George v. Houston Boxing Club, Inc.

423 S.W.2d 128, 1967 Tex. App. LEXIS 2849
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 20, 1967
Docket41
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 423 S.W.2d 128 (George v. Houston Boxing Club, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
George v. Houston Boxing Club, Inc., 423 S.W.2d 128, 1967 Tex. App. LEXIS 2849 (Tex. Ct. App. 1967).

Opinion

SAM D. JOHNSON, Justice.

This was an action for damages for breach of contract brought by the appellant, P. L. (Pinkie) George against two appellees, the Houston Boxing Club, Inc., and K. S. (Bud) Adams, Jr. The “contract” relied upon was a letter agreement dated February 1, 1965 by and between the Houston Boxing Club, Inc., one of the appellees, and P. L. (Pinkie) George, the appellant. K. S. (Bud) Adams, Jr., was not a party to the letter agreement. The trial court granted *130 summary judgment for the defendant Boxing Club and also for the defendant Adams, both of whom are appellees here.

Prior to the execution and delivery of the letter agreement of February 1, 1965, upon which appellant relies, appellant and one of the appellees, Houston Boxing Club, Inc., had entered into a previous contract dated September 1, 1964. By the terms of this prior contract, appellant, George, had been engaged by appellee, Houston Boxing Club, Inc., as 'a matchmaker for the purpose of promoting professional boxing matches. This prior contract included a provision giving either party thereto the unconditional right to cancel upon thirty days prior written notice. This prior written contract was terminated on February 1, 1965 by a mutual release and the two parties thereto, George and the Houston Boxing Club, Inc. At the time of this release and cancellation, at least, appellant and the appellee, Houston Boxing Club, Inc., had no contractual obligation to each other. It also must be presumed that at this point the appellee, Adams, was under no obligation to appellant.

It was at this juncture that the letter agreement of February 1, 1965, on which this action is based and to which appellant seeks to attach contractual liability, was entered into between appellant and the Houston Boxing Club. The complete letter agreement involved is as follows:

“February 1, 1965
Mr. P. L. (Pinkie) George Houston, Texas
Dear Mr. George:
“This letter will confirm the agreement of the undersigned, Houston Boxing Club, Inc., to retain you as its Matchmaker for the purpose of promoting professional fights between Cleveland Williams and other parties, provided Cleveland Williams recovers from the injuries recently sustained by him and return to professional boxing.
“In the event you are hereafter retained by Houston Boxing Club, Inc., as its Matchmaker as above provided, you shall perform the duties and services enumerated in that certain Agreement dated September 1, 1964, by and between Houston Boxing Club, Inc., and P. L. George, by the terms of which you were retained as the Matchmaker for the said Houston Boxing Club, Inc., and you shall be entitled to receive as consideration for such services, ten per cent (10%) of the net proceeds, as ‘net proceeds’ is defined in said Agreement dated September 1, 1964, received by Houston Boxing Club, Inc., from matches arranged by you for Cleveland Williams; provided, however, that you shall not be entitled to receive from any one promotion a sum in excess of $10,000.00, until such time as A & B Boxing Club, Inc., and K. S. Adams, Jr., shall have recovered from such net losses sustained by them, not to exceed, how ever, the sum of $200,000.00.
“If the foregoing is in accordance with your understanding of our agreement concerning the matters covered therein, please indicate your acceptance hereof and agreement hereto by signing this letter in the space provided below.
Very truly yours,
Houston Boxing Club, Inc.
By /s/ E. C. Hurst
Accepted and Agreed to:
/s/ P. L. (Pinkie) George P. L. (Pinkie) George”

The original contract of September 24, 1964, between George and the Houston Boxing Club, Inc., was for the purpose of promoting and arranging boxing matches. Subsequent to the execution of this original contract between George and the Houston Boxing Club, one Cleveland Williams was physically incapacitated for a number of months and was unable to box. This is a factor of some significance, for even though *131 his name did not appear on the original contract of September 24, 1964, the expectation of the parties thereto apparently was that boxing matches involving Cleveland Williams, and others, might be promoted by the Boxing Club. During the period of Cleveland Williams’ incapacity, it appeared that he might not recover or be able to box again. The original contract of September 24, 1964, was rescinded on February 1, 1965, and on this same date, the “letter agreement” was executed.

The record before the court indicates that all of the money that went into the Houston Boxing Club, some $7,500.00, was furnished by the defendant, Adams, and that the stock of the Houston Boxing Club was held in trust for Adams’ children. The record further indicates that the appellee, Adams, had loaned or advanced the sum of $7,500.00 to the Houston Boxing Club, Inc., for working capital and that no part of such sum had been repaid until the time the corporation was dissolved. At the corporation’s dissolution, the remaining assets, amounting to $900.24, was paid to Adams. The author of the Houston Boxing Club letter dated February 1, 1965, was E. C. Hurst, one of the attorneys for Adams. He was also the person who held the Boxing Club stock in trust for Adams’ children and was an officer in the Houston Boxing Club.

It is undisputed in the record that the Houston Boxing Club promoted no professional boxing matches after February 1, 1965, and received no proceeds or income from the promotion of any boxing matches thereafter. It is further undisputed that after February 1, 1965, the appellant, George, rendered no services of any kind to the Boxing Club, received no proceeds from the Boxing Club for the promotion of any boxing matches, and that he neither arranged nor attempted to arrange boxing matches after that date.

George’s essential affirmative contention is that the corporation, the Houston Boxing Club, was the “alter ego” of the second defendant, Adams, and that the “corporate fiction” should be disregarded, attaching liability to Adams because he received the assets of the dissolved corporation “at a time (when) this corporation had wholly failed to carry out and perform its contractual obligation to plaintiff.” Appellant, George, contends that the trial court erred in its granting the motions for summary judgment for the defendants in the face of such contentions because, he alleges, there were material issues of fact in this regard.

Rule 166-A(c), Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, providing for summary judgment states: “The judgment sought shall be rendered forthwith if the pleadings, depositions, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that * * * there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” We are in accord with the trial court’s determination that this was an appropriate case for granting the motions for summary judgment.

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Bluebook (online)
423 S.W.2d 128, 1967 Tex. App. LEXIS 2849, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/george-v-houston-boxing-club-inc-texapp-1967.