Brown v. Wholesalers, Inc.

52 So. 2d 321, 1951 La. App. LEXIS 693
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 30, 1951
DocketNo. 3388
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 52 So. 2d 321 (Brown v. Wholesalers, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brown v. Wholesalers, Inc., 52 So. 2d 321, 1951 La. App. LEXIS 693 (La. Ct. App. 1951).

Opinion

ELLIS, Judge.

The plaintiff, a partnership, and the individual members thereof have filed this suit against the defendant corporation for $1,024.69 which amount is due for goods, wares, and merchandise delivered to the defendant. The plaintiffs alleged in their petition that the defendant corporation “is in liquidation and its liquidators are L. Abel Bourgeois, and Joseph P. Gerami.” Plaintiffs prayed that the defendant corporation in liquidation be cited through its liquidators and for judgment “against O. K. Wholesalers, Inc., in Liquidation,” for the amount claimed.

Answer was filed in which the liquidation was admitted as well as the amount sued for except the claim to legal interest. The defendants further set up that the liquidators were attempting to reduce all the accounts and other assets to cash in order to pay the creditors of .the defendant corporation their representative portions, as the assets of the corporation “are not sufficient to pay all of the creditors; that to award judgment against the said corporation in liquidation for the full amount due and owing the plaintiff herein would, in effect, make the said creditor a preferred creditor and seriously affect the portion which each creditor would receive from the limited assets.” Defendants further answered that the assets of the corporation did not permit payment to any of the stock holders, common or preferred, and that the full assets of the corporation are to be distributed only among the creditors, and that .the maximum each creditor would receive could not exceed 50% of their claim, and finally answered “that your liquidators have recognized and are carrying as an account against the said corporation in liquidation the claim of J. S. Brown & Son in the amount of $1024.69 as shown in the petition” and, therefore, prayed that the suit be dismissed and that the plaintiff be relegated as a common creditor to share with the other creditors on a pro rata basis all of the remaining assets of the corporation in liquidation.

While we find no formal motion for judgment on the face of the papers, the judgment rendered, read and signed by the [323]*323lower court states, “This cause came up for trial on motion of defendants for judgment on the face of the papers”, and the district court proceeded to render judgment on the face of the papers in favor of the plaintiffs as prayed for. The plaintiff obtained a fi. fa. and cited as garnishee the First National Bank of Lafayette, Louisiana, where defendant’s liquidators maintained an account of behalf of the defendant corporation, and collected the full amount of .their judgment. Thereafter, the defendants perfected a devolutive appeal to this court and have not filed an exception of no right or cause of action. Where a motion for judgment on the face of the pleadings is filed, the plaintiffs admit all well-pleaded allegations of fact set forth in defendant’s answer. Therefore, the answer raised the same question as the exception of no right of action filed in this court.

There is no attack upon the liquidation proceedings and, therefore, the question presented is whether an ordinary creditor may obtain a judgment against a corporation which is in the process of voluntary liquidation and in charge of two legally qualified liquidators, and seize the funds in the hands of the liquidators to satisfy its judgment.

The law applicable is as follows:

LSA-RS 12:53: “Proceedings for dissolution either voluntary or involuntary

“A. A corporation may be dissolved and liquidated either voluntarily or involuntarily-

“B. If the proceedings are voluntary, they may be conducted either out of court or subject to the supervision of the court.

“C. If the proceedings are involuntary, they shall be subject to the supervision of the court.”

LSA-RS 12 :57: “Liquidation in proceedings out of court, and the authority of liquidator

“A. Except as may be provided otherwise in the resolution or consent of appointment, the liquidator, where the liquidation is to be out of court, shall be vested with full authority:

“(1) To demand, collect, sue for and recover, in the name of the corporation, the debts and property of the corporation, and may be sued in the same manner;

“(2) To compromise, compound and settle, and to grant acquittance for claims of, or against the corporation, upon such terms and conditions as such liquidator shall deem best;

“(3) To sell and convey, either in whole or in part, at public or private sale, the property of the corporation, movable or immovable, on such terms and conditions as such liquidator shall deem best;

“(4) To collect the whole, or so much as may be necessary and just, of any amounts remaining unpaid on subscriptions to shares;

“(5) To carry on temporarily the business of the corporation as a going concern, when it is necessary for the purpose of properly and economically liquidating the affairs of the corporation;

“(6) To pay all debts and liabilities of the corporation according to their respective priorities; and

“(7) In general, to do any and all things which may be necessary, proper, or convenient for the purpose of liquidating the corporation.

“B. Any surplus remaining, after paying off all debts and liabilities of the corporation, shall be paid by the liquidator to the shareholders according to their respective rights and preferences.

“C. In the performance of his duties each liquidator shall be bound to exercise that care and prudence in the custody, possession, control, and disposition of the property and moneys of the corporation coming into his hands, and in the proper accounting therefor and distribution thereof, as by law is imposed upon fiduciaries.

“D. Nothing contained in this Section shall interfere with a compromise, arrangement, or reorganization pursuant to provisions hereinafter contained in this Chapter.”

LSA-RS 12:61: “Time proceedings for dissolution 'take effect

“A. Proceedings for dissolution take effect:

“(1) when the appointment of the liquidator appointed by the shareholders be[324]*324comes operative as provided in R.S. 12:54 (B), if the affairs of the corporation are to be liquidated out of court;

“2. when the court has appointed, pursuant to R.S. 12:58, a judicial liquidator or a liquidator pendente lite, if the affairs of the corporation are to be liquidated under the supervision of the court, either voluntarily or involuntarily.

“B. When the liquidator has qualified or been appointed, as the case may be:

“(•1) all the rights, powers, and duties of the officers and board of directors except as provided in R.S. 12:62(C) shall be vested in the liquidator appointed by the shareholders or the court, as the case may be, and the authority and duties of the officers and directors of the corporation shall cease, except insofar as may be necessary, in the opinion of the liquidator, to preserve the corporate assets, or insofar as they may be continued by the liquidator, or as may be necessary for the calling of meetings of shareholders.”

The plaintiffs contend that they were given the right to sue and obtain judgment and collect their debt as done in the present case under and by authority of LSA-RS 12:57, supra.

The purpose of a dissolution and liquidation is to wind up and settle the affairs of the corporation.

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

Related

Drenning v. Kuebel, Inc.
339 So. 2d 752 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1976)
Drenning v. Kuebel, Inc.
327 So. 2d 571 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1976)
Noe v. Roussel
310 So. 2d 806 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1975)
Todd Shipyards Corporation v. Lomm
190 So. 2d 125 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1966)
House of Campbell, Inc. v. Campbell
172 So. 2d 727 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1965)
Maryland Casualty Co. v. Royal Rice Mill, Inc.
168 So. 2d 404 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1964)
Judicial Liquidation of Dutch O'Neal Motors of Louisiana, Inc.
148 So. 2d 468 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1963)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
52 So. 2d 321, 1951 La. App. LEXIS 693, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brown-v-wholesalers-inc-lactapp-1951.