Ratermann v. Ratermann Realty & Investment Co.

341 S.W.2d 280, 1960 Mo. App. LEXIS 428
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 20, 1960
Docket30541
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 341 S.W.2d 280 (Ratermann v. Ratermann Realty & Investment Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ratermann v. Ratermann Realty & Investment Co., 341 S.W.2d 280, 1960 Mo. App. LEXIS 428 (Mo. Ct. App. 1960).

Opinion

BRADY, Commissioner.

The respondents as co'-executors of the Estate of Al G. Ratermann brought this action in equity against The Ratermann Realty &"• Investment Company, a Missouri corporation, hereinafter called the company, and George Ratermann, president of the company, hereinafter called the president. The petition alleged that the respondents’ decedent, Al G. Ratermann, at his death owned 98 shares of the $100 par value capital stock of the company, as evidenced by certificates No. 5 and No. 6, each for 49 shares; that these certificates were issued in the name of Henry Ratermann, Sr., and “duly endorsed by him prior to the time the decedent became the owner thereof” ; that while he was still living, respondents’ decedent had tendered to the defendants these certificates and demanded that stock certificates be issued to the decedent, which demands were refused by the defendants. The petition then alleged that since decedent’s death, the respondents acting in their capacity as co-executors under the will of decedent have made repeated demands upon the company and its president that a stock certificate evidencing the ownership of these 98 shares of stock be issued to the respondents in their representative capacity, but that the defendants have failed and refused to do so or to take any action so as to make the respondents the record owners of these 98 shares; that there were other owners in fact but not of record of shares of the company who have also made demands on the company and its president for the issuance of shares of stock to them, and the president has refused to issue any shares to those persons also; and that these other shareholders and the respondents *283 combined own more than a majority of the 500 shares of capital stock of the company. It was then alleged that the company owns valuable real property, that the defendant president of the company is the only living officer of the company, which has no duly elected board of directors, and that the president of the company refuses to transfer the shares of stock in order to prevent respondents and the other shareholders from becoming shareholders of record and thereby prevents a proper and legal shareholders’ meeting which would be empowered to proceed with the election of officers. The usual allegation of equity jurisdiction follows in that the action of the company’s president is alleged to be willful, arbitrary, illegal and to constitute misconduct such as to disqualify him as an officer of the company and that his actions are depriving the respondents of their legal rights as shareholders, to their irreparable injury and damage for which they have no adequate remedy at law. It is further alleged that by making the demands and tenders as stated in the petition, the respondents have taken all of the action which they can take under the charter and by-laws of the corporation and have thereby exhausted their remedies as provided by the company’s charter and bylaws. The respondents prayed the court that: (A) The company be ordered and directed to accept the tender of the respondents of the certificates of stock No. 5 and No. 6 issued to Henry Ratermann, Sr., and to issue to the respondents in their executive capacity new certificates evidencing the ownership of these 98 shares of stock and to record the respondents’ ownership thereof on the books of the company; (B) That the defendant president of the company be ordered and directed to accomplish such transfer and that he be authorized and directed to sign the stock certificates not only as president but also as acting secretary; (C) That in the alternative, the defendant George Ratermann be removed as president of the company and that the court decree the respondents in their representative capacity to be the owners of the 98 shares of stock, and the court direct and designate an appropriate person or persons to issue new stock evidencing the respondents’ ownership and to record the same on the books of the company; (D) That in the alternative, the court appoint an appropriate officer of the court to convene and hold a meeting of the shareholders of the company for the purpose of electing directors of the company, and that as an incident to the meeting to be thus held under the supervision of the court and prior to the convening of such a meeting, the court by its decree direct the issuance of certificates of stock of the company to the respondents and, other persons who are shareholders in fact but not of record.

On February 16, 1959, one Mary Rater-mann, in her representative capacity as ad-ministratrix of the Estate of Joseph P. Ratermann, deceased, filed a motion to intervene accompanied by her petition, claiming ownership of certificate No. 6 for 49 shares adverse to the ownership of the estate and alleging deliverance by Joseph P. Ratermann of said certificate in trust to Al G. Ratermann, the decedent. This motion to intervene was argued and submitted, and on October 19, 1959, the court sustained said motion of Mary Ratermann to intervene on the grounds that a controversy existed between plaintiffs and said Mary Ratermann as to the rightful ownership of said 49 shares of stock. In that order the court set aside a previous order dated September 10, 1959, denying Mary Ratermann leave to intervene.

The appellants then filed their motion to intervene and accompanied said motion with their intervening petition. From the intervening petition which appellants seek ’to file, it appears that respondents are co-executors under the will of Al G. Rater-mann and the same under the will of Theresa P. Ratermann, the widow of Al G. Ratermann; that the appellants are heirs at law of Al G. Ratermann and Theresa P. Ratermann; that the other children of these decedents were the respondents, one other brother, and two sisters; that the original suit in equity is one of a group of *284 cases in legal proceedings pending in the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis, Circuit Court of St. Louis County, and the Probate Court of St. Louis County. It would unduly burden this appeal to set out all of these actions separately, but they fall into four general categories: (1) will contests filed by the appellants regarding the wills of Al G. Ratermann and Theresa P. Ratermann; (2) appeals by the appellants here from allowance of claims to the respondents by the probate court; (3) actions to compel the transfer of shares of stock; and (4) actions by the appellants for removal of respondents as executors of the estates of Al G. Ratermann and Theresa P. Ratermann. Of these four general classes of actions, the third class is necessary to this opinion, and we will therefore set those actions out in detail as well as the allegations of the intervening-petition concerning each of them. Cause No. 7682-E involves 23.3770 shares of stock and was brought by the respondents in their representative capacity under the will of Theresa P. Ratermann against the trustees under the indenture of trust of Henry Ratermann, Sr., seeking to have such shares transferred to them in their execu-tory capacity. The allegation of the appellants with respect to the shares involved in this action is that these shares in fact belonged to Theresa P. Ratermann at the date of her death as a result of a joint purchase with her husband from certain other members of the family. Cause No. 7683-E involves 44.5718 shares of stock and was brought by the respondents in their representative capacity under the will of Al G. Ratermann against the same trustees under the same trust indenture as above, seeking the transfer of such shares to them in their executory capacity.

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Bluebook (online)
341 S.W.2d 280, 1960 Mo. App. LEXIS 428, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ratermann-v-ratermann-realty-investment-co-moctapp-1960.