Montoya v. Grease Monkey Holding Corp.

883 P.2d 486, 1994 WL 8663
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 7, 1994
Docket92CA1585
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 883 P.2d 486 (Montoya v. Grease Monkey Holding Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Colorado Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Montoya v. Grease Monkey Holding Corp., 883 P.2d 486, 1994 WL 8663 (Colo. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinions

Opinion by

Judge PLANK.

Defendants, Grease Monkey Holding Corporation and Grease Monkey International, Inc. (collectively Grease Monkey), appeal the judgment entered in favor of plaintiffs, Nick and Aver Montoya, on their claims of fraud and misrepresentation. Plaintiffs cross-appeal the trial court’s holding that defendants were not liable for treble damages under § 18-4-405, C.R.S. (1993 Cum.Supp.). We affirm.

Arthur P. Sensenig acted as Chairman of the Board, President, and Chief Operating Officer of Grease Monkey from 1983 to 1991. During that time, Sensenig secured loans from plaintiffs under the guise that the funds were “investments” in Grease Monkey, a growing corporate franchisor. In fact, none of these loans was invested in Grease Monkey. Rather, Sensenig used plaintiffs’ money for his personal benefit.

For each of the loans made by plaintiffs, plaintiffs wrote checks payable to “Arthur P. Sensenig,” based on Sensenig’s representation that because Grease Monkey was a new company, it did not have its own account, and as President and Chairman, Sensenig used his own account as the corporate account. Sensenig executed promissory notes to evidence the loans made by plaintiffs.

Sensenig defaulted on the loans made by plaintiffs. Plaintiffs have not been repaid the principal amounts of these loans, nor have they received full payment of the interest due on the notes.

Plaintiffs brought this action against Grease Monkey, as Sensenig’s employer, for various contract claims, breach of implied contract, fraud, misrepresentation, treble damages pursuant to § 18-4-405, C.R.S., (1986 RepLVol. 8B), breach of duty of good faith and fair dealing, promissory/equitable estoppel, extreme and outrageous conduct, and negligent hiring retention and supervision. After trial to the court, plaintiffs prevailed on their fraud and misrepresentation [488]*488claims, and their other claims were dismissed.

I.

Grease Monkey first contends that the trial court erred in applying Restatement (Second) of Agency § 261 (1958) to find it liable for payment of the debt owed to plaintiffs by Sensenig. It contends the trial court’s reliance on this section was unsupported by existing Colorado law and, therefore, must be reversed. We disagree.

Restatement (Second) of Agency § 261 states:

A principal who puts a servant or other agent in a position which enables the agent, while apparently acting within his authority, to commit a fraud upon third persons is subject to liability to such third persons for the fraud.

According to Restatement (Second) of Agency § 261 comment a, a principal may be liable under this rule even though the principal had no knowledge of the fraud, did not authorize the fraud, and did not receive any benefit from the transaction. See also Richards v. Attorney Title Guaranty Fund, Inc., 866 F.2d 1570 (10th Cir.), cert. denied, 491 U.S. 906, 109 S.Ct. 3189, 105 L.Ed.2d 697 (1989); Kerbs v. Fall River Industries, Inc., 502 F.2d 731 (10th Cir.1974).

Although this section of the Restatement of Agency has not been adopted expressly by our supreme court, Colorado case law leads us to conclude that its application was appropriate here.

In Colorado, a principal may not be bound by the false representations of his agent made without his knowledge, consent, or authority. Erisman v. McCarty, 77 Colo. 289, 236 P. 777 (1925). However, an exception to this rule exists if an agent has apparent authority to make the representation at issue.

Whether such apparent authority existed is a question of fact, and the trial court’s determination of this issue is binding if supported by sufficient competent evidence. Heatherridge Management Co. v. Benson, 192 Colo. 190, 558 P.2d 435 (1976).

In addition, a principal may be held liable for the torts of an agent if the tortious conduct was within the scope of the agent’s authority. McDonald v. Lakewood Country Club, 170 Colo. 355, 461 P.2d 437 (1969). An agent is acting within the scope of employment if he is doing what is necessarily incidental to the work that has been assigned to him or which is customarily within the business in which the employee is engaged. Dyer v. Johnson, 757 P.2d 178 (Colo.App.1988).

Here, the trial court found that Sensenig, as general agent and president of the defendant corporations, had apparent authority to raise capital, up to $500,000, from banks and other lenders without authorization from the board of directors. These findings are supported by the record and will not be disturbed on appeal. See Heatherridge Management Co. v. Benson, supra.

Further, the trial court found that Sensen-ig consistently reported to plaintiffs the progress and growth of Grease Monkey; that plaintiffs received Grease Monkey annual reports throughout their investment period; that plaintiffs received a number of Grease Monkey promotional items; that on many occasions Sensenig mailed plaintiffs information about their investments on Grease Monkey letterhead; that plaintiffs frequently contacted Sensenig at the Grease Monkey offices; and that Sensenig gave plaintiffs stock certificates upon which Sensenig’s signature appeared as president of the corporation. In sum, the evidence in the record supports the trial court’s conclusion that in plaintiffs’ view, Sensenig was “Mr. Grease Monkey.”

We conclude the trial court properly held Grease Monkey liable to plaintiffs because, Sensenig, as its president, acting within the scope of his apparent authority as an agent of the corporations, engaged in conduct which was customary for an individual employed in Sensenig’s position, and was placed in that position by Grease Monkey. See Dyer v. Johnson, supra.

Given the circumstances of this case and existing Colorado case law, we adopt Restatement (Second) of Agency § 261 as re-[489]*489fleeting Colorado law and conclude that the trial court did not err in applying it here.

II.

Grease Monkey also asserts the trial court erred in adopting the equitable principle of restitution as a remedy in this case. We agree that the application of restitution principles was improper; however, its application does not affect the outcome here.

Restitution is a measure of damages which restores a party to his/her prior status. It is available as a remedy when the injured party is due reimbursement for a benefit conferred upon another. See Restatement of Restitution § 1 (1937); Martinez v. Continental Enterprises, 730 P.2d 308 (Colo.1986).

Here, the trial court found in plaintiffs’ favor on their claims of fraud and misrepresentation. On its own accord, trial court chose restitution as the measure of damages.

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Montoya v. Grease Monkey Holding Corp.
883 P.2d 486 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 1994)

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883 P.2d 486, 1994 WL 8663, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/montoya-v-grease-monkey-holding-corp-coloctapp-1994.