Peiser v. Grand Isle, Inc.

60 So. 2d 1, 221 La. 585, 1952 La. LEXIS 1237
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedJune 2, 1952
DocketNo. 40775
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 60 So. 2d 1 (Peiser v. Grand Isle, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Peiser v. Grand Isle, Inc., 60 So. 2d 1, 221 La. 585, 1952 La. LEXIS 1237 (La. 1952).

Opinion

FOURNET, Chief Justice.

The plaintiffs, Henry C. Peiser and Abraham L. Shushan, Sr., owners of stock in the defendant corporation, instituted suit for the appointment of a receiver and for a temporary restraining order prohibiting the corporation, its officers, directors or agents, from disposing of its properties or changing the status of its affairs, including particularly the liquidation of the corporation, pending hearing and determination on the application for receivership. A temporary restraining order and rule nisi issued, directing the defendant to show cause why a receiver should not be appointed, whereupon George Danziger, as administrator of the succession of Alfred D. Danziger — the holder of 97% of the stock of the corporation — intervened and joined with the defendant, Grand Isle, Inc., in opposing the appointment of a receiver. At the hearing on rules nisi, after the plaintiffs had presented their case, the court ordered the rule nisi for a preliminary writ of injunction recalled and set aside, the temporary restraining order dissolved, the rule nisi for appointment of a receiver recalled and set aside, and the case dismissed. On application of the plaintiffs we issued certiorari to review the proceedings below.

Grand Isle, Inc., was organized in 1931 by the late Alfred D. Danziger for the purpose of acquiring, developing, improving and selling real estate; as president and majority stockholder, he controlled its affairs until .his death in April, 1948. George Danziger, his brother, was appointed administrator of the succession of Alfred Danziger, and on June 10, 1948, was elected president of the corporation. He has managed its affairs since that date, [590]*590and by letter of December 14, 1951, in his capacity as president, he offered to purchase the shares owned by plaintiffs (2% of the outstanding stock of the corporation) at issuance value of $100 per share, so as to “relieve the tax situation by liquidating the corporation and putting the assets through .Alfred D. Danziger’s succession, as sole stockholder.” A balance sheet of the corporation was furnished, on request, and the offer was then refused. Shortly thereafter plaintiffs received notice of a special meeting of shareholders to be held for the purpose of voting on the dissolution of the corporation by liquidation out of court, whereupon request was made that one' of plaintiffs be appointed as co-liquidator and their attorneys be allowed to participate in the liquidation. Upon refusal, this proceeding was instituted.

Plaintiffs’ suit is predicated on subsections (2) and (11) of LSA-R.S. 12:752, which grants to all district courts in this State jurisdiction to. appoint receivers “At the instance of any shareholder or creditor, when the directors or other officers of the corporation are jeopardizing the rights of shareholders or creditors by grossly mismanaging the business or by committing acts ultra vires, or by wasting, misusing, or misapplying the property or funds of the corporation” (subsection 2), and “At the instance of any shareholder when a majority of the shareholders are violating the charter rights of the minority and putting their interests in imminent danger” (subsection 11).

For cause of action the plaintiffs charge, past and present gross mismanagement and misapplication of the funds of the corporation in many particulars, specifically complaining of (1) the actions of Alfred Danziger in failing to keep financial records of the corporation separate and apart from his personal records, commingling of funds, and his taking from the treasury of defendant for his personal use, without authority, a sum in excess of $100,000, never repaid; (2) the failure of present officers and directors timely to demand or take steps to obtain the return of said money; (3) the actions of past officers and directors (two of whom, Mrs. Isabelle D. Miller, sister of Alfred Danziger, and Miss Emma Pixberg, are still officers and directors) in entering minutes of meetings of shareholders never actually held and of which they (plaintiffs) have never received any notices (other than that of the meeting called for liquidation of the corporation), although the charter was purportedly amended in 1937 to effect a reduction in the value of the shares from $100 to $20 per share; (4) failure to call, give notice of, or hold, annual meetings of shareholders, or keep adequate records, and to submit reports as to the status of the corporation’s affairs; (5) the failure to declare and pay dividends out of funds available for that purpose; (6) the purchase of shares of the corporation stock with its funds at varying prices and placing same in the treasury; (7) the action of a majority of the directors (Mrs. Miller and [592]*592Miss Pixberg) in failing to discharge their duties and abdicating in toto to the majority shareholder; and (8) the payment to the Canal Bank & Trust Co., in Liquidation, of $21,126.86, plus interest, on account of a note dated August 25, 1945, made and subscribed by the corporation, per Alfred Danziger, payable to his order, and by him endorsed in blank, issued without consideration and negotiated by Alfred Danziger to secure his own personal obligations.

Upon trial the plaintiffs were precluded from offering evidence as to the status of the corporation’s affairs prior to 1948 due to the court’s consistent ruling that evidence as to events antedating the death of Alfred Danziger were inadmissible — receivership, as a remedy, looking rather to the prevention of future injuries than to the redress of past grievances. Contending that this exclusion of evidence was erroneous and would give additional support to their application, the plaintiffs nevertheless assert that the record contains sufficient evidence of gross mismanagement and violation of their charter rights to justify the appointment of a receiver, and particularly stress the fact that no part of the money appropriated by Alfred Danziger has been repaid to the corporation and that it has been excluded from participation in distributions of funds of the succession, although, as shown by the Provisional Accounts, George Danziger has paid out of the succession’s funds the sum of $224,271 to various unsecured creditors amounting to 78% of their claims — among these being heirs of Alfred Danziger and including Mrs. Isabelle D. Danziger, his sister and a director of the corporation.

Grand Isle, Inc. and the intervenor are supported by the record in their showing that when George Danziger became president of the corporation in 1948 he caused a new set of books to be installed and recognized the indebtedness of his brother’s succession to the corporation in the amount of $93,979.20, which he showed as a liability in his accountings filed as administrator; and that upon payment of the corporation’s note of $21,126.86, the amount was charged on the books of the corporation to the account of Alfred Danziger and set up as an account receivable — making a total succession indebtedness of $115,106.06, which amount appears as an asset of the corporation on its balance sheet attached to plaintiffs’ petition and is, moreover, admitted in the answer.

Denying acts of mismanagement in the present administration and the necessity for receivership, the defendant and intervenor state there would have been no profit to the corporation to make demand on the succession, when decedent’s liability had been judicially acknowledged by the administrator and provision for settlement judicially approved, and upon each provisional accounting specific reservation had been made of the rights of the corporation to participate in future distributions of the [594]*594succession assets.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
60 So. 2d 1, 221 La. 585, 1952 La. LEXIS 1237, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/peiser-v-grand-isle-inc-la-1952.