Campbell v. J. I. Campbell Co.

41 So. 696, 117 La. 402, 1906 La. LEXIS 712
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedFebruary 26, 1906
DocketNo. 15,891
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 41 So. 696 (Campbell v. J. I. Campbell Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Campbell v. J. I. Campbell Co., 41 So. 696, 117 La. 402, 1906 La. LEXIS 712 (La. 1906).

Opinions

Statement.

MONROE, J.

This matter comes before the court upon appeal from a judgment amending and' homologating an account of a receiver and ordering the distribution of a fund in which the appellants, as creditors of the J. I. Campbell Company and of the Lake Charles Lumber Company, respectively, - are asserting, somewhat conflicting rights. The facts, as we find them, from the evidence in the record, are as follows, to wit:

The J. I. Campbell Company was incorporated, for the purposes of a timber business, in Harris county, Tex., in February, 1904, by J. I. Campbell, 1. L. Campbell, and X. W. McNeil. The charter provides that:

“The place of business * * * shall be at the city of Houston * * * but its saw mills, planing mills, and other factories may also be established in the counties of Montgomery, Tyler, Polk, and San Jacinto, in the state of Texas, and agencies for the disposal of its products may be established in the above counties, and in the following counties, in the state of Texas; Lampasas, Llano, Mason, McCulloch, Mills, San Saba, Bell, McLennan, Dallas, Limestone, Galveston, Dewitt, and Lavaca. * * * The business of the corporation shall be managed by a board consisting of five directors, and the names and residences of those who are appointed for the first year are as ' follows: J. I. Campbell, I. L. Campbell, X. W. McNeil, and A. F. Sharpe, Jr., all of Houston, and L. W. Campbell, of Dallas, Tex.”

We infer that J. I. Campbell was the capitalist of the enterprise, and that I. L. and. L. W. Campbell were his sons. Certain it is that the Campbells owned more than 95-per cent, of the stock of the company, and that, after the death of J. I. Campbell, which must have occurred soon after its organization, the affairs of the company were directed by I. L. Campbell and that Sharpe & McNeil, who seem to have been the only other-stockholders, were employed by the company;, the one as secretary, and the others as superintendent, or in some such position.

During the year 1904, I. L. Campbell concluded that it would be advisable to buy or lease a mill, and establish a branch, or agency, at Lake Charles, La., and he testifies that it was agreed between him and Sharpe that the latter should take-charge of it, and should, receive $250 a month (being the same salary that he was getting in Houston) and 40 percent. of the- profits of the business. It was further agreed that the business at Lake-Charles should be conducted under the name of the “Lake Charles Lumber Company”;, the purpose, as testified to by Campbell and Sharpe, being to keep the business separate-merely as a matter of bookkeeping. W. H. Norris, a lumber man of considerable experience, who is at present one of the receivers of the J. I. Campbell Company, in Texas, assigns another possible reason. Being asked whether it is usual for such corporations to do business at different places-under different names, he testifies that it is-a common practice in Oklahoma, Kansas, and. Texas, and, being asked, “Why is this done?” he testifies:

“Sometimes they do it for a blind, they do-not want people to know who owns the business ; and sometimes the farmers are prejudiced against corporations, and they just use-a local name, putting a local man in there as manager.”

Beyond this the evidence in this record1 shows conclusively that by such an arrangement; i. e., the establishment under.different [405]*405names of what were held out to be different business concerns, independent of each other, the parties concerned were enabled to obtain a credit to which they are not entitled. Thus, the Lake Charles National Bank, having already discounted more or less paper for it, refused to discount a particular offering made by the Lake Charles Lumber Company, whereupon Sharpe, the manager, informed the bank that the company was perfectly solvent, and furnished what purported to be a statement of its assets and liabilities, showing a balance of assets amounting to $6,480.89, and, among its liabilities, an indebtedness to the J. I. Campbell Company amounting to $12,293.48. The cashier of the bank testifies:

“It was my understanding that the Lake Charles Company was a separate business from the J. I. Campbell Company.”

Being asked from whom he obtained the information which led him to that understanding, he answers:

“I was talking to Mr. Sharpe last fall with regard to selling the company some timber lands in which I am interested. I got the understanding from him that the Lake Charles Company belonged to or was run by himself and Mr. Campbell.”

And similar representations were made by Campbell to the First National Bank of Houston, Tex., 'which institution, having already loaned to the J. I. Campbell Company a large amount of money on mortgage security, was requested to discount for said company certain acceptances of the Lake Charles Company, which request was granted upon the faith of a statement, furnished by I. L. Campbell, purporting to be a statement of the affairs of the Lake Charles Company, showing a balance of assets amounting to $8,359.34, and also showing that said company was a separate concern from and was indebted to the J. I. Campbell Company in the sum of $27,737.13. Testifying concerning these transactions, the cashier of the First National Bank says:

“My information was that it [the Lake Charles Company] was a separate concern.”

Being asked whether at the time that the Lake Charles Company paper was discounted, the bank believed that company to be a separate concern, he answers, “That was our belief.” Being asked whether the bank relied on that belief in accepting the paper and discounting it, he answers:

“We would not have accepted them [the acceptances] if we had known they were the same concern, because the amount [referring to the amount which the bank had already loaned to the J. I. Campbell Company] was already excessive.”

There were, possibly, some persons who-were informed of the true condition of affairs, but they were few and far between, and they are not among those who are now before the court claiming as creditors. Upon the other hand, as, in addition to the particular representations made to the two-banks, as stated, the Lake Charles Company set itself up in business, bought and sold,, employed labor, issued commercial paper, borrowed money, kept bank accounts, etc., in that name; it was commonly accepted as an independent concern, the relations of which to the J. I. Campbell Company were unknown, and not inquired into, and we entertain no doubt that it was the purpose-of those by whom it was started upon its-business career that it should be so accepted. On February 14, 1905, the J. I. Campbell Company was placed in the hands of a receiver, by the district court of Harris county, Tex., and on the following morning Sharpe caused an entry to be made on the books of the Lake Charles Company as of date January 23d, crediting himself, and the J. I. Campbell Company, with 49 per cent, and 51 per cent, respectively with certain fictitious profits — his statement as a witness being, that the profits of the Lake Charles business were to be divided in that proportion, and not in the proportion of 40 per cent, and 60 per cent., as stated by I. L. Campbell. [407]*407On February 17, following, I. L. & S. M. Campbell filed a petition in tbe district court for tbe parish of Calcasieu, alleging that they own more than 95 per cent, of the stock of the J. I.

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Bluebook (online)
41 So. 696, 117 La. 402, 1906 La. LEXIS 712, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/campbell-v-j-i-campbell-co-la-1906.