Beyerbach v. Juno Oil Co.

265 P.2d 1, 42 Cal. 2d 11, 1954 Cal. LEXIS 154
CourtCalifornia Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 5, 1954
DocketL. A. 22341
StatusPublished
Cited by54 cases

This text of 265 P.2d 1 (Beyerbach v. Juno Oil Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Beyerbach v. Juno Oil Co., 265 P.2d 1, 42 Cal. 2d 11, 1954 Cal. LEXIS 154 (Cal. 1954).

Opinions

SCHAUER, J.

Plaintiff, a stockholder of defendant Juno Oil Company, instituted a stockholder’s derivative suit to compel defendants Henderson and Carpenter to transfer a certain oil. lease to defendant Juno Oil Company and to account for and pay to Juno sums received under the lease as rents and royalties. Defendants moved, under section 834 of the Corporations Code, for an order- requiring plaintiff to furnish security for reasonable expenses which might be [16]*16incurred by defendants in connection with the action. Plaintiff failed to deposit security as ordered by the trial court and the court dismissed the action. From the judgment of dismissal plaintiff appeals. He contends that the applicable portions of section 834 are unconstitutional, particularly in their requirement that plaintiff furnish security for the expenses of individual defendants who are sued not as officers or employes of defendant corporation but as third persons who dealt with the corporation; that defendants established no ground for requiring any security or, in the alternative, that the trial court abused its discretion as to the amount and form of security required; and that the court erred in dismissing the action at a time when plaintiff’s motion to modify the original order in respect to its requirements as to form and amount of security was pending. We have concluded that each of these contentions is without merit.

The applicable provisions of section 834 are found in paragraph (b) thereof. They are as follows: Within 30 days after service of summons in a stockholder’s derivative suit the corporation or any defendant may move for an order, on notice and hearing, requiring plaintiff to furnish security. The motion may be based on either of the following grounds: (1) that there is no reasonable probability that prosecution of the cause of action against the moving party will benefit the corporation or its security holders; (2) that the moving party, if other than the corporation, did not participate in the transaction complained of in any capacity. At the hearing on the motion the court shall consider evidence material to the grounds of the motion and, when material, to a determination of the probable reasonable expenses, including attorney’s fees, of the defense of the action. If the court determines that the moving party has established a probability in support of the grounds of the motion, it shall fix the amount and nature of security to be furnished by plaintiff for reasonable expenses, including expenses for which the corporation may become liable under section 830 of the Cor-portions Code.1 A determination as to the furnishing of security is not a determination of the merits of any issue in the action. “The corporation and the moving party shall have recourse to such security in such amount as the court [17]*17shall determine upon the termination of such action.” The amount of security must be reasonable and may be changed from time to time within the court’s discretion. If the court requires that security be furnished as to any defendant, the action shall be dismissed as to such defendant unless the security has been furnished within a reasonable time fixed by the court.

The complaint herein alleges that plaintiff, defendant Henderson, and Scott Carpenter2 orally agreed that defendant Juno" Oil Company would be organized to operate oil leases to be acquired by plaintiff and the individual defendants and transferred to the corporation in consideration of stock to be issued by it; that the corporation was formed and the stock issued; that plaintiff acquired and transferred to Juno certain oil leases; that the individual defendants undertook to and did acquire a certain oil lease, known as the Norris lease, but refused to transfer it to Juno as agreed; and that Juno, despite plaintiff’s demands, refused to compel transfer of the Norris lease. The complaint seeks to compel transfer of such lease and payment to the corporation of proceeds therefrom allegedly received by the individual defendants for the benefit of the corporation.

Bach defendant moved, under section 834 of the Corporations Code, that plaintiff be required to furnish security for probable reasonable expenses, including attorneys’ fees, which might be incurred in defending the action. The motions were based on the ground that there was no reasonable probability that prosecution of the action would benefit the corporation and, in the case of the individual defendants, on the further ground that they did not participate in the transaction complained of. The trial court at the hearing of the motions considered substantially conflicting affidavits and testimony.

By formal order dated August 27, 1951, the trial court ordered that “plaintiff shall, within thirty days from the date hereof, deposit ’ ’ security of $5,000 as to each of the individual defendants and $1,000 as to Juno, in the form of cash or bonds of a surety company, and that if plaintiff “fails to [18]*18provide such security for any of the defendants herein, within the time herein provided, then upon a proper showing thereof, this action shall be dismissed as to any or all defendants for whom such security has not been given in the sums and in the manner as herein specified.”

On September 24, 1951, plaintiff obtained an ex parte order which purported to grant him 30 days from the date thereof in which to deposit the security, and on October 22, 1951, plaintiff obtained another ex parte order which purported to grant him 30 days from the date thereof in which to deposit the security. On October 26, 1951, plaintiff filed a “Notice of Motion for Order Changing the Amount and Form of Security,” by which he asked that the amount of security be reduced to $2,000 as to the individual defendants and $400 as to Juno, that plaintiff be permitted to file an undertaking executed by personal sureties, and that such security be furnished on or before December 1, 1951.

On October 30, 1951, defendants filed notices of motions to dismiss the action on the ground that plaintiff had failed to deposit the security required by the order of August 27, 1951. On November 19, 1951, the motions of plaintiff to change the form and amount of security and of defendants to dismiss the action were argued and taken under submission.

On November 27, 1951, defendant Juno Oil Company filed another notice of motion to dismiss, and on November 28, 1951, the individual defendants filed a similar notice of motion. These motions were heard and submitted on December 3.

On December 14, 1951, the trial court granted the last mentioned motions of defendants. On December 19 the court denied plaintiff’s motion to change the amount and form of security, denied without prejudice defendants’ .motions to dismiss of which notice had been filed on October 30, and entered the judgment of dismissal from which this appeal is taken.

It appears that plaintiff did not comply with any part of the order for security. Instead, he contends that section 834 violates the equal protection clause of the federal Constitution (Amendment XIV, § 1) and the provisions of the state Constitution against special laws (art. IV, § 25) and against special privileges and immunities (art. I, §21). Fundamentally, plaintiff’s arguments as to .constitutionality are answered, either directly or by necessary implication, by Cohen v. Beneficial Industrial Loan Corp. (1949), 337 U.S. [19]*19541 [69 S.Ct. 1221, 93 L.Ed.

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Bluebook (online)
265 P.2d 1, 42 Cal. 2d 11, 1954 Cal. LEXIS 154, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/beyerbach-v-juno-oil-co-cal-1954.