Red Bud Realty Co. v. South

131 S.W. 340, 96 Ark. 281, 1910 Ark. LEXIS 27
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedJuly 11, 1910
StatusPublished
Cited by47 cases

This text of 131 S.W. 340 (Red Bud Realty Co. v. South) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Red Bud Realty Co. v. South, 131 S.W. 340, 96 Ark. 281, 1910 Ark. LEXIS 27 (Ark. 1910).

Opinion

FrauENThal, J.

(after stating the facts). 1. This was an action instituted by one of the minority shareholders of a corporation to recover in part assets not belonging directly to such shareholders, but in effect to recover assets belonging to the corporation itself.

A stockholder does not acquire any' estate in the property of a corporation by virtue of his stock; the full legal and equitable title thereto is in the corporation, .and a cause of action for the recovery of its property or for a violation of its rights thereto is in the corporation. The management and control of the affairs of a corporation rest with its board of directors, and the general rule is that courts will not ordinarily interfere at the suit of a minority shareholder to override and control the discretion of the directors in the management of the business and affairs of the corporation. The majority of the stockholders ordinarily have the right to conduct and control its affairs and property.

It is urged by counsel for defendants that the cause of action, if any, set out in the complaint is that solely of the corporation; and, inasmuch as appellants represent the majority of its stock, they have the right to manage its affairs and, within their own discretion, to determine all questions relative to the corporate property and management; that therefore they have the right to make settlements with those who have business relations -with it, and cannot be compelled to litigate where they do not consider it advisable or just to do so. On this account, they insist that the demurrer to the complaint should have been sustained.

But, while the directors of a corporation have the management of its business and property, nevertheless they also occupy a relation of trust with reference to its stockholders. The stockholders own the shares, whose value is dependent upon and is affected by the conduct of the directors, and therefore the directors owe certain fiduciary duties to the stockholders. The cause of action primarily exists in the corporation for the recovery of its assets and for the violation of its rights to same. But where the directors are guilty of breaches of trust in their management of the affairs of the company, and through fraud or gross negligence refuse, or virtually refuse, to institute an action for the recovery of its property wrongfully diverted or of its funds misappropriated, then a stockholder has a right to maintain in equity such an action to secure those rights and prevent a failure of justice. This right of action arises to the shareholder whenever the directors and officers of the corporation are pursuing a course for -their own personal gain and in fraud of the rights of the shareholders.

In the case -of Hawes v. Oakland, 104 U. S. 450, in speaking of the right of a .shareholder to institute a suit relative to corporate property in his own name, the court says : “We understand the doctrine to be that to enable a stockholder in a corporation to sustain in a court of equity in his own name a suit founded on a right of action existing in the corporation itself, and in which the corporation itself is the appropriate plaintiff, there must exist as the foundation of the suit * * * such a fraudulent transaction completed or contemplated by the acting managers, in -connection with some other party, or among themselves, or with other shareholders, as will result in serious injury to the corporation, or to the interests of the other shareholders.”

And, as is said in the case of Miner v. Belle Isle Ice Co., 17 L. R. A. 412, “there is no doubt of the power of a court of equity, in case of fraud, abuse of trust, or misappropriation of corporate funds, at the instance of a single stockholder, to grant relief, and compel a restitution; and where the holders of -the majority of the stock control the directorate,' and are themselves the wrongdoers, without any showing that the directors have been requested, or the corporation has refused, to act.” 3 Pomeroy, Eq. Jur. § 1095; Ex parte Booker, 18 Ark. 338; Dodge v. Woolsey, 18 How. 331; Hand v. Dexter, 41 Ga. 454; Marcuse v. Gullett Gin Co., 52 La. Ann. 1383; Brewer v. Boston Theater, 104 Mass. 378.

Where, therefore, tire officers of a corporation fraudulently misappropriate the corporate funds in any manner, and its managing body refuses, or in effect refuses, to seek relief against the wrongdoers, a single stockholder may institute a proceeding in 'his own name to secure the relief to which the corporation is entitled; and in such suit he should make the corporation a party. We think that the complaint in this case made sufficient allegations to invoke the aid -of a court of equity at the instance of one of the minority stockholders of the corporation.

2. The chancellor found that Powell, one of the directors, and the chief officer of the corporation, had misappropriated the funds of the corporation and had used same in payment for the Devereaux and McClean stocks, which he purchased. He declared that a trust thus resulted in favor of the corporation which a court of equity would enforce, and that thereby the corporation became the equitable owner of the stock so acquired.

It is well settled that whenever a trustee purchases property with trust funds, and takes the title thereto in his own name, equity will regard such purchase as made for the benefit of the cestui que trust. In passing upon this question, the Supreme Court of fhe United States in the case of National Bank v. Insurance Company, 104 U. S. 54, said: “The master of the Rolls, Sir George Jessel, showed that the modern doctrine of equity, as regards property disposed of by persons in a fiduciary position, is that, whether the disposition of it be rightful or wrongful, the beneficial owner is entitled to the proceeds, whatever be their form, provided only he can identify them * * *; and that there is no difference between investments in the purchase of lands, or chattels, or bonds, or loans, or moneys deposited in a bank account.” By this doctrine equity maintains the beneficial rights of property, and where a trustee uses trust funds in the acquisition of property, the cestui que trust may elect whether he will take the property or recover from the trustee the funds thus wrongfully diverted. 3 Pomeroy, Eq. Jur. § 1049; Green v. Green, 46 L. R. A. 525; Holmes v. Gilman, 138 N. Y. 369; Twohy Mercantile Co. v. Melbye, 78 Minn. 357; Dyer v. Dyer, 1 White & Tudor, Lead. Cas. in Eq. 314.

But, in order to constitute such a resulting trust, the payment of the purchase money must be made before or at the time of the acquisition of the property; a subsequent payment will not by relation attach the trust to the original purchase. In the case of Botsford v. Burr, 2 Johnson’s Ch. (N. Y.) 415, Chancellor Kent said: “The trust must have been coeval with the deeds, or it cannot exist at all. * * * The trust results from the original transaction at the time it takes place, and at no other time, and it is founded on the actual payment of the money and on no other ground. It cannot be mingled with any subsequent dealings whatever.” Rogers v. Murray, 3 Paige, Ch., 390; Dyer v. Dyer, supra.

Following this doctrine, this court in the case of Sale v. McLean, 29 Ark.

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Bluebook (online)
131 S.W. 340, 96 Ark. 281, 1910 Ark. LEXIS 27, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/red-bud-realty-co-v-south-ark-1910.