers to special questions, in favor of the plaintiff-in-counterclaim Richard J. Ware (Ware or the plaintiff), doing business as Mass Sealcoat and Maintenance (Mass Sealcoat), that the defendants-in-counterclaim, Gene Beliveau and Plymouth County Paving, LLC (collectively, defendants), converted personal property owned by Ware and that Beliveau breached a fiduciary duty owed [616]*616to him. The jury awarded damages of $40,000 to Ware.3

The defendants appeal from the orders denying their postjudgment motions and from the judgment. We affirm the orders.

1. Procedural point. We address a procedural issue sua sponte prior to discussing the merits of the appeal. It is well established that “an appeal founded on a notice of appeal filed prior to disposition of a postjudgment motion under Mass.R.Civ.P. 50(b), 52(b), or 59 is a nullity and shall be dismissed.” Blackburn v. Blackburn, 22 Mass. App. Ct. 633, 634-635 (1986), quoting from Anthony v. Anthony, 21 Mass. App. Ct. 299, 302 (1985). “A new notice of appeal must be filed within the prescribed time measured from the entry of the order disposing of the motion as provided above.” Mass.R.A.R 4(a), as amended, 464 Mass. 1601 (2013).

The jury verdict was entered on June 8, 2012, and after filing on June 18, 2012, a notice of intent to file postjudgment motions, on June 25, 2012, the defendants filed three postjudgment motions: motion for a new trial, motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, and motion to alter or amend the judgment. The next day they filed a notice of appeal from the judgment. The defendants’ postjudgment motions were denied by the trial judge, and the defendants filed a notice of appeal from each denial of their postjudgment motions. Those appeal notices did not reference the notice of appeal filed on June 26, 2012, and dealt only with the denials of the postjudgment motions. A new notice of appeal from the judgment was never filed. Accordingly, the defendants’ appeal of the judgment is a nullity and we are left to consider only the denials of their postjudgment motions.

2. Facts. In reviewing the denial of a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or a directed verdict, the question is whether “anywhere in the evidence, from whatever source derived, any combination of circumstances could be found from which a reasonable inference could be drawn in favor of the plaintiff.” Zaniboni v. Massachusetts Trial Ct., 81 Mass. App. Ct. 216, 217 (2012), quoting from Doe v. Senechal, 66 Mass. App. Ct. 68, 76 (2006). Evidence favorable to the defendant should be disregarded and the verdict “sustained if the plaintiff offered any evidence from which the jury could have reasonably reached their verdict.” Id. at 218. Beliveau did not object to the special verdict [617]*617questions concerning conversion or to the jury instructions on the subject. See Mass.R.Civ.P. 51(b), 365 Mass. 816 (1974).

We therefore recite the facts in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. In 2005, Beliveau and Ware set up a limited liability company, Massachusetts Property Maintenance, LLC (MPM), to serve as a funnel company to find and subcontract work for Beliveau’s company, Plymouth County Paving, LLC (Plymouth Paving), and Ware’s companies, Mass Sealcoat and Ware Landscaping. They initiated an operating agreement whereby each would have fifty percent ownership interest in MPM and would act as managers and members of the company. Beliveau was the designated tax agent for MPM, and the operating agreement had no end date stipulated.

In late November, 2006, after a dispute between Ware and Beliveau involving one of Ware’s largest clients, Ware informed Beliveau that he no longer wanted to continue MPM. On December 5, 2006, Ware and Beliveau met and Beliveau presented Ware with a written agreement to terminate the MPM operating agreement. The agreement stipulated that for the remainder of a certain snowplowing contract, performed jointly as MPM, ending April 30, 2007, Plymouth Paving would perform the duties of snowplowing and sanding; invoice Ware promptly after each event; and anticipate payment within forty days. Both parties signed the agreement and agreed orally that they would meet after the snowplowing season ended to sell the MPM equipment and divide the proceeds equally.

MPM’s books closed on February 13, 2007, and no checks were cut after that date to creditors or others. There was no debt owed, and Plymouth Paving was paid in full for its services. When Ware tried to contact Beliveau regarding the sale of the MPM equipment, Beliveau failed to respond to his inquiries and changed the locks to MPM’s premises. Neither party took further steps to formally dissolve MPM or sell the equipment. Instead of selling the MPM equipment, Beliveau used it for the benefit of Plymouth Paving. ■

3. Discussion. On appeal, the defendants press certain points that were not raised during the hearing on their postjudgment motions. The primary claim pressed here is that there was no evidentiary basis to show that Beliveau personally controlled the equipment as opposed to Plymouth Paving, of which he was a [618]*618principal.4 He argues that the “sole” evidence at trial was that Plymouth Paving used the equipment and Plymouth Paving, not Beliveau personally, was the signatory to the December 5, 2006, agreement to dissolve MPM. We conclude otherwise, particularly in light of the jury verdict on disputed evidence.

a. Conversion. In order to establish conversion a plaintiff must demonstrate that the defendant “intentionally or wrongfully exercise[d] acts of ownership, control or dominion over personal property to which he has no right of possession at the time.” Grand Pac. Fin. Corp. v. Brauer, 57 Mass. App. Ct. 407, 412 (2003). Stated differently, the plaintiff must set forth facts sufficient to support an inference that he had either the right to immediate possession or title to the property allegedly converted. See Mazeikis v. Sidlauskas, 346 Mass. 539, 544 (1963). Upon review of the record, we discern no reversible error.

Citing G. L. c. 156C, § 38,5 the Massachusetts Limited Liability Company Act (for which there is little case law), the defendants contend that the termination of the MPM operating agreement did not dissolve MPM, as the process of winding up and dissolution still needed to take place.6 In addition, they contend, as they did in their posttrial motions, that the plaintiff never owned the equipment or had a right to possess the property owned by MPM. Even though it is not free from doubt that this point was properly preserved on appeal or adequately raised in the course of the posttrial proceedings, see Rotkiewicz v. Sandowsky, 431 Mass. 748, 751 (2000); Moy v. Jack Madden Ford Sales, Inc., 4 Mass. App. Ct. 102, 108 (1976), we will consider this novel issue here. “In determining whether there is an inconsistency in the jury’s answers [to special questions], [we view] the answers . . . in . . . light of the attendant circumstances, including the pleadings, issues submitted, and the judge’s instructions.”7 Ward v. Perna, 69 Mass. App. Ct. 532, 536 (2007).

[619]*619General Laws c. 156C, §§ 43,8

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Blackburn v. Blackburn
495 N.E.2d 900 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 1986)
Cambridgeport Savings Bank v. Boersner
597 N.E.2d 1017 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1992)
Moy v. Jack Madden Ford Sales, Inc.
342 N.E.2d 718 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 1976)
Carlo Bianchi & Co. v. Builders' Equipment & Supplies Co.
199 N.E.2d 519 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1964)
Anthony v. Anthony
486 N.E.2d 773 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 1985)
Mazeikis v. Sidlauskas
194 N.E.2d 409 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1963)
Rotkiewicz v. Sadowsky
730 N.E.2d 282 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 2000)
Grand Pacific Finance Corp. v. Brauer
783 N.E.2d 849 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 2003)
Palriwala v. Palriwala Corp.
834 N.E.2d 1241 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 2005)
Doe v. Senechal
845 N.E.2d 418 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 2006)
Cahaly v. Benistar Property Exchange Trust Co.
864 N.E.2d 548 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 2007)
Ward v. Perna
870 N.E.2d 94 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 2007)
Zaniboni v. Massachusetts Trial Court
961 N.E.2d 155 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 2012)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
87 Mass. App. Ct. 617, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/beliveau-v-ware-massappct-2015.