Breniman v. Agricultural Consultants, Inc.

829 P.2d 493, 16 Brief Times Rptr. 382, 1992 Colo. App. LEXIS 66, 1992 WL 45951
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 12, 1992
Docket90CA1088
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 829 P.2d 493 (Breniman v. Agricultural Consultants, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Colorado Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Breniman v. Agricultural Consultants, Inc., 829 P.2d 493, 16 Brief Times Rptr. 382, 1992 Colo. App. LEXIS 66, 1992 WL 45951 (Colo. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinions

Opinion by

Judge DUBOFSKY.

Defendant Agricultural Consultants, Inc., (ACI) appeals the judgment entered after a bench trial requiring it to pay to plaintiff, George Breniman, $59,713.29, which represents the amount he demanded for his preferred stock in an April 24, 1986, letter. Plaintiff also brought a separate stockholder derivative claim against defendants Dean and Natalie Lansing and AER, Inc. for “looting.” The trial court dismissed this action. We affirm.

I.

Defendant argues that the fixed redemption value of its preferred stock is a [495]*495contractually agreed upon amount which prevents plaintiff from obtaining a higher or “fair value” as provided under § 7-4-123 and § 7-4-124, C.R.S. (1986 Repl.Vol. 3A). Defendant implicitly argues that the appraisal statutes are inapplicable if, as here, the stockholder’s shares have a set redemptive value. In response, Breniman, a dissenting stockholder, claims that ACI, because of its sale of the corporate assets, under § 7-4-123 and § 7-4-124, C.R.S. (1986 Repl.Vol. 3A), owed him the fair value, not the redemption value, for his preferred stock. We agree with plaintiff.

At common law, the unanimous consent of the shareholders was necessary before a corporation could undertake certain corporate acts, including those referenced in § 7-4-123 and § 7-4-124. See Voeller v. Nelson Hardware Co., 311 U.S. 531, 61 S.Ct. 376, 85 L.Ed. 322 (1941). In response to the modern needs of corporations, statutes were passed changing the common law and permitting such transfers when less than unanimous approval of shareholders was obtained, i.e., a majority vote. With this statutory change also came a recognition that dissenters’ interests must be protected in situations in which fundamental changes in the corporation occurred. As a result, additional legislative enactments were passed that gave the dissenters the right to receive the value of their stock and to provide for an appraisal if no agreement as to value could be reached. The statutes are known as appraisal statutes. W. Fletcher, Cyclopedia of Corporations § 5906.1 (1984).

Here, ACI held a stockholders’ meeting and voted to sell the assets of the corporation. The plaintiff dissented from that decision. Pursuant to § 7-4-123(l)(b) and § 7-4-124(3), C.R.S. (1986 Repl.Vol. 3A), plaintiff demanded payment for his shares in ACI.

In response, ACI issued him a check for $15,660, an amount equal to the redemptive value of $1.00 per share of the stock as set forth in the Agricultural Consultants Amended Articles of Incorporation. Pursuant to § 7-4-124(7), C.R.S. (1986 Repl.Vol. 3A), plaintiff by letter then requested additional or supplementary payment in the total amount of $59,713.29 which represented his estimated value of his stock.

In order to contest the amount of plaintiff’s demand for payment under § 7-4-124(8)(a), defendant was required to bring a court action within 60 days of receiving plaintiff’s demand for additional payment. Under these statutes, defendant’s failure to so act within 60 days effectively waived its right to dispute the amount of plaintiff’s evaluation.

The critical question here is whether the fixed redemption price set by the corporation precludes plaintiff from obtaining fair value for his preferred stock under § 7-4-123 and § 7-4-124. We conclude it does not.

Section 7-4-123(l)(b) permits a shareholder who dissents from the corporation’s sale of all or substantially all of the corporation’s property to obtain fair value for his stock. Section 7-4-124(l)(c), C.R.S. (1986 Repl.Vol. 3A) states:

Fair value means the value of shares immediately before the effectuation of the corporate action to which the dissenter objects, excluding any appreciation or depreciation in anticipation of such corporate action, unless such exclusion would be inequitable.

There is no indication in either § 7-4-123 or § 7-4-124 that a shareholder’s right to obtain fair value is limited if there is an existent redemptive value. It therefore appears that “fair value” is akin to fair market value, which is the value a shareholder would receive for his stock if he were able to sell it in an arms-length transaction. See Connell v. Sun Exploration & Production Co., 655 P.2d 426 (Colo.App.1982); State v. Cooper Alloy Corp., 136 N.J.Super. 560, 347 A.2d 365 (1975).

It is the extraordinary actions of the corporation in selling off its property which permit a shareholder to invoke § 7-4-123 and § 7-4-124 to obtain fair value payment for his shares. This is a very different situation than a redemptive purchase of stock by the corporation.

[496]*496Defendant has failed to direct our attention to any provision of the corporation code which authorizes the articles of incorporation to supersede the requirements of the appraisal statutes. Cf § 7-4-118, C.R.S. (1986 Repl.Vol. 3A) (articles of incorporation may change voting requirements).

Furthermore, the fair value of a party’s preferred stock could be, in certain circumstances, less than the amount fixed by the corporation. Thus, in some situations, the fair value criteria would be of economic benefit to the corporation. Obviously, the fixed redemptive value of the stock would be an important factor in determining fair value for the preferred stock. Finally, as previously indicated, the plain language of § 7-4-124 indicates that fair, not redemptive, value should be paid for the stock in this situation. See generally W. Fletcher, Cyclopedia of Corporations § 5906.1, et seq. (1984) (suggesting that the appraisal method of compensating preferred shareholders is generally followed even if there is a fixed redemptive value on the stock).

II.

Defendant next argues that the evidence does not support the trial court’s conclusion that proper notice was provided to the corporation of the plaintiff’s demand for additional payment. We disagree.

We conclude that the evidence in the record supports the trial court’s determination that adequate notice was provided to defendants. In particular, the signed return receipt from the Post Office is clear that the April 24 demand letter was mailed to the corporate headquarters. The evidence shows that a person who was closely connected to ACI and the other defendants signed for the letter and indicated that he had passed it on to them. For these reasons, we conclude that the evidence supports the trial court’s determination that notice was properly sent to and received by defendants. See Page v. Clark, 197 Colo. 306, 592 P.2d 792 (1979).

III.

Defendant next argues that the statutory scheme of § 7-4-123 and § 7-4-124 violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because the statutes fail to recognize a distinction between preferred stock with a set redemptive value and other types of stock without such a value.

It is not clear from defendant’s argument if the constitutional attack is directed to the facial uneonstitutionality of these statutes or is an attack on the statutes’ constitutionality as applied in this case.

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Breniman v. Agricultural Consultants, Inc.
829 P.2d 493 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 1992)

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Bluebook (online)
829 P.2d 493, 16 Brief Times Rptr. 382, 1992 Colo. App. LEXIS 66, 1992 WL 45951, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/breniman-v-agricultural-consultants-inc-coloctapp-1992.