Blond Lighting Fixture Supply Co. v. Funk

392 S.W.2d 586
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 2, 1965
Docket14389
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 392 S.W.2d 586 (Blond Lighting Fixture Supply Co. v. Funk) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Blond Lighting Fixture Supply Co. v. Funk, 392 S.W.2d 586 (Tex. Ct. App. 1965).

Opinion

CADENA, Justice.

This is an appeal from a summary judgment rendered against appellant, plaintiff below.

The suit was filed by appellant, Blond Lighting Fixture Supply Company, against Lance Electric, Inc., a Texas corporation, Lance E. Williams, Donald D. Funk and Wm. Matera. The trial court entered judgment in favor of appellant against Lance Electric, Inc., but granted the motions for summary judgment of appellees, Funk, Ma-tera and Williams, and entered judgment that as to them appellant take nothing. Lance Electric, Inc., did not appeal from the judgment against it.

Appellant, Blond Lighting Fixture Supply Company, will be referred to herein as plaintiff. Lance Electric, Inc., will be designated as the corporation. Appellees, Donald D. Funk, William Matera and Lance E, Williams, will be referred to collectively as defendants, and individually as Funk, Matera and Williams.

Plaintiff’s suit was on an open account to recover for goods sold and delivered to the corporation, and for attorneys’ fees. Plaintiff sought judgment against the corporation and against the defendants individually. It alleged that the goods were delivered to the corporation “at the special instance and request” of the corporation. The petition alleged that Williams and Funk were incorporators of the corporation and members of its original board of directors, and that Matera “has taken over said CORPORATION and is either the Receiver for such CORPORATION or Trustee for the creditors of such CORPORATION.” The petition contained no other allegations which might serve as the basis for imposing liability on the defendants.

In response to plaintiff’s motion, all books and records of the corporation were deposited in the registry of the trial court and are part of the record on this appeal.

Defendants filed separate motions for summary judgment, reciting in substance that the pleadings and the corporate records showed that there was no genuine issue of material fact with reference to the liability of defendants. Matera further stated, under oath, that he had never been the receiver of the corporation or trustee for its creditors.

In response to these motions, plaintiff filed what it labeled its “Opposition to Defendants’ Motions for Summary Judgment.” So far as relevancy to the questions presented in this appeal is concerned, the only affidavit filed by plaintiff was that of one of its counsel of record, consisting of recitals from the records of the corporation. The contents of this affidavit will be revealed as we discuss the question of the individual liability of the defendants.

We dispose, at the outset, of the assertion made by plaintiff in its brief to the effect that it “was dealing with defendant corporation, a new corporation, on the strength of its officers, directors and backers.” Plaintiff’s pleadings contain no such allegation, and there is nothing in the record which would tend to support this statement.

The Liability of Wm. Matera

Most of plaintiff’s complaints are directed toward the course of dealings between the corporation and Matera. Its attorney’s affidavit recites that the corporate records show that Matera was present at every directors’ and shareholders’ meeting; that at the organizational meeting of the board of directors Matera was named assistant secretary, with authority to co-sign checks and to assist the president, Williams, in borrowing money for the corporation’s operations; that at a shareholders’ meeting held on August 8, 1960, resolutions were adopted requiring the prior written approval of *589 Matera before any new jobs could be undertaken by the corporation and before the corporation could incur any new “liabilities for material or labor”; that at a shareholders’ meeting held on September 12, 1960, Matera suggested that the corporation could perhaps be liquidated with a loss of only $6,000.00, and that if Williams would perform the work under Matera’s direction and put up one-half of the loss, the work could be done. At this meeting, after Williams had refused to “indicate his acceptance of this suggestion,” he was removed from his positions as president and member of the board of directors.

The affidavit of plaintiff’s counsel asserts that “great quantities of money were owed to the corporation” by Matera, and that these, “apparently,” remained unpaid. The affidavit also points out that on September 22, 1960, the corporation’s check No. 922, in the sum of $1,400.00, payable to plaintiff, was signed by Funk, the secretary-treasurer, and subsequently marked “void.” Thereafter, on October 4, 1960, the corporation’s check No. 923, in the amount of $4,344.98, payable to Matera, was signed by Funk.

Plaintiff’s counsel further swore that Matera paid $1,000.00 for stock in the corporation; that no other shareholder except Williams paid for his stock, and that the stock paid for by Matera was “apparently issued in someone else’s name.”

From the above recitals from the corporate records, plaintiff’s counsel concludes that Matera, an officer of the corporation, was the “custodian of the assets” of the corporation, with the duty and obligation of “controlling the purse strings of the corporation,” and that in August, 1960, “he assumed full control of the corporation.”

As can be seen, plaintiff presented nothing to substantiate its allegation in its petition that Matera was receiver of the corporation or trustee for its creditors. There is, therefore, no basis for holding Matera liable either as receiver or trustee. Nor can he be held liable as a director. Plaintiff has not shown that Matera was ever a director, and the corporate records establish that he was not.

An examination of the corporate records on which plaintiff relies reveals that plaintiff is mistaken in its assertion that Matera owed “great quantities of money” to the corporation. The record reflects that on February 12, 1960, Matera and the corporation entered into a contract under which the corporation was to do certain electrical work on a project for which Matera was the general contractor. Under the contract, the corporation was to receive $69,435.00 from Matera for the work. There is nothing to indicate that this price was not fair and reasonable. In fact, the total cost of the work done by the corporation under this contract was in excess of $72,000.00, and the books indicate that the corporation received this amount from Matera. There are, as the opposing affidavit states, other entries showing other amounts owing to the corporation by Matera. But, contrary to plaintiff’s conclusion that these debts “apparently” had not been paid, the records show that the corporation received all money due it from Matera. An examination of the corporate books reveals that, in fact, the corporation actually received sums from Matera which exceeded by more than $1,000.00 his total indebtedness to the corporation.

With reference to the check in the amount of $4,344.98 which was issued to Matera in October of 1960, after a check payable to plaintiff (and other checks payable to other creditors, including the law firm which represented the corporation) had been voided, subsequent entries reveal that this sum was disbursed in payment of debts of the corporation.

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Bluebook (online)
392 S.W.2d 586, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/blond-lighting-fixture-supply-co-v-funk-texapp-1965.