Ferraro v. Patota

1983 Mass. App. Div. 1, 4 Mass. Supp. 199, 1983 Mass. App. Div. LEXIS 41
CourtMassachusetts District Court, Appellate Division
DecidedJanuary 11, 1983
StatusPublished

This text of 1983 Mass. App. Div. 1 (Ferraro v. Patota) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts District Court, Appellate Division primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ferraro v. Patota, 1983 Mass. App. Div. 1, 4 Mass. Supp. 199, 1983 Mass. App. Div. LEXIS 41 (Mass. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

Black, J.

This is an action brought on February 21, 1979, by the plaintiff Angelo Ferraro, against the defendant, John J. Patota, to recover monies advanced toward the purchase of a corporation known as “Sal's, Inc.” and for losses occasioned by the plaintiff s operating the business of the corporation.

The defendant failed to file a timely answer, and a default judgment was entered on May 4, 1979, with the execution being issued on May 17, 1979. On May 24, 1979, the defendant filed a Motion For Relief From Judgment, which was allowed on June 7, 1979. Judgment was vacated and the execution superseded. On that date, the defendant also filed a Motion To Join A Third Party Defendant, namely Milton R. Souza. This motion was allowed. The defendant, Patota, answered by denying the plaintiff s claim and by counter-claiming for rent, Federal and State taxes, and other operating expenses. The third-party defendant, Milton R. Souza, filed a Motion to Dismiss on August 7, 1979, which was denied on August 30, 1979.

A trial was held on December 18,1979, at the close of which the plaintiff filed the following requests for rulings before final argument:

1. Plaintiff advanced to defendant the sum of $9,800 towards purchase of capital stock of corporation ($3,800 in cash and $6,000 by check). (Denied.)
2. That said agreement to purchase called for a transfer of stock free from all emcumbrances. (Granted.)
3. That said stock was encumbered by tax liens at the time of said agreement until early 1974. (Granted.)
4. That said stock was never transferred to plaintiff. (Granted.)
5. That plaintiff acted as a mere custodian of the business during the period November 3, 1973 through December 28, 1973. (Denied.)
6. That plaintiff, on almost a daily basis, from November 7, 1973 through 1974 demanded a return of his advances. (Denied.)
7. As a matter of law, where defendant breached his agreement to [2]*2transfer unencumbered stock, and never made any tender, plaintiff is entitled to a return of his deposit plus interest from the date of deposit. (Denied.)
8. As a matter of law, if plaintiff was custodian or agent of defendant in operating said business, plaintiff is due his losses in said operation. (Granted.)

During the trial, there was evidence tending to show that the plaintiff agreed to purchase the capital stock of Sal's, Inc., a Massachusetts corporation, apparently engaged in the restaurant business, from the defendant, Patota, free and clear from all encumbrances. The plaintiff paid the defendant $6,000.00 as a down payment for the said stock. Shortly thereafter, a U.C.C. recording was discovered in favor of a Mr. Souza (presumably the third-party defendant, although the record is not clear on the point), against the equipment of the restaurant, and another encumbrance in the form of a tax lien in favor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts came to light. The tax lien had been imposed during the time when a previous owner was operating the restaurant. (Whether that owner was the defendant, Souza, or someone else is not stated in the report.) The defendant was ready, willing and able to discharge all liens and encumbrances and offered to do so, but the plaintiff rejected the defendant’s offer to remove all liens and encumbrances and insisted on the rescission of the sale.

The defendant never tendered or physically delivered the stock certificates of the corporation to the plaintiff, nor did he at any time transfer the liquor or common victualler’s license to the plaintiff. Nevertheless, the plaintiff assumed control and the entire management of the business on November 3, 1973, the date on which the keys were turned over to the plaintiff, and until December 28, 1973, the plaintiff purchased all supplies required in the conduct of the restaurant business, paid rent to the defendant at the rate of $880.00 per month, paid the four employees of the business and considered all receipts from the business as his own. As of December 28, 1973, the capital stock was encumbered, the encumbrance being removed by the defendant in February of 1974.

The court found for the defendant, Patota, and for the plaintiff, Patota, in the counterclaim. A Motion For A New Trial was then filed by the plaintiff. This motion was denied on June 23, 1981. An appeal was duly taken.

In our opinion, the decision of the trial judge cannot stand for a multitude of reasons. The first is the inconsistency between the court’s apparent findings of fact and rulings of law. (Because several of the requested “rulings of Law’’ actually call for findings of fact, we treat the judge’s actions thereon as his findings.) The trial judge found as a fact that the agreement between the parties called for a transfer of the corporate stock free and clear from all encumbrances, that the stock was encumbered by tax liens at the time of the agreement and remained so until early 1974, and that the stock was never transferred to the plaintiff. The court also found that the parties intended that the sale be consummated and title pass on November 3, 1973. In light of these findings, it is difficult to understand the basis upon which the trial judge could rule that, as a matter of law, the plaintiff was not entitled to a return of his deposit. Parenthetically, it might be noted that ordinarily where there is an apparent discrepancy between the findings of fact and rulings -of law, the matter should be brought to the attention of the trial judge by means of an appropriate motion in order to accord him an opportunity to reconsider the matter. (See Smith v. H.P. Hood & Sons, Inc. 52 Mass. App. Dec. 10, 15 |1973|).

More importantly, perhaps, is the fact that implicit in the trial court’s ruling [3]*3No. 7 is what we perceive to be an erroneous ruling of law. Although the report of the trial judge (erroneously entitled "Draft Report”) contains no discussion of the legal principles applied by the court in its finding for the defendant, the case clearly raises an issue on which we find no Massachusetts authority directly on point. That issue is whether the title to the corporation known as “Sal’s, Inc.” could have passed without physical delivery of the stock to the plaintiff. In this connection, we note that G.L.c. 106, §§ 8-301 and 8-313 require physical delivery of the certificate of stock in order effectively to transfer ownership of a corporation. The defendant argues that the transaction in question is not governed by Article 8 of the U.C.C. since stock in a closely held corporation is not a “security” within the meaning of G.L.c. 106, § 8-102(l)(a). Although the trial judge did not address the question whether Sal’s, Inc. is a closely held corporation, it seems a fair inference that it was.

A review of case authorities in other jurisdictions discloses a split on the question whether stock in adose corporation is a “security” within the meaning of §8-102(l)(a). Although the official text of §8-102 was revised in 1977, the revised text appears to have been adopted only in Connecticut, Minnesota, and West Virginia. (See T. QUINN, UNIFORM COMMERCIAL CODE COMMENTARY & LAW DIGEST, 1982 Cum. Supp. No.

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Bluebook (online)
1983 Mass. App. Div. 1, 4 Mass. Supp. 199, 1983 Mass. App. Div. LEXIS 41, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ferraro-v-patota-massdistctapp-1983.