Johnson v. Render

1928 OK 263, 270 P. 17, 132 Okla. 169, 1928 Okla. LEXIS 719
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedApril 17, 1928
Docket16273
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 1928 OK 263 (Johnson v. Render) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Johnson v. Render, 1928 OK 263, 270 P. 17, 132 Okla. 169, 1928 Okla. LEXIS 719 (Okla. 1928).

Opinion

LEACH, C.

On February 17, 1923, S. P. Render, as plaintiff, filed in the district court of Oklahoma county his amended petition, naming as defendants, Hugh M. Johnson, John W. Teter, and W. C. Greening, which petition was similar to an original previously filed in the cause, except that the amended petition alleged the agreements referred to therein to be oral while the original did not so state, which petitions alleged in substance that on December 1, 1919, he, Render, and Hugh M. Johnson, John W. Teter, W. C. Greening', L. M. Rauch, W. E. Miller, R. L. Denton, majority stockholders in the Parsons Wholesale Grocery Company, orally agreed with each other that they would purchase, upon the best terms available, the wholesale grocery stock of the Milloway-Douglas Grocer Company, a partnership of Bartlesville; that a corporation would be formed with a capital stock of $100,000, for the purpose of owning and holding- such grocery stock; that the capital stock would be subscribed and paid for by the parties named, with privilege to plaintiff and L. M. Rauch to purchase 51 per cent, of the stock of such corporation; that plaintiff was to act for the other stockholders in procuring a charter for the proposed corporation, which he did on December 6, 1919, the charter being- issued in the name of Milloway-Douglas Wholesale Grocery Company; that the defendants Johnson, Te-ter, and Greening, acting as a purchasing committee for their associates, did purchase the said stock of groceries, the exact terms and conditions of purchase and amount paid being to plaintiff unknown; thereafter, on January 5th, plaintiff subscribed for 315 shares of capital stock of said corporation; that at the time of purchase of said stock, the defendants Johnson, Teter, and Greening falsely and fraudulently represented and stated to him that they had been compelled to pay on the stock of groceries purchased, the sum of $25,000, as a bonus for the good will of the partnership, in addition to the invoice price of the stock; that by reason thereof it was necessary that each subscriber of stock should pay a b-onus of $25 a share; that plaintiff relying on such statements and the truth thereof, did pay to the defendants Johnson, Teter, and Greening, the purchasing committee, the sum of $7,825 as bonus on hi-s shares of stock; that such purchasing committee had not paid the bonus claimed; that said sum of $7,825, paid by plaintiff, was used and appropriated by the defendants ; that plaintiff did not learn of the misrepresentation until sometime in January, 1922, whereupon, he made a demand upon the defendants for the return of the alleged bonus, and prayed judgment against the defendants for the amount.

*171 The defendants filed their answers thereto, hut later withdrew the same, and interposed a demurrer to the amended petition upon the grounds that the same failed to state sufficient facts, causes of action were improperly joined, defect of parties plaintiff, and plaintiff had no legal capacity to sue in his own name, which demurrer the record shows to have ¡been in all things sustained. Deave was granted plaintiff to amend, and thereafter he filed his second amended petition, which differed from the former petition to the extent it alleged that each of the parties to the agreement to purchase the stock of groceries should advance and pay on the purchase price thereof such sum as might be agreed upon between the parties, plaintiff and L. M. Rauch to have the option of advancing and paying for 51 per cent, of the purchase price of the stock of groceries; that the interest of each purchaser in the stock of groceries should be in proportion to the amount so invested by each of them bore to the whole price of such groceries; that it was agreed each of the purchasers of the grocery stock would transfer to the proposed corporation his respective interest in such stock of groceries at its actual cost, and should receive therefor stock in the corporation ; that the purchasing committee purchased the stock of groceries in the name of W. O. Greening for the sum of $105,591.-14, as evidenced by a written contract, a copy thereof being attached; that in the purchase of the groceries, defendant Greening was acting for and on behalf of himself and associates, including plaintiff; that the purchase price of the stock of groceries was advanced and paid by the defendants Johnson, Teter, and Greening; that thereafter, on January 5, 1920, plaintiff agreed with the said Johnson, Teter, and Greening that he would take an interest in the stock of groceries to the amount of $31,300, and that he would advance and pay to them such sum to reimburse them for the amount of money they had advanced and paid upon the purchase price of said stock of groceries, and did, upon the false and fraudulent representations of the defendants respecting the payment of a bonus of $25,000, pay to the defendants the sum of $7,825 bonus upon his interest in the stock of groceries, which sum was used and .appropriated by the defendants Johnson, Te-ter, and Greening, as individuals, and not .as officers and representatives of the corporation, which corporation never received .such sum or any benefit therefrom. Otherwise the second amended petition was very similar to the former petition.

A demurrer was filed to the second amended petition, which was overruled, and thereupon an answer was filed by the defendants, Johnson and Teter, which consisted of a general denial, a specific denial of their alleged agency, a plea of estoppel by the acts of plaintiff, and a plea of the statute of limitations. The defendant Greening answered similar to the other defendants, and in addition alleged, in substance, that he entered into a written contract for the purchase of the stock of groceries and consummated the purchase on December 2, 1919, by paying the purchase price to the seller in the sum of $105,591.14; he, defendant, furnishing the money therefor; that thereafter he took up with plaintiff the proposition of organizing a corporation to take over the merchandise purchased by him, which resulted in the organization of a corporation; that he sold and transferred to such corporation the stock of groceries at the invoice price thereof, plus $25,000; that the plaintiff purchased stock in the corporation with full knowledge of all the facts; further alleged that the defendant was elected vice president of the corporation; that the journal and books of the corporation, which were under the control of such corporation and plaintiff, sho'wed the assets and invoice of the stock and contract under which the same was purchased by defendant; that with full knowledge plaintiff purchased said stock and paid the price on or about the 6th day of December, 1919; later purchased other stock; that the price which plaintiff paid for said stock was a reasonable and fair price, and the property transferred to and owned by the corporation was worth the sum at which said stock was sold to plaintiff; that plaintiff wrongfully made withdrawals from the property and funds of the corporation, and that the corporation subsequently failed and became insolvent because of the heavy inroads made upon its coffers by the plaintiff.

Upon the issues joined, a trial was had to the court, which resulted in a judgment in favor of plaintiff for the sum prayed for, and the defendants below appeal and bring the cause here for review. Parties will be referred to as they appeared below. Plaintiffs in error set out several assignments of error, which are argued and presented under three propositions, the first being:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1928 OK 263, 270 P. 17, 132 Okla. 169, 1928 Okla. LEXIS 719, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/johnson-v-render-okla-1928.