Loeffler v. Federal Supply Co.

1940 OK 217, 102 P.2d 862, 187 Okla. 373, 1940 Okla. LEXIS 247
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedApril 30, 1940
DocketNo. 29322.
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 1940 OK 217 (Loeffler v. Federal Supply Co.) 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
Loeffler v. Federal Supply Co., 1940 OK 217, 102 P.2d 862, 187 Okla. 373, 1940 Okla. LEXIS 247 (Okla. 1940).

Opinion

HURST, J.

This is an appeal from an order denying the appointment of a receiver for defendant, Federal Supply Company, in an action brought by plaintiffs, F. X. Loeffler and R. L. Patton, as stockholders of that company, for dissolution of the company, appointment of a receiver, and an accounting. The sole question involved on this appeal is whether Federal Supply Company exists as a corporation, or whether it has been dissolved by operation of law.

The facts giving rise to the question are undisputed. Federal Supply Company was incorporated, and certificate of incorporation issued to it as Federal Steam Specialties Company, on April 23, 1918. By subsequent amendment its name was changed to Federal Supply Company. Its corporate life was 20 years. On June 28, 1938, there was filed in the office of the Secretary of State an instrument styled “Amended Articles of Incorporation,” signed by the defendants Louis Loeffler, W. E. Price, J. C. Fullerton, and Mrs. Louis Loeffler, as officers and directors of Federal Supply Company, reciting that notwithstanding the expiration of such company’s corporate existence on April 23, 1938, it had continued to do business as before, and desired to revive its charter and extend its corporate existence for a period of 20 years from April 23, 1938. It recited that the signers owned and controlled more than 75 per cent, of the stock of such corporation. The Secretary of State duly issued a certificate of incorporation as amended and extended charter. The amended articles were filed without such action being authorized by a duly called meeting of stockholders, and the signers thereof acted without notice to the stockholders. It is undisputed that at all times from and after April 23, 1918, the corporation had been operated as a going concern, and that upon the expiration of its charter on April 23, 1938, the directors took no steps to wind up its business as trustees. The present action was commenced August 12, 1938. Plaintiffs make two contentions, which will be disposed of in order.

i. The first contention is that when the charter of April 23, 1918, expired on April 23, 1938, without any steps being theretofore taken to renew or extend the corporate existence of Federal Supply Company, it was at that time dissolved by operation of law, and could not be renewed or revived thereafter. Plaintiffs assert that this occurred by virtue of the provisions of section 9778, O. S. 1931, 18 O. S. A. § 151, which provides that a corporation is dissolved by the expiration of the time limited in its articles of incorporation, and that thereafter the directors could act only as trustees under section 9788, O. S. 1931, 18 O. S. A. § 163. Reliance is placed upon Merges v. Altenbrand, 45 Mont. 355, 123 P. 21, and other cases holding that steps to extend the corporate existence must be taken during its corporate life, and are ineffective thereafter, and on statements in Flétcher on Corporations, vol. 8, pages 156, 559, to the same effect. Defendants, in answer, point out that the renewal or revival of corporate existence after the time limited by the original charter is expressly authorized by section 9713, section 9714, and section 9790, O. S. 1931, 18 O. S. A. §§ 1, 18, and 165, and that the procedure to be followed is that provided in section 9732, O. S. 1931, as amended S. L. 1935, art. 3, ch. 46, 18 O. S. A. § 17. Section 9713, so far as pertinent, reads as follows:

“Any corporation chartered for a fixed term of years under the laws of this state * * * may renew its charter and extend the time of its existence for a period of not exceeding twenty years at any one time, by filing amended Articles of Incorporation under and as pre *375 scribed by” Sec. 9732, O. S. 1931, as amended by art. 3, ch. 46, S. L. 1935, 18 O. S. A. § 17.

Section 9790, O. S. 1931, 18 O. S. A. § 165, reads as follows:

“A corporation once dissolved can be revived only by the same power by which it could be created.”

It is apparent that the construction of these statutes is decisive of the case. They have not heretofore been passed upon by- this court. The meaning of the words- “renew” and “extend,” as used in section 9713, and the provision in that section that the procedure prescribed by section 9732, as amended, should be followed, are of controlling importance. While the basic consideration in the construction of a statute is to ascertain and give effect to the intent of the Legislature, it is a settled rule that the words thereof will be given their ordinary meaning unless such construction will defeat the manifest intent of the Legislature. 25 R.C.L. 988; Board of Trustees v. Templeton, 184 Okla. 281, 86 P. 2d 1000; First Nat. Bank v. Mills, 134 Okla. 186, 272 P. 840. Examining the words “renew” and “extend” in view of this rule, and in connection with section 9790, we find that the word “renew,” as defined by Webster, means “to make new again,” “to begin again,” “to repeat,” “to restore to existence, to revive, re-establish, recreate.” “Extend” means “to stretch, enlarge, draw out, lengthen, or prolong either in space or time, to carry forward.” Giving such ordinary or commonly understood meaning to the word “renew,” we consider it to authorize the granting of a charter to a corporation making application therefor after the expiration of its previous charter, if the proper method be followed, and the statutory requirements complied with. The distinction between the right to renew and the right to extend is stated in Fletcher’s Cyclopedia of Corporation, vol, 8, page 553, as follows:

“There is a broad distinction between the extension of a charter and the grant of a new one. To renew a charter is to revive a charter which has expired, or, in other words, ‘to give a new existence to one which has been forfeited, or which has lost its vitality by lapse of time.’ To ‘extend’ a charter is ‘to increase the time for the existence of one which would otherwise reach its limit at an earlier period’.”

See, also, 7 R.C.L. 101; 13 Am. Jur. 228; 14 C. J. 180. The cases bearing upon the question are based upon the construction of particular statutes. For instance, in Merges v. Altenbrand, supra, cited by plaintiffs, the Montana statute provided that the corporate existence might be extended, but made no provision for renewal or revival, and the court held that, in order to continue its corporate existence, the corporation must take the necessary steps during its corporate life. Conversely, in Rayburn v. Guntersville Realty Co., 228 Ala. 662, 154 So. 812, where the power to renew or extend was given by the statute, the court held that renewal could be effected by action taken after the expiration of the previous charter. In Moers v. City of Reading, 21 Pa. St. 188, 201, the statute considered provided that “no corporate body shall be hereafter created, renewed or extended with banking or discounting privileges, without six months’ previous notice of the intended application for the same, in such manner as shall be prescribed by law.” In construing this language, the court said:

“To create a charter, is to make one which never existed before. To renew a charter, is to give a new existence to one which has been forfeited, or which has lost its vitality by lapse of time. To extend a charter, is to give one which now exists greater or longer time to operate in than that to which it was originally limited. I do not say that these words have no other meaning in the English language. They are not entirely free from ambiguity.

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Bluebook (online)
1940 OK 217, 102 P.2d 862, 187 Okla. 373, 1940 Okla. LEXIS 247, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/loeffler-v-federal-supply-co-okla-1940.