Bence v. Alabama Coal Cooperative

681 So. 2d 130, 1996 Ala. LEXIS 94, 1996 WL 222369
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedMay 3, 1996
Docket1930637
StatusPublished

This text of 681 So. 2d 130 (Bence v. Alabama Coal Cooperative) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bence v. Alabama Coal Cooperative, 681 So. 2d 130, 1996 Ala. LEXIS 94, 1996 WL 222369 (Ala. 1996).

Opinions

On Application for Rehearing

COOK, Justice.

The opinion of November 3, 1995, is withdrawn and the following is substituted therefor. Charles L. Bence appeals from a summary judgment entered in favor of Alabama Coal Cooperative, a nonprofit corporation created by small coal producers to attract business for their companies. Bence alleges the breach of a 5-year employment contract that designated him as general manager of the cooperative and provided that he would be compensated at a rate of $.25 per ton of coal sold by the cooperative from March 1991 through March 1996. Bence, who served on the cooperative’s board of directors, was fired in June 1992, after he refused to resign his position as general manager. He sued. The trial court granted the cooperative’s motion for summary judgment, holding, in part, that the cooperative’s five-member board had not had a quorum present at the meeting at which Bence’s contract was approved.1 In granting the motion for summary judgment, the trial court stated:

“This Court has read and reviewed all submitted materials relative to [the] defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment.
“There are indeed complex and intriguing issues of grave proportions advanced by both parties.
“However, in the final analysis, the absence of a ‘quorum’ and Director Perry’s total lack of knowledge of the alleged contract [compel the entry of a judgment for the defendant].”

For the following reasons, we affirm.

There are five members of the board of directors of the Alabama Coal Cooperative. When Charles Bence was a member, the board consisted of Bence, Wade Floyd, Herbert Hall, Randy Johnson, and Roger Perry. When the board of directors convened on March 21, 1991, Roger Perry was absent. According to Bence, Bence and Johnson presented the board with separate proposed contracts of employment whereby Bence would become general manager and Johnson would become sales manager for the cooperative. Both, according to Bence, were to be compensated at a rate of $.25 per ton of coal sold during the five-year duration of the contracts. Bence stated in his deposition that all four directors unanimously approved a single motion to allow him and Johnson to sign the two contracts on behalf of the cooperative. Following the meeting, Bence’s contract was signed by Johnson, as secretary/treasurer of the board, and Johnson’s contract was signed by Bence, as general manager.

[132]*132Bence’s version of the facts is disputed. According to Johnson’s deposition, Bence and Johnson were authorized to enter into contracts with Alabama Power Company on behalf of the cooperative, but were not authorized to enter into five-year employment contracts for their own benefit. According to Johnson, the $.25 per ton compensation for Bence and Johnson was approved by the board for the duration of a one-year contract with Alabama Power. Johnson deposition, 152-54,173. Johnson’s version of the facts is supported by the affidavit testimony of the other board members.

Because we are reviewing a summary judgment, we must consider the evidence in a light most favorable to Bence. See Lee v. City of Gadsden, 592 So.2d 1036 (Ala.1992). Viewed in that light, the evidence indicates that two contracts for employment (Bence’s and Johnson’s) were discussed at the board meeting in March 1991 and that the board members who attended that meeting were informed that each contract would be for five years. Bence deposition, at 110,120. There was, according to Bence, one motion to accept the two proposals of employment. According to Bence, all four board members present at the meeting voted to approve the contracts.

In entering the summary judgment, the trial court held that there was not a quorum present at the March 21, 1991, board meeting, and that, therefore, the board did not have the authority to approve an employment contract for Bence. The trial court, in holding that a quorum was not present at the March 21 meeting, did not count Bence or Johnson, considering them interested directors in regard to the business conducted regarding their contracts. Apparently, the trial court relied on § 10-2A-63, Ala.Code 1975, part of the Alabama Business Corporation Act; that Code section, repealed effective January 1, 1995, after this action was filed, reads as follows:

“[interested directors may not be counted in determining the presence of a quorum at a meeting of the board of directors ... which authorizes, approves, or ratifies [a] contract or transaction [between the corporation and a director].”

It is clear that Bence should not have voted to approve his own contract, because as to that contract he was an “interested” director. It is equally clear that Johnson should not have voted to approve his own contract.

“[T]he rule is clear that a director cannot act in his official capacity to make contracts for the corporation that will affect his personal pecuniary interest. See Ingalls Iron Works Co. v. Ingalls Foundation, 266 Ala. 656, 665, 98 So.2d 30, 38 (1957); and Holloway v. Osteograf Co., 240 Ala. 507, 515, 200 So. 197, 203 (1941). If the interested director’s, vote is necessaxy to such a transaction, the transaction will be set aside at the instance of the stockholders. See Holloway, 240 Ala. at 515, 200 So. at 203; [.Holcomb v. Forsyth ], 216 Ala. [486] at 491, 113 So. [516] at 520 [ (1920) ]; see also Code 1975, § 10-2A-63. A director must manage the corporation honestly and impartially and may not achieve personal advantage, profit, or gain from his position. See Jefferson County Truck Growers Ass’n v. Tanner, 341 So.2d 485, 487 (Ala.1977).”

Jones v. Ellis, 551 So.2d 396, 401 (Ala.1989). The resolution to accept the contracts was presented in a single motion. Thus, both Johnson and Bence were interested in the outcome of the vote to accept the contracts. They, therefore, should not have voted.

Because there was not a quorum present at the board of directors meeting, we must consider whether there was evidence that the voidable contract was ratified by the cooperative. Considered in a light most favorable to Bence, the evidence indicates that the directors who attended the meeting knew that Bence’s contract was to be for a term of five years. Roger Perry, who had been absent from the meeting, discussed with Randy Johnson, who had attended the meeting, the fact that Bence was being compensated at the rate of $.25 per ton. Perry’s deposition indicates:

“Q. Did Mr. Bence subsequently approach the cooperative and ask to be compensated?
[133]*133“A. You’re talking to my knowledge of that?
“Q. Yes, sir. To your knowledge?
“A. My knowledge that that did take place.
“Q. And, in fact, Mr. Bence, after the contract was entered into between the Coop and Alabama Power, which we’ve marked as Exhibit 4, was compensated 25 cents per ton of coal provided to Alabama Power by the co-op; is that correct?
[[Image here]]
“A That was my later understanding.
“Q. (By Mr. McClees) When did you first learn that?

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Related

Jones v. Ellis
551 So. 2d 396 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1989)
Jefferson County Truck Growers Ass'n v. Tanner
341 So. 2d 485 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1977)
Lee v. City of Gadsden
592 So. 2d 1036 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1992)
Ingalls Iron Works Co. v. Ingalls Foundation
98 So. 2d 30 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1957)
Holloway v. Osteograf Co., Inc.
200 So. 197 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1941)
Dusenberry v. First National Bank of Birmingham
122 So. 2d 716 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1959)

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Bluebook (online)
681 So. 2d 130, 1996 Ala. LEXIS 94, 1996 WL 222369, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bence-v-alabama-coal-cooperative-ala-1996.