James Calvin Belk Construction Co. v. S. F. Kennedy New Products, Inc. (In re James Calvin Belk Construction Co.)

4 B.R. 132, 1 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 913, 1980 Bankr. LEXIS 5278
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Mississippi
DecidedApril 16, 1980
DocketBankruptcy No. 79-20142
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 4 B.R. 132 (James Calvin Belk Construction Co. v. S. F. Kennedy New Products, Inc. (In re James Calvin Belk Construction Co.)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
James Calvin Belk Construction Co. v. S. F. Kennedy New Products, Inc. (In re James Calvin Belk Construction Co.), 4 B.R. 132, 1 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 913, 1980 Bankr. LEXIS 5278 (Miss. 1980).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

EUGENE J. RAPHAEL, Bankruptcy Judge.

The overriding legal question to be decided in this adversary proceeding is the effect to be given to Mississippi Code sections 79-3-155 and 79-3-157, which deal with mortgages of all or substantially all of the assets of a corporation.

Background

James Calvin Belk Construction Co., Inc., the debtor in this Chapter 11 case (hereafter debtor or the corporation) is in the business of buying the component parts of grain-storage bins and assembling and erecting such bins on farms. Debtor’s headquarters was and is at Cleveland, Mississippi. Debtor was chartered in April, 1977, and succeeded and took over a similar business which had been conducted for some years by James Calvin Belk individually. At the outset, Mr. Belk and Carey B. Prather were the sole stockholders, each owning 50% of the stock. At the organizational meeting which was held May 5, 1977 at the Leland office of Taylor Webb, the attorney who handled the incorporation of the debtor, James Calvin Belk, Carey B. Prather, Bryan Prather and Stan Prather were elected to serve as directors until the first annual meeting. James Calvin Belk was elected president and Carey B. Prather was elected vice-president, secretary and treasurer. Following the organizational meeting, Mr. Webb was not called on to do any further legal work for the corporation, although apparently the corporate minute book remained in his possession.

The minutes of a director’s meeting held on May 11,1978 reveal that Carey B. Prather had transferred one share of his stock to James Calvin Belk, giving the latter ownership of 51% of the corporation’s stock. These minutes also indicate that Mr. Andrew M. W. Westerfield had succeeded Taylor Webb as attorney for the corporation. Mr. Westerfield testified that the officers of the corporation had been unable to find the original corporate By-Laws and that he had been instructed to draw up a new set of By-Laws, which were introduced at the trial as Defendant’s Exhibit “N”. These new By-Laws changed the date of the annual meeting to the second Monday of January, beginning with the year 1979 and provided for a board of six directors, whereas the original By-Laws, as well as the Charter (which has not been amended) provided for four directors. Article III of the new ByLaws also contained the following unusual provisions with regard to the functioning of the Board of Directors:

Section 6. Quorum. A majority of the voting stock (more than fifty percent (50%) based on the number of shares owned by the director, See Article III, Section 7 below) present at a meeting will constitute a quorum.
Section 7. Manner of Acting. The Board of Directors at all times will be made up of stockholders in the corporation. A director’s vote on any matter will be determined by the number of shares owned by him and an act of the majority of the stock voted at a meeting shall be the act of the Board of Directors.

[134]*134Thus, assuming, without deciding, that these provisions are valid, James Calvin Belk, although as president he was subject to control by the Board (Article IV, Section 5) could, as the owner of 51% of the corporate stock, outvote all the other directors combined, and indeed, so long as proper notice of a meeting had been given, could sit in solitary splendor as a quorum of the Board and vote any resolution he might choose,. though no one else was present.

The record is not clear when (or whether) these new By-Laws were formally adopted, since no minutes of a meeting of stockholders or directors adopting them was introduced at the trial. However, the 1979 annual meeting of stockholders was held on the second Monday of January in that year and six directors were elected at that meeting, so it must be presumed that these are at least the de facto By-Laws of the corporation, although the defendant’s brief “concedes” that the By-Laws drawn by Webb were in effect “at all pertinent times.”

Meanwhile, as revealed by the minutes of the 1979 annual meeting as well as by the testimony, Carey Prather had transferred to others a majority of the shares he had owned, so that by the time of the 1979 annual meeting, and from then on, the lineup of shareholders (Plaintiff’s Exhibit 7) was as follows:

James Calvin Belk — 51%
Carey B. Prather — 20%
Emmett McKnight — 14%
Roy Norquist — 5%
James David Norquist — 5%
Barbara Belk — 5%

At the 1979 annual meeting the above six stockholders were elected directors and the following officers were elected:

President — J. C. Belk (hereafter, Belk)
Vice-President — Emmett McKnight
Vice-President — Barbara Belk (hereafter, Mrs. Belk) Secretary — Carey B. Prather
Treasurer — Carey B. Prather

Relations with S. F. Kennedy-New Products, Inc.

The minutes of the 1979 annual meeting reflect that, at the time of the annual meeting, the corporation was trying to obtain a loan from the Small Business Administration. Apparently the SBA did not grant debtor’s request for a loan. In March 1979 Mr. and Mrs. Belk went to Taylorville, Illinois for a meeting with officials of S. F. Kennedy New Products, Inc. (hereafter New Products or defendant), debtor’s largest creditor and principal supplier. Present for defendant were Mr. Sam Kennedy, James E. Richter, Eugene B. Pollock and Ronald J. Kibler. Mr. and Mrs. Belk were the sole representatives of debtor at this meeting. The Belks explained that debtor was in a tight cash position. At that time debtor owed New Products $390,000, could not pay it, could not get financing elsewhere and could not continue to operate unless they could obtain additional essential materials on credit. They told the New Products people that they would have to have at least $150,000.00 in new credit if they were to continue to operate. The upshot of the meeting was an informal, handwritten, but fairly detailed agreement granting debtor an additional $150,000 in credit, with the entire debt, old as well as new, to be secured by liens on all of the debtor’s property, a life insurance policy on Belk’s life and individual guarantees, and with a covenant by debtor to purchase solely from New Products those items which New Products produced.

The New Products people asked Mr. and Mrs. Belk whether they were “authorized” to enter into this agreement on behalf of debtor. They replied that they were. One of defendant’s witnesses quotes Mrs. Belk as saying, “Hell, we are the corporation.” There is nothing in the record, however, to show any specific inquiry by defendant’s representatives as to who were the directors or shareholders of the debtor.

After the March 23 meeting, the Belks returned to Cleveland and later New Products’ secretary-treasurer, R. J. Kibler, came to Cleveland for the purpose of entering into a more formal agreement to replace the hand-written one entered into at Tay-lorville. Mr. Robert Johnston, a member of the Cleveland law firm of Alexander, Johnston and Alexander, represented New Products in the consummation of the new con[135]*135tract and the execution of supporting documents.

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Bluebook (online)
4 B.R. 132, 1 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 913, 1980 Bankr. LEXIS 5278, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/james-calvin-belk-construction-co-v-s-f-kennedy-new-products-inc-in-msnb-1980.