Rosemann v. Roto-Die Co.

947 S.W.2d 507, 1997 Mo. App. LEXIS 1147, 1997 WL 342240
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 24, 1997
DocketNo. 71691
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 947 S.W.2d 507 (Rosemann v. Roto-Die 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
Rosemann v. Roto-Die Co., 947 S.W.2d 507, 1997 Mo. App. LEXIS 1147, 1997 WL 342240 (Mo. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinion

PUDLOWSKI, Judge.

Appellant, Phillip L. Rosemann, brought a declaratory judgment action in the Circuit Court of St. Louis County, requesting the court to declare that he had the right to obtain the value of his shares in respondent, Roto-Die Company, Inc. (Roto-Die), at the time immediately prior to the merger effective date, and pursuant to § 351.455 RSMo 1994.1 In his petition, appellant named Roto-Die, Richard Rosemann, Thomas Rosemann and Melvin Stanley as defendants. Richard Rosemann is now deceased and his estate is no longer a party to this litigation, leaving Roto-Die, Thomas Rosemann and Melvin Stanley (Stanley) as respondents. Respondents filed a joint motion for summary judgment in the declaratory judgment action and also filed a counterclaim for accounting, alleging that appellant diverted more that $900,000 from Roto-Die, in breach of his fiduciary duty as an officer and director. Judge Hartenbach granted respondents’ motion for summary judgment on appellant’s declaratory judgment action. Appellant also filed a motion for summary judgment on respondents’ counterclaim, admitting that he [509]*509diverted the funds, but claiming that he had already accounted for the funds. The court denied the appellant’s motion. Thereafter, appellant filed another motion for summary judgment on the counterclaim, alleging that it was barred by the statute of limitations. The court also denied that motion. Appellant, instead of proceeding to trial on the counterclaim, agreed to a consent judgment on the counterclaim and said judgment was entered by Judge Godfrey on February 5, 1996.

Appellant appeals the judgment of the circuit court sustaining respondents’ joint motion for summary judgment on appellant’s declaratory judgment action. Appellant further appeals the February 5, 1996 judgment entered on respondents’ counterclaim, as well as the court’s denial of his motion for summary judgment on the counterclaim.

We find that respondents have presented facts which negate appellant’s elements fact2 that he voted against the merger. As a result, appellant is not a dissenting shareholder for purposes of § 351.455 and cannot avail himself of the rights granted by it. Summary judgment, therefore, was properly granted by the court in favor of respondents. Appellant’s first point is denied. We find further that, because points II, III, and IV of appellant’s brief attempt to appeal certain elements of the consent judgment entered on February 5,1996, we lack jurisdiction to rule on them. These points are, therefore, dismissed.

Roto-Die, a Missouri corporation with its principal place of business in St. Louis County, is the surviving corporation of its merger with Micrometries Systems, Inc. The Certificate of Merger was issued on October 1, 1991, effectuating the merger of Microme-tries into Roto-Die. Prior to the merger, Roto-Die owned one-third of the stock of Micrometries. Both of the closely-held corporations manufactured rotary tooling and operated jointly as a unit under the trademarked name of “the RotoMetrics Group” for eight years preceding the merger. Roto-Die purchased its one-third interest in Microme-tries in 1983, with the understanding of the shareholders of both companies that the two would eventually merge.

Prior to the merger, all of the outstanding stock in Roto-Die was owned equally. Each of the three shareholders (appellant, Richard Rosemann and Thomas Rosemann) owned a one-third interest in Roto-Die, owning 5,000 shares each.

The merger discussions took place in the fall of 1990, with three meetings taking place on October 25, 1990, October 28, 1990, and November 4, 1990 respectively. Each of the three shareholders, including appellant, was an officer and director of Roto-Die during these meetings and attended the meetings without objecting to the lack of written notice of the time and purpose of the meetings. The November 4, 1990 meeting was originally scheduled for November 1, 1990, but appellant called and requested Roto-Die’s attorney, Lon E. Mathews, to reschedule the meeting to November 4, 1990. Appellant attended this meeting without objection to the lack of written notice.

Oral summaries of the plan of merger were provided to all Roto-Die shareholders, including appellant, prior to, or at the November 4, 1990 meeting at which a vote on the merger was taken. At the November 4,1990 meeting Tom Rosemann made a motion to approve the merger of Roto-Die and Micro-metrics, with Roto-Die being the surviving corporation. Appellant and the other shareholders testified in deposition that appellant amended Tom Rosemann’s motion to approve the merger by making the corporate resolution subject to Micrometries approving the merger by a stated deadline. Appellant and the others also testified that appellant seconded the motion to approve the merger. The Roto-Die shareholders, including appellant, then voted unanimously in favor of the motion to approve the merger. Micrometries also voted in favor of the merger by the stated deadline.

Roto-Die’s attorney, Lon Mathews, transcribed his notes into the minutes of the [510]*510November 4, 1990 meeting and titled them “Minutes of Special Meeting of Shareholders of Roto-Die Company, Inc.” These minutes included the following transcription of the approved motion to approve the merger:

After a motion made by Thomas J. Rosem-ann and seconded by Phillip L. Rosemann, the following resolution was unanimously adopted:
Resolved, that Roto-Die Company, Inc. and Micrometries, Inc. be merged with Roto-Die Company, Inc. being the surviving corporation, provided, however, that this resolution shall have no force or effect whatsoever after 12:00 Midnight Central Standard Time, on November 11, 1990, unless prior to that time and date the shareholders of Micrometries Systems, Inc. approve of said merger.

Appellant testified that he did not object to this transcribed merger resolution. Just a few days after the November 4, 1990 meeting, appellant was notified by Lon Mathews that Micrometries voted in favor of the merger.

On March 8, 1991, appellant ceased being an officer and director of Roto-Die because he chose not to vote himself onto the board of directors. On September 25, 1991, the agreement of merger was executed by the officers and directors, and the articles of merger were executed by the officers of the respective companies. Appellant, who was not a director or officer at this time, did not sign the agreement of merger or the articles of merger. The articles of merger were submitted to and approved by the Secretary of State on October 1,1991.

When the merger closed, the shareholders of the newly merged Roto-Die owned all of its outstanding common stock as follows: Appellant-5,000 shares (26.14%), Richard Ro-semann-5,000 shares (26.14%), Thomas Ro-semann-5,000 shares (26.14%), and Melvin Stanley-4,127 shares (21.57%).

Appellant did not file or make any demand, written or otherwise, on Roto-Die for payment of the value of his shares. On January 23, 1992, appellant filed his petition for declaratory judgment.

Various appellate motions have been filed by both appellant and respondents and are taken with this appeal. Since our findings on these motions are dispositive on certain issues on appeal, we will address them at this time. Respondent Roto-Die has filed a motion to dismiss this appeal, or in the alternative, strike Points II, III, and IV of appellant’s brief.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
947 S.W.2d 507, 1997 Mo. App. LEXIS 1147, 1997 WL 342240, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rosemann-v-roto-die-co-moctapp-1997.