Long v. Long

459 S.E.2d 58, 119 N.C. App. 500, 1995 N.C. App. LEXIS 530
CourtCourt of Appeals of North Carolina
DecidedJuly 18, 1995
DocketNo. COA94-851
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 459 S.E.2d 58 (Long v. Long) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Long v. Long, 459 S.E.2d 58, 119 N.C. App. 500, 1995 N.C. App. LEXIS 530 (N.C. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

LEWIS, Judge.

Plaintiff commenced this action for declaratory relief, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud and misrepresentation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, intentional interference with the contractual rights of third parties, negligent interference with the contractual rights of third parties, conversion, civil conspiracy, and relief under the cy-pres doctrine. The dispute concerns the value of a stock certificate held by NationsBank as escrow agent. Summary judgment was granted for defendants James H. Long, E.L. Ellrod, and Long Trailer Company, Inc., and defendant NationsBank was dismissed from the action and ordered to deliver the stock certificate to James H. Long. From the judgments and the order, plaintiff appeals.

Plaintiff and R.W. Long (hereinafter “Long” or “R.W. Long”) separated in 1984 after many years of marriage. They entered into a deed of separation on 25 May 1984. Among other things, the deed of separation provided that Long would pay plaintiff alimony in the amount of $2,000 per month for the remainder of Long’s life, such amount to be reduced by any Social Security benefits plaintiff may receive. It further provided that in his will, Long would devise to a corporate fiduciary in trust for the benefit of plaintiff real and/or personal property equal in value to a one-third interest in his estate. The trust principal was to be increased, if necessary, to an amount sufficient to pay plaintiff $2,000 per month, less Social Security received by plaintiff, for the remainder of plaintiff’s life. We note that Long’s will clarifies that it is the income from the trust that must be sufficient to pay plaintiff each month.

One of Long’s largest assets was his stock in defendant Long Trailer Company, Inc. (hereinafter “the company”). Long and defendant E.L. Ellrod were the only shareholders of the company, and each owned sixty-two and one-half shares of stock. Apparently to guarantee Long’s performance under the deed of separation, Long, Ellrod, plaintiff, and the respective attorneys for Long and plaintiff, entered into an escrow agreement regarding Long’s sixty-two and one-half [503]*503shares of stock. The agreement, dated 26 July 1984, provided that defendant NCNB (now known as NationsBank) would hold Long’s stock in escrow until the parties jointly requested that the stock be surrendered to them, or “either” of them, or until ordered to make a disposition of the stock by the court, or until the death of Long, whichever occurred first. The agreement further stated that Ellrod was a party because he was the only other stockholder and because the stock was then, or may become, the subject of a buy-sell agreement between Long and Ellrod. In addition, the agreement provided that the parties could agree to substitute other property or cash as escrow to guarantee the faithful performance by Long of his obligations under the deed of separation. Finally, the escrow agreement provided that Long would pay the escrow agent an annual fee and, in the event of a court action or other dispute involving the agent, additional fees.

At the time the escrow agreement was signed, Long and Ellrod were parties to a buy-sell agreement, dated 12 January 1983, regarding their stock in the company. The agreement provided that upon the death of a shareholder, the personal representatives of the deceased must sell all of the shares of the deceased to the company. The agreement stipulated that the price of the shares would be $5,600 per share, for a total price of $350,000 for all sixty-two and one-half shares. It also provided that at the close of each fiscal year, Long and Ellrod had to review the stipulated price. They could then stipulate that the price had not changed, or they could stipulate to a new price. If Long and Ellrod failed to either stipulate that the price had not changed or to stipulate to a new price, the price for each share was to be the last stipulated price plus or minus the net earnings or losses per share since the date of the last stipulated price, less dividends paid or payable thereon.

On 30 January 1986, Long and Ellrod executed another buy-sell agreement, which increased the total price for a shareholder’s stock to $450,000. The language regarding the adjustment of the price based on the net earnings or losses per share was removed. On 12 January 1988, Long and Ellrod executed an “amendment to modify purchase price,” whereby the price was increased to $600,000.

Long died on 6 November 1989. His will established the trust for plaintiff as required by the deed of separation. At the time of his death, the stipulated purchase price for his shares was $600,000. After Long’s death, the company and Ellrod sued Long’s estate claiming the [504]*504company’s right to purchase Long’s stock for $600,000 and claiming they were owed on loans made to Long. Defendant James Long, the executor of R.W. Long’s estate, eventually entered into a settlement agreement with Ellrod and the company. In exchange for $565,000, the estate would deliver the stock, and the lawsuit would be dismissed. James Long petitioned the superior court for a ruling that he had acted reasonably in settling the case. The petition was served upon all beneficiaries and creditors of the estate, including plaintiff. The superior court approved the settlement, and plaintiff appealed to this Court, which affirmed the ruling in an unpublished opinion. See In re Long, 117 N.C. App. 305, 451 S.E.2d 667 (1994).

Plaintiff filed the present action seeking: (1) a declaration of her rights under the deed of separation, the escrow agreement, and the 1983 buy-sell agreement; (2) damages from Ellrod and the estate; and (3) construction of the three documents at issue under the cy-pres doctrine so as to give effect to the intentions of the parties to the documents. At the heart of plaintiff’s action is her contention that had the purchase price of the stock been adjusted upward based on net earnings, as the 1983 buy-sell agreement would have required, the purchase price for Long’s sixty-two and one-half shares would have been $1,429,762 at the date of Long’s death, thus considerably increasing the size of Long’s estate. The trial court granted summary judgment for defendants James Long, E.L. Ellrod, and the company. The court ordered that NationsBank be dismissed from the action and that NationsBank deliver the stock certificate to the executor, James Long.

Plaintiff’s first contention on appeal is that the trial court erred in failing to address her claim for declaratory relief. In its judgments, the court grants summary judgment for James Long, E.L. Ellrod, and the company and dismisses plaintiff’s actions against them. However, the court does not declare the rights of plaintiff under the deed of separation, the escrow agreement, and the 1983 buy-sell agreement. While we agree that the trial court did not declare plaintiff’s rights under the documents, we presume from its grant of summary judgment for defendants that it concluded, as do we, that plaintiff had no rights under the documents at issue which would allow her to challenge the stipulated price of the stock.

Plaintiff apparently contends that because of the deed of separation and the escrow agreement, she had a “security interest” in the stock and therefore became the equivalent of a minority shareholder [505]*505in the company. She argues that because she was a minority shareholder, Ellrod had fiduciary duties to her which would prohibit his deflating the value of the stock. Plaintiff concedes that she can find no authority to support her contention, and neither can we.

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Bluebook (online)
459 S.E.2d 58, 119 N.C. App. 500, 1995 N.C. App. LEXIS 530, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/long-v-long-ncctapp-1995.