Henriod v. East Tintic Development Co.

173 P. 134, 52 Utah 245, 1918 Utah LEXIS 66
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedMay 4, 1918
DocketNo. 3141
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 173 P. 134 (Henriod v. East Tintic Development Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Henriod v. East Tintic Development Co., 173 P. 134, 52 Utah 245, 1918 Utah LEXIS 66 (Utah 1918).

Opinion

FRICK, C. J.

The plaintiffs, as stockholders of the East Tintie Development Company, a corporation, hereinafter called company, brought this action against said' company and against the [247]*247board of directors, composed of O. M. Richards, R. M. Kellogg, W. F. Giles, Thomas Beesley, and Harvey Cluif, to have certain acts of said board of directors set aside and annulled, and to have a receiver appointed to take possession of the property of said company, and to wind np its affairs as hereinafter stated. It is not necessary to refer to the pleadings.

The first assignment relates to the refusal of the district court to settle and allow plaintiff’s proposed bill of exceptions. The facts relating to that assignment, in substance, are as follows : After the trial of the cause the court found the issues in favor of defendants, and plaintiffs’ attorneys, intending to appeal the case to this court, prepared and served their proposed bill of exceptions on counsel representing the defendants. In view that plaintiffs’ counsel intended merely to present certain questions for review, they did not incorporate all of the evidence produced at the trial into the proposed bill of exceptions, but incorporated only a statement in narrative form of such parts of the evidence as they desired to have settled in their bill. Counsel for defendants then moved to strike plaintiffs’ proposed bill of exceptions, and demanded that the plaintiffs “insert in lieu thereof a full, true, and certified transcript of the reporter’s notes * * * of all other evidence given in the case.” In other words, defendants’ counsel demanded that plaintiffs incorporate into their proposed bill of exceptions all of the evidence produced at the trial. The district court sustained the motion, and refused to settle and allow plaintiffs’ proposed bill of exceptions, and, as it appears, refused to settle any bill unless all of the evidence that was produced at the trial was incorporated into the proposed bill. Plaintiffs’ counsel refused to comply with the court’s ruling, and now insist that the court erred in sustaining defendants’ motion.

While it is true that it is the province of the district court in settling and allowing a bill of exceptions to determine what it should contain, yet it is also true that a party who desires to present only certain questions for review in this court need not incorporate a full transcript of all of 1 the evidence produced at the trial, but he may present [248]*248only so much of the evidence as will be necessary to a full understanding and illustration of the question presented for review. Nor is it always necessary to present the evidence in the form of questions and answers as it was taken down by the stenographer. No doubt the district court not only may but should require the party preparing a bill of exceptions to incorporate all of the evidence relating to the question which he seeks to have reviewed into his proposed bill. If that be not done, it may prevent this court from reviewing the question unless it be one which can be reviewed upon the judgment roll alone without the evidence. A party is not required, however, to incorporate any evidence into his proposed bill which is not necessary or material to the question presented for review. This is clearly the purpose of our statute. Comp. Laws 1907, section 3286, provides:

“It is the duty of the judge, in settling the bill, to strike out of it all redundant and useless matter, so that the exceptions may be presented as briefly as possible.”

The aggrieved party may thus present his proposed bill of exceptions, with so much of the evidence as he may deem necessary and material, and if the district judge refuses to settle and allow the proposed bill he has his remedy. Section 3289 specially provides that if the district judge, in any case, refuses to allow exceptions in accordance with the facts, the party desiring to have the bill of exceptions may apply to this court, and if he “proves” his proposed bill this court, or one of the justices, may settle it.

In this case plaintiffs remained silent, however, and did nothing more respecting their proposed bill of exceptions. Their silence and inaction, therefore, resulted in 2, 3 a failure to obtain any bill of exceptions, and hence the case is here upon the judgment roll alone. All we can do in that regard, therefore, is just what we have done, namely, indicate our views respecting the plaintiffs’ rights in the premises. That, however, will not aid the plaintiffs in obtaining a bill of exceptions. Nor can the court’s ruling in that regard affect the judgment unless it is vulnerable on other grounds.

For the reasons just stated, the assignment that the court’s [249]*249findings are not supported by the evidence can, therefore, not be reviewed. In the absence of the evidence, 4, 5 the presumption is that the court’s findings are in strict conformity with the evidence produced at the trial. We therefore can review only such questions of law as arise upon the pleadings, the findings of fact, and conclusions of law.

But one question is thus presented. Upon that question the salient facts that appear from the pleadings and findings, in substance, are as follows: The company was incorporated as a mining corporation with an authorized capital stock of 1,000,000 shares, all of which was fully paid up. The company owned some mining property in this state, and had spent considerable sums of money in purchasing machinery and supplies and in developing said mining property. The company, not having ready cash to meet its obligations, borrowed certain sums of money from some of its stockholders, and secured the payment thereof by giving a mortgage on its mining properties and improvements. The company’s mine did, however, not produce sufficient to pay its debts; and therefore the directors, in 1913, sought to raise funds by levying an assessment of one cent per share on the authorized capital stock, as provided by our statute. The stockholders,' however, preferred to forfeit their shares of stock rather than to pay the assessment, and all of the shares of stock, except 55,682, were thus forfeited to the company. The amount that was realized from the assessment was therefore comparatively small and .wholly insufficient to pay off the indebtedness. The directors then entered into an option agreement to sell the property of the company, but, after the party obtaining th.e option had paid $1,500 thereon, he refused to exercise his rights under the option, and the company was again left without means to pay off its indebtedness.

The affairs of the company were still further complicated by its failure to pay the state corporation tax for the year 1914. By reason of that fact its charter was forfeited in April, 1915, and thereafter it could no longer legally carry on the business for which it was organized. The indebtedness, however, remained unpaid, and the mortgagees were threaten[250]*250ing to foreclose the mortgage, which constituted a lien upon all of the company’s property. Notwithstanding the fact that the charter had been forfeited, however, the board of directors authorized a confession of judgment on the indebtedness aforesaid, which at that time, with interest and costs, amounted to the sum of $3,873.83. Judgment by confession for that amount was accordingly entered in the district court of Utah county, and the mortgage was foreclosed, and the property of the company ordered sold to satisfy said indebtedness.

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Bluebook (online)
173 P. 134, 52 Utah 245, 1918 Utah LEXIS 66, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/henriod-v-east-tintic-development-co-utah-1918.