In re Islander Shipholding, Inc.

715 So. 2d 7, 97 La.App. 5 Cir. 978, 1998 La. App. LEXIS 824, 1998 WL 208070
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 15, 1998
DocketNo. 97-CA-978
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 715 So. 2d 7 (In re Islander Shipholding, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Islander Shipholding, Inc., 715 So. 2d 7, 97 La.App. 5 Cir. 978, 1998 La. App. LEXIS 824, 1998 WL 208070 (La. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

| RICKER, Judge.

The issue on this appeal is whether shareholders who dissolved their corporation must notify anyone when the shareholders decide to reinstate the corporate status pursuant to La. R.S. 12:142.1(B).

Islander Shipholding, Inc. was incorporated in Louisiana on July 1,1993, with Pacific-Gulf Marine, Inc. as its sole shareholder. On April 2, 1996 Islander sold its primary asset, the vessel M/V SUGAR ISLANDER, to Gulfcoast Transit Company. The sale document stipulated that any disputes would be referred to arbitration. On April 12, 1996 the parties signed a reservation of rights in connection with the sale, reflecting a dispute over whether certain items constituted spare parts or were stores (for which Gulfcoast was required to pay Islander), together with the question of their fair market value. On May 16, 1996 Islander notified Gulfcoast it was demanding arbitration pursuant to the agreement.

Islander ceased doing business after the vessel was sold. On June 16,1996 Islander’s sole shareholder, Pacific-Gulf, executed a consent to liquidation and appointed a liquidator for the corporation. On June 28, 1996 the liquidator filed a certificate of final ^liquidation and applied for dissolution of the [9]*9corporation pursuant to La. R.S. 12:142.1. The Louisiana Secretary of State issued a eertificate of dissolution on July 1,1996.

Meanwhile, the parties continued to prepare for the arbitration proceedings. Gulf-coast, which was unaware of Islander’s dissolution, filed a separate arbitration demand on August 28, 1996, asserting redhibitory defects in the vessel. An arbitration hearing took place in November 1996. On April 10, 1997 the arbitration panel rendered a partial final award in favor of Islander in the amount of $70,657.75. The arbitrators did not address Gulfcoast’s claim for defects in the vessel, which is still pending. Gulfcoast first learned of Islander’s dissolution on the date the partial final award was rendered.

On May 8,1997 Gulfcoast filed a petition to vacate the arbitration award and to substitute Pacific-Gulf Marine as the real party in interest. Gulfcoast also filed a complaint against Pacific-Gulf in federal court. In both the petition to vacate and the federal complaint, Gulfcoast contended that Islander’s dissolution made Pacific-Gulf personally, liable for any debts or claims of Islander and, further, that all Islander’s rights and causes of action ceased to exist with the corporation’s dissolution.

On May 13, 1997, Pacific-Gulf filed a petition in the state district court to reinstate Islander’s corporate status retroactive to the date of dissolution, on the ground that reinstatement would facilitate the arbitration proceedings. The petition contained no request for service or for notice of the proceeding to any other parties. .On May 13, 1997, the same day the petition was filed, the trial court signed an ex parte order granting the petition and reinstating Islander retroactive to its date of dissolution.

On June 13, 1997 Gulfcoast intervened in the reinstatement proceeding and filed a petition to recall and/or nullify judgment, seeking to annul the order reinstating Islander’s corporate status. Gulfcoast alleged that, although arbitration was pending, Islander/Pa-cifie-Gulf had failed to serve any notice of the dissolution request on Gulfcoast and had failed to disclose the dissolution to either Gulfcoast or the arbitrators. Further, Gulf-coast alleged, Pacific-Gulf officers had attended the arbitration hearing and Upresented evidence on behalf of the nonexistent corporation, but had failed to advise the arbitration panel or Gulfcoast that Islander had been dissolved.

In addition to its petition to recall and/or nullify judgment, Gulfcoast filed exceptions of no right of action and' no cause of action, asserting that Pacific-Gulf lacks a right of action because it failed to comply with the provisions of the Codé of Civil Procedure “regarding the form and process of ex parte proceedings, procedural deficiencies, and lack the right to obtain an ex parte judgment.” Gulfcoast contended Pacific-Gulf has no cause of action because Louisiana corporation law does not allow it to create rights which have been terminated as a consequence of dissolution by affidavit.

At the hearing there was testimony from Peter Johnson, president of both Islander and Pacific-Gulf, and from David Bruce Spizer, the corporate attorney who filed the dissolution proceedings for Islander. Johnson testified he made a business decision to dissolve Islander as its fiscal year drew to a close in June 1996, in an effort to save accounting and bookkeeping expenses. The dissolution had no material effect on the company’s tax liability; it simply eliminated the need to maintain a separate set of books and to file a consolidated return with the parent, Pacific-Gulf.

Spizer testified that when Islander was dissolved on June 28, 1996, it was no longer engaged in business because it had sold the vessel and it had no claims against it because Gulfcoast had not yet advanced its counterclaim. Islander had, however, asserted its claim against Gulfcoast, which was the'original purpose of the arbitration.

Spizer testified that as the corporate lawyer he prepared the necessary documentation for the dissolution. He corroborated Johnson’s claim that the dissolution did not affect the company’s tax liability. Further, he stated, he was unaware of the arbitration proceeding at the time of the dissolution. Spizer confirmed that after the reinstatement Pacific-Gulf deposited in Islander’s [10]*10bank account sufficient funds to pay any arbitral award in favor of Gulfcoast.

pThe district court rendered judgment denying the exceptions and dismissing the motion to recall judgment and the action for nullity. In oral reasons for judgment, the court stated that reinstatement of a dissolved corporation is an internal corporate act allowable under La. R.S. 12:142.1(B) and Louisiana law does not require that reinstatement of a dissolved corporation be accomplished by a contradictory proceeding. Gulfcoast filed a suspensive appeal.1

On appeal Gulfcoast contends that the order granting the petition to reinstate the corporation was an absolute nullity. Appellant further asserts that the trial court committed reversible error and abused its discretion in dismissing intervenor’s petition to recall and/or nullify judgment and in denying the exceptions of no cause of action and no right of action. Gulfcoast raises the following specific issues:

1. Whether a Louisiana corporation’s inchoate rights survive the voluntary dissolution of the corporation under La. Rev.Stat. § 12:142.1, where at the time of dissolution, the corporate affiant knew of the corporation’s existing inchoate rights (including claims by and against the corporation), and yet the corporation still elected to dissolve by affidavit and deliberately avoid the ■ publication and notice requirements involved when a corporation is dissolved by a liquidator?
2. Whether the District Court can reinstate a dissolved Louisiana corporation retroactively to the date of its prior dissolution to allow the corporation to . prosecute and enforce a claim forfeited at dissolution, where for its sole benefit (i.e., income tax reasons) the sole shareholder of the corporation voluntarily dissolved the corporation by affidavit pursuant to La.Rev.Stat.

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Bluebook (online)
715 So. 2d 7, 97 La.App. 5 Cir. 978, 1998 La. App. LEXIS 824, 1998 WL 208070, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-islander-shipholding-inc-lactapp-1998.