Colgate v. Disthene Group, Inc.

86 Va. Cir. 218, 2013 WL 8019576, 2013 Va. Cir. LEXIS 9
CourtBuckingham County Circuit Court
DecidedFebruary 4, 2013
DocketCase No. CL 10-158
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 86 Va. Cir. 218 (Colgate v. Disthene Group, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Buckingham County Circuit Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Colgate v. Disthene Group, Inc., 86 Va. Cir. 218, 2013 WL 8019576, 2013 Va. Cir. LEXIS 9 (Va. Super. Ct. 2013).

Opinion

By Judge Jane Marum Roush

This matter came on to be heard on August 2,2012, on the defendants’ demurrer and plea in bar and the plaintiffs’ opposition thereto. At the time, the court took the matter under advisement. For the following reasons, the demurrer will be sustained in part and overruled in part, and the plea in bar will be sustained in part and overruled in part.

Background

The plaintiffs in this case are Curtis Dixon Colgate (“Curtis”), Sharon Marie Newcomb (“Sharon”), Marion J. Colgate, Sr. (“Boyd”), and Peaceful Valley, Limited Partnership (“Peaceful Valley”). Also plaintiffs are The Disthene Group, Inc. (“Disthene”), and its subsidiaries, Kyanite Mining Corporation (“Kyanite”), the Cavalier Hotel Corporation (“Cavalier Hotel”), and Blue Rock Resources, L.L.C. (“Blue Rock”). Although Disthene and its subsidiaries were realigned from nominal defendants to nominal plaintiffs by an order entered on January 15, 2013, to date, the caption of the case has not been amended to reflect the realignment. (Disthene and its subsidiaries shall collectively be referred to as the “Company.”) By decree of this court dated September 6,2012, in the related case of Colgate v. The Disthene Croup. Inc., Case No. CL11-117 (Circuit Court of Buckingham County), Charles Goldstein was appointed as the receiver of the Company [219]*219and charged with liquidating the Company. The Receiver has elected to join with Curtis, Sharon, Boyd, and Peaceful Valley in pursuing their derivative claims against the Defendants. The defendants are Gene Dixon, Jr. (“Gene”), Guy Bishop Dixon (“Guy”), Erica Vail Dixon (“Vail”), Arch Huddle Dixon (“Arch”), and Barbara Dixon (“Barbara”) (Gene, Guy, Vail, Arch, and Barbara will be referred to collectively as the “Dixons”). The Dixons are defendants in both their individual capacities and their capacities as officers and/or directors of one or more of the corporate plaintiffs. In addition, named as defendants in their capacities as officers and/or directors of one or more of the corporate plaintiffs are Herbert B. Jones (“Jones”), Joseph H. Jamerson, Jr. (“Jamerson”), Ron D. Hudgins (“Hudgins”), and Benjamin Gormus (“Gormus”). Finally, Gene and Guy are defendants in their capacities as trustees of various Dixon family trusts.

This suit is a derivative action. Curtis, Sharon, Boyd, and Peaceful Valley collectively own approximately 42% of the outstanding shares of Disthene. The Plaintiffs seek to have the Dixons reimburse the Company for their “self-dealing transactions, conversion, and other breaches of fiduciary duty.” Amended Complaint ¶ 3. Unless otherwise indicated, all further references to paragraphs (¶) will be to the numbered paragraphs of the Amended Complaint. The Plaintiffs also seek to recover from Gene and Guy, in their capacities as trustees of various Dixon family trusts, “millions of dollars of Disthene’s assets that were wrongfully transferred to the trusts through a series of conflicted and self-dealing transactions.” Id. This suit also seeks to void transactions of the Dixons that the Plaintiffs maintain are self-dealing. Damages are sought against the individual defendants who are not members of the Dixon family for their alleged breaches of fiduciary duties to the Company.

The Amended Complaint

The Amended Complaint asserts four causes of action.

In Count I, the Plaintiffs allege a cause of action for conversion against the Dixons. The Plaintiffs allege that the Dixons have converted Disthene’s cash by paying themselves salaries, bonuses, and director’s fees that are “grossly in excess of the value of the services they have rendered to the Company.” ¶ 138. In addition, according to the Plaintiffs, the Dixons have converted the Company’s cash by making interest-free loans to themselves and by purchasing life insurance policies for the benefit of their various family trusts. ¶¶ 139-140. Also, in Count I, the Plaintiffs allege that the Dixons have converted the Company’s non-cash assets by using the Company’s employees to perform personal services for them, by using Disthene’s airplane for private travel, and by “commandeering” a beach house owned by the Cavalier Hotel for their personal use. ¶¶ 141-143.

[220]*220In Count II, the Plaintiffs allege that the Defendants have breached their fiduciary duties to the Company. Gene and Guy are alleged to have violated theirfiduciaiy duty to the Company by “failing to exercise business judgment at all” and their duty of loyalty by engaging in self-dealing transactions. ¶¶ 150-156 (Gene) and ¶¶ 157-162 (Guy). Vail and Arch are alleged to have breached their duties to the Company by failing to exercise any business judgment and turning a blind eye to their family’s self-dealing transactions. ¶¶ 193-198 (Vail) and ¶¶ 206-211 (Arch). Barbara is alleged to have violated her duties to the Company by failing to exercise any business judgment in her capacity as a director of the Cavalier Hotel and by engaging in self-dealing transactions. ¶¶ 212-220. The non-Dixon defendants are alleged to have violated their fiduciary duties to the Company by failing to exercise any business judgment, facilitating Gene’s and Guy’s alleged misdeeds, and failing to take action against the Dixons for the Dixons’ conversion of the Company’s assets. It is alleged that each of the non-Dixon defendants’ “complete abdication of his fiduciary duties is a breach of both the duty of care and the duty of loyalty and constitutes willful misconduct in the performance of his duties.” According to the Plaintiffs, these defendants are not entitled to the benefit of the business judgment rule because they exercised no business judgment. See ¶¶ 169-174 (Hudgins), ¶¶ 175-180 (Jones), ¶¶ 181-186 (Jamerson), andff 187-192 (Gormus).

In Count IH, the Plaintiffs allege that the Dixons conspired with one another to injure Disthene in its reputation, trade, business, and profession in violation ofVirginia Code §§ 18.2-499 and 18.2-500.

hi Count IV, the Plaintiffs allege that the Dixons conspired with one another to injure Disthene through various criminal and unlawful means.

The Defendants filed a demurrer and a plea in bar to the Amended Complaint.

Demurrer

A. Count I: Conversion

The Dixons demur to Count I on the grounds that it is a thinly-disguised claim for “constructive dividends.” In prior litigation between the parties, the court ruled that Virginia does not recognize a cause of action for constructive dividends. See Order dated January 4, 2011, Colgate, et al. v. The Disthene Group, Inc., et al., Case No. CL10-85 (Circuit Court of Buckingham County).

Secondly, the Dixons demur to Count I on the grounds that the Company does not have paramount title or interest in some of the allegedly converted property. They argue that, once paid, the allegedly excessive salaries, bonuses, and directors’ fees became vested in the Dixons. Therefore, the [221]*221Dixons “are not wrongfully exerting dominion over the property in denial of any rights of the Company because the Company no longer has rights in the property.”

Further, the Dixons maintain that the allegations that they converted cash, personal services, and real estate fail as a matter of law because “a cause of action for conversion applies only to tangible personal property” or “intangible property rights [that] arise from or are merged with a document.” Demurrer and Plea in Bar at ¶ 18, quoting United Leasing Corp. v.

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Bluebook (online)
86 Va. Cir. 218, 2013 WL 8019576, 2013 Va. Cir. LEXIS 9, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/colgate-v-disthene-group-inc-vaccbuckingham-2013.