Birt v. Birt

419 P.2d 350, 4 Ariz. App. 220, 1966 Ariz. App. LEXIS 458
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedOctober 27, 1966
DocketNo. 2 CA-CIV 197
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 419 P.2d 350 (Birt v. Birt) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Birt v. Birt, 419 P.2d 350, 4 Ariz. App. 220, 1966 Ariz. App. LEXIS 458 (Ark. Ct. App. 1966).

Opinion

MOLLOY, Judge.

This is an appeal from a judgment awarding to the plaintiff one-quarter of the proceeds of the sale of stock in a closely-held corporation. The action is one brought by a son, Dancey Birt, against his mother, Shirley H. Birt, and pertains to occurrences going back to the year 1949.

In 1949, Halden Birt, hereinafter referred to as the father, and his wife Shirley H. Birt, hereinafter referred to as the mother, incorporated Maraña Plantations, Inc., for the purpose of farming land. At the time of incorporation, the stock was issued in substantially equal shares to the father and mother. The parents operated the corporation for several years, during which time Dancey Birt, hereinafter referred to as the son, was given one share of stock in the corporation. The father and mother were divorced in 1954, and under the decree they each retained approximately half of the original stock. After the divorce, the father expressed a desire to either buy out his former wife’s interest or sell his interest to her. On March 17, 1955, a written contract was made between the father, as seller, and both mother and son, as buyers, for the purchase of the father’s interest in the corporation.

The agreement provided for a purchase price of $190,000, which included both the father’s stock and an indebtedness owing by the corporation to him in the sum of $97,-347.97. On closing of this purchase contract, $100,000 was paid in cash, which sum was raised by a sale of certain of the corporation’s real estate and an increase in a bank loan to the corporation. The balance of the purchase price, in the sum of $90,000, was represented by a promissory note executed by the mother, the son and the corporation as makers. At the time of dosing, all stock purchased was taken in the mother’s name, who, in turn, pledged all stock purchased together with that already owned by her to the father to secure the balance owing on the purchase contract. In addition, the corporation gave a second [221]*221mortgage on all its remaining real estate to the father to secure the balance of the purchase price.

The balance due on the purchase price was to be payable at the rate of $9,000 per year for a period of ten years, but in 1960 the corporation increased its corporate indebtedness again, and paid off the remaining sums owing to the father.

All of the stock in the corporation, with the exception of the nominal share owned by the son and one other share of stock in the name of the corporate attorney, remained in the mother’s name until the mother sold all of the outstanding stock of the corporation to third parties on February 5, 1964. The son objected to such sale and after the same was consummated instituted this action. The judgment below granted to the son a money judgment equivalent to one-fourth of all amounts received by the mother on the 1964 sales contract to the date of trial, without any deduction for expenses of sale, and in addition decreed that the son was entitled to one-fourth of all amounts to be received by the mother in the future under the sales contract, again without any deductions for expenses of sale or otherwise.

The complaint filed in the superior court sounds in contract. It alleges that, when the father’s stock was purchased in 1955, the mother and son agreed to jointly manage and operate the business of the corporation and to pay the purchase price from monies derived from the corporation. According to the complaint, it was agreed that when the purchase price was paid in full, the stock so purchased was to be jointly owned by the mother and son. There is allegation that because of the confidential relationship between the parties, the son permitted the capital stock to be taken in the mother’s name and to so remain until the sale to third parties in 1964.

The prayer of the complaint asks for a money judgment for the son’s share of monies received from the sale, that a lien be fixed on any instruments of security representing the balance of the sales price and that the mother be ordered to transfer to the son his share in the contract of sale. The answer filed is substantially a general denial and there is no counterclaim.

The pretrial order in the action states in part:

“The nature of the action is a claim for debt.”

The issues framed by the pretrial order are:

“(1) What was the intention of the parties as to Plaintiff’s connection with the contract?
“(2) Has Plaintiff devoted time to the running of the corporation by management of the land or otherwise, which is chargeable toward the paying of the contract, and if so, how much?”

The pretrial order further recites:

“It is stipulated that the contract was paid off from property owned by Maraña Plantations, Inc.”

The son demanded a jury trial, and the case was so tried. At the conclusion of the plaintiff’s case, the plaintiff was permitted, without objection, to amend the complaint to allege that the contract between the son and mother pertained both to the father’s stock and to the indebtedness owed by the corporation to the father.

The case was submitted to the jury upon a special verdict which was returned as follows:

“We, the Jury, * * * do find that the Plaintiff and Defendant, prior to the acquisition of the stock of Halden E. Birt, did enter into a contract between them to buy that stock together and thereafter own it in equal shares.”

There was no objection to the form of this verdict by either party and there was no request that any additional issues be submitted to the jury.

At the conclusion of the trial, the court directed the plaintiff’s counsel to prepare a formal written judgment in accordance with the verdict. Counsel at this time waived notice of entry of judgment. After [222]*222the submission of a formal judgment which would have granted to the plaintiff a money judgment in the full amount of $170,384.-05, this being one-fourth of the full purchase price of the stock sold by the mother, the mother filed objections to the form of judgment which contended that there was no basis for the rendition of a money judgment. According to the objections filed, “[fjurther proceedings * * *” would be required to determine the nature and the amount of the judgment to be entered.

At the hearing upon the objections to the form of judgment, the court ruled, over the objections of the son’s counsel, that the court would hear further evidence as to the amount of judgment that should be rendered. Thereafter, again over the objection of plaintiff’s counsel, the court proceeded to hear evidence from an accountant who testified that in large measure the monies paid to the father for the purchase of his stock and his indebtedness were credited against amounts owing to the mother by the corporation and that it was in this manner that the purchase of the father’s interest had been handled on the corporate books. The books of account of the corporation were for the first time offered in evidence at this hearing. At this hearing, also for the first time, the mother contended that the expenses of sale should be charged proportionately to the son. Without waiving his objection to the proceeding, the son stipulated to the amount of expense incurred in the sale of the stock.

The trial court after listening to this evidence, denied any offset, stating, in part:

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

Related

Birt v. Birt
430 P.2d 136 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1967)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
419 P.2d 350, 4 Ariz. App. 220, 1966 Ariz. App. LEXIS 458, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/birt-v-birt-arizctapp-1966.