Colt v. Fradkin

281 N.E.2d 213, 361 Mass. 447, 10 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 860, 1972 Mass. LEXIS 908
CourtMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
DecidedMarch 21, 1972
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 281 N.E.2d 213 (Colt v. Fradkin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Colt v. Fradkin, 281 N.E.2d 213, 361 Mass. 447, 10 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 860, 1972 Mass. LEXIS 908 (Mass. 1972).

Opinion

Braucher, J.

The plaintiff sues for specific performance of an oral agreement by each of the defendants to transfer to him 20,000 shares of stock in the Logic Corporation (Logic) for $1,000. The matter was referred to a master,who heard testimony and filed a report and a summary of evidence. An interlocutory decree was entered confirming the report, and a final decree ordered the defendants to transfer the stock to the plaintiff. The defendants appeal from the final decree.

We summarize the facts found by the master. The plaintiff, a New York stockbroker, had bought and sold stock for the defendants, who were brothers and optometrists, one in Pittsfield and one in Fall River. The underwriters for Logic authorized the plaintiff to sell 80,000 shares of Logic stock at five cents a share, and in June, 1967, the plaintiff told the defendant William Fradkin of the offering. A series of telephone calls between New York and Massachusetts resulted in an oral agreement on July 26, 1967, which the plaintiff confirmed by a xeroxed copy of a signed handwritten letter sent to each of the defendants on that day.

Each of the defendants agreed to buy 40,000 shares at five cents a share, and to give the plaintiff an option to buy 20,000 shares at five cents a share at any time within two years. The plaintiff agreed that in the event of a loss *449 he would pay to the defendants in equal amounts one-third of their loss. Each defendant executed a so called “investment letter” and a subscription form enclosed with the plaintiff’s letter of July 26, 1967, and sent them to Logic’s lawyers, but neither defendant ever acknowledged the plaintiff’s letter, although they several times promised during telephone conversations to confirm its terms by letter. The plaintiff arranged for the issuance of the shares, and they were duly issued to the defendants on August 8,1967. The plaintiff received no brokerage commission. At the time of the agreement, as the plaintiff knew, the defendants did not own or have any other contracts to purchase the shares.

On March 20,1968, the defendants by letter severed all business relations with the plaintiff because of “poor investment counselling” and their resulting “precarious financial position.” On April 1, 1968, by a letter to each of the defendants enclosing a check for $1,000, the plaintiff exercised his option to buy a total of 40,000 shares for $2,000. The defendants returned the checks with a letter stating that “we have no knowledge of any deal with you.”

The defendants argue that the contract is void under G. L. c. 259 § 6, that it is void under G. L. c. 106, § 8-319, “Statute of Frauds,” and that there is no basis for imposing a constructive trust.

1. We are unable to accept the plaintiff’s contention that G. L. c. 259, § 6, was repealed by implication on the enactment of the Uniform Commercial Code, G. L. c. 106. The Code was “intended as a unified coverage of its subject matter.” G. L. c. 106, § 1-104. See Godfrey v. Building Commr. of Boston, 263 Mass. 589, 592; Homer v. Fall River, 326 Mass. 673, 676-677, and cases cited. But it expressly contemplates that other principles relative to invalidating causes “shall supplement its provisions.” We find no “particular -provisions” of c. 106 displacing G. L. c. 259, § 6. G. L. c. 106, § 1-103. “A statute is not to be deemed to repeal or supersede a prior statute in whole or in part in the absence of express words to that effect or of clear implication.” Cohen v. Price, 273 Mass. *450 303, 309. See Haffner v. Director of Pub. Safety of Lawrence, 329 Mass. 709, 713-714, and cases cited.

2. General Laws c. 259, § 6, governs only contracts made in this Commonwealth. Bearse v. McLean, 199 Mass. 242, 243. The plaintiff argues that the contract was made in New York, Nissenberg v. Felleman, 339 Mass. 717, 719, and was to be performed in New York, Clark v. State St. Trust Co. 270 Mass. 140, 150, and that the transaction bore “an appropriate relation” to New York rather than to Massachusetts, Skinner v. Tober Foreign Motors, Inc. 345 Mass. 429, 432-433. The issue of Logic stock to the defendants, arranged in New York by the plaintiff as the defendants’ representative, was undoubtedly a New York transaction governed by New York law. There is no finding that the contract between the plaintiff and the defendants was made in Massachusetts, and in the absence of such a finding we cannot hold the Massachusetts statute applicable. Bearse v. McLean, supra. Skinner v. Tober Foreign Motors Inc., supra. New York law is contrary to our statute. New York Gen. Obligations Law (23A McKinney’s Consol. Laws of N.Y.) §5-1101.

3. Even if the contract were made in Massachusetts, it is not within G. L. c. 259, § 6. That statute, derived from St. 1836, c. 279, 2 resembles the New York statute 3 considered in Thompson v. Alger, 12 Met. 428, 440: “The policy of the act, and its leading purpose, doubtless were to prevent gambling in the rise and fall of stocks. The evil to be remedied was that of fictitious sales of stock, stocks never owned, nor contemplated to be owned, or to *451 be under the control or disposition of the vendor. Such sales are understood by the parties to be merely nominal ....” See Stebbins v. Leowolf, 3 Cush. 137, 142-143.

The Massachusetts statute has been applied in one reported case. There the defendant promised to deliver, on demand and payment of $60, forty shares of a mining stock he did not own; later he agreed to pay $800 in settlement. Barrett v. Mead, 10 Allen, 337. In many other cases, however, the court has refused to apply the statute to contracts contemplating genuine transfers of stock to be acquired pursuant to the agreement. Barrett v. Hyde, 7 Gray, 160, 161. Brigham v. Mead, 10 Allen, 245, 246. Colt v. Clapp, 127 Mass. 476, 480. Bullard v. Smith, 139 Mass. 492, 497. Picard v. Beers, 195 Mass. 419, 428. Wood v. Farmer, 200 Mass. 209, 215.

Since the plaintiff, at the time of making the contract, was the owner’s agent, and since he authorized the defendants to sell to him the shares contracted for, the case is literally within the exception stated in the statute. Moreover, the parties contemplated that the defendants would actually buy stock for the common benefit and at the common risk of themselves and the plaintiff.

4. Both parties argue that the contract was a “contract for the sale of securities” subject to § 8-319 of the Uniform Commercial Code. It is immaterial whether the governing statute is G. L. c. 106, § 8-319, 4

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Bluebook (online)
281 N.E.2d 213, 361 Mass. 447, 10 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 860, 1972 Mass. LEXIS 908, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/colt-v-fradkin-mass-1972.