GLW International Corp. v. Yao

532 S.E.2d 151, 243 Ga. App. 38, 2000 Fulton County D. Rep. 1681, 2000 Ga. App. LEXIS 395
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedMarch 23, 2000
DocketA99A2298
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 532 S.E.2d 151 (GLW International Corp. v. Yao) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
GLW International Corp. v. Yao, 532 S.E.2d 151, 243 Ga. App. 38, 2000 Fulton County D. Rep. 1681, 2000 Ga. App. LEXIS 395 (Ga. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

Ruffin, Judge.

Jian Yin Yao and Zhaoqing Crafts & Arts Industry Company sued GLW International Corporation, China Crafts & Art, Inc., Li Wen and Robert Wen for fraud and misrepresentation, theft by deception or conversion, interference with contractual relations, breach of contract, and breach of fiduciary duty stemming from a failed joint venture between GLW and Zhaoqing Crafts. The defendants counterclaimed for breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract, and conversion, among other claims. The jury awarded $30,000 to plaintiffs, and $7,250 to defendants. After offsetting the two verdicts, the court entered a final judgment in the amount of $22,500 in favor of plaintiffs. Defendants appeal. For reasons which follow, we affirm.

In 1992, Yao worked in Japan for Zhaoqing Crafts, a Chinese corporation which manufactured and exported rosewood furniture. After making inquiries with friends about moving to the United States, Yao was contacted by Li Wen, who had attended school with Yao in China and was then living in Atlanta. Li Wen and her husband Robert Wen owned GLW, which was in the business of importing goods from China. Ms. Wen told Yao she had previously helped four families come to the United States under an L-l visa.1 She explained to Yao that if he used an L-l visa to come to the United States, he could get his “green card” a year and a half later. Li Wen proposed establishing a joint venture between Zhaoqing Crafts and GLW. As part of the visa requirements, Yao would be employed by the joint venture.

The joint venture was organized as a Georgia corporation, China [39]*39Crafts & Art, and was owned equally by GLW and Zhaoqing Crafts. GLW and Zhaoqing Crafts were each responsible for contributing $50,000 toward the initial capitalization of the joint venture. Li Wen asked Yao to transfer Zhaoqing Crafts’ capital contribution to GLW’s account. Yao transferred $50,000 in personal funds, on behalf of Zhaoqing Crafts, to GLW’s account. Although $49,995 was deposited in the GLW account, GLW eventually transferred only $43,000 into China Crafts’ account. The remainder of the money was spent on expenses related to a furniture show.

Documents that Li Wen faxed to Yao indicated that China Crafts would hire Yao and engage in active business. Under the organizational documents of the joint venture, Yao was vice president of China Crafts, Robert Wen was the president, and Li Wen was the secretary. Yao was to act as import manager, at an initial salary of $40,000 a year. Li Wen also asked Yao to secure shipment of a crate of goods from China before he left Japan.

Yao’s visa was approved on January 18, 1994. He arrived in Atlanta on April 23,1994, and met with Robert Wen the next day. Mr. Wen told Yao that if Yao wanted to stay with China Crafts and get Wen’s help in securing permanent residency, Yao must guarantee $300,000 in sales for the joint venture by arranging for $300,000 in goods to be delivered from China. Yao would be responsible for paying taxes on the $300,000 in goods whether they were actually sold or not, as well as taxes on his and Mr. Wen’s salary. This was the first time Yao had been informed of these additional requirements, but Robert Wen explained that if he had told Yao up front, Yao would not have come to the United States. A few days later, Robert Wen sent Yao a document stating that Yao would have to provide three months of his salary, in cash, to China Crafts if he wanted to remain employed by the company. Robert Wen told Yao that Yao could not work for China Crafts if he did not come forward with the money and that he would no longer be responsible for Yao’s continued residency. Robert Wen also demanded repayment of attorney fees for the visa application, and Yao provided a partial payment of $1,500 in travelers checks for that amount.

Following the conversations between Robert Wen and Yao, both Wens met with Yao, and Li Wen told Yao that his $50,000 contribution to China Crafts was a charge for getting a visa for Yao and his family and was not excessive. After the meeting with Robert and Li Wen, Yao did not return to work. Upon advice of counsel, he initiated the formation of a subsidiary of Zhaoqing Crafts so that he would not lose his resident status due to loss of employment. Yao worked at GLW’s offices for three days but was never compensated for his time.

Instead of cash, GLW contributed $50,000 in furniture to the joint venture. China Crafts then bought $33,000 in additional inven[40]*40tory from GLW. Although it controlled over $80,000 in inventory from 1993 to 1995, China Crafts made no sales to the public. China Crafts, beginning in January 1994, paid Robert Wen a salary of $3,800 a month. Even though China Crafts had no public sales, it entered into a sublease with GLW for $1,800 a month. GLW bought back some inventory from China Crafts, but GLW subsequently went bankrupt.

1. Initially, we address plaintiffs’ motion to dismiss the appeal. Defendants failed to file a separate enumeration of errors as required by then applicable Court of Appeals Rule 22. The enumeration of errors was, however, set forth in the brief. Rule 22 was amended effective December 23,1999, and no longer requires that the enumeration of errors be filed separately. We decline to dismiss the appeal because of defendants’ violation of then applicable Rule 22.2

Plaintiffs also ask that the appeal be dismissed because the sequence of arguments in defendants’ brief does not follow the order of the enumeration of errors, nor is it numbered accordingly, as required by Court of Appeals Rule 27 (c) (1). It has been our practice, however, to consider an appellant’s enumeration of errors to the extent we can discern them even if the argument in the brief fails to follow the sequence in the enumeration of errors.3

Plaintiffs also complain that defendants failed to follow Court of Appeals Rule 27 (a) (1), which requires that appellants, in part one of their brief, set forth a statement of the facts and proceedings necessary for the consideration of the errors complained of. Defendants’ brief contains a recitation of facts and references to the record and is sufficient to comply with Rule 27 (a) (1).

Finally, plaintiffs move to dismiss the appeal because the brief was unfairly extended by small type in violation of Court of Appeals Rule 1 (c). In particular, plaintiffs complain that defendants’ appellate brief contained type size which was ten percent smaller than allowed. Under Rule 1 (c) we may order inappropriately formatted documents to be redacted and recast. We did not issue such an order in this case, and we do not believe that plaintiffs have been prejudiced so as to warrant the harsh remedy of dismissal for failure by defendants to correctly format their appellate brief.

2. Plaintiffs maintain that defendants failed to preserve their claims of error regarding the trial court’s failure to grant a directed verdict. Defendants moved for a directed verdict at the conclusion of plaintiffs’ case but did not renew the motion at the end of the trial. Nor did defendants move for judgment notwithstanding the verdict. Therefore, the plaintiffs maintain, the trial court never ruled on the [41]*41motion for directed verdict based on the entire trial record. We find this argument unpersuasive. OCGA § 9-11-50

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Bluebook (online)
532 S.E.2d 151, 243 Ga. App. 38, 2000 Fulton County D. Rep. 1681, 2000 Ga. App. LEXIS 395, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/glw-international-corp-v-yao-gactapp-2000.