Schneider v. Johnson

147 S.W. 538, 164 Mo. App. 639, 1912 Mo. App. LEXIS 365
Missouri Court of Appeals·Decided May 6, 1912·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinion

GRAY, J.

In 1909 The Wautauga Mining Company and The Red Fox Mining Company were organized under the laws of this state relating to business corporations. The Wautauga Company had a capital stock of $80,000, divided into 800 shares, and the Red Fox $50,000, divided into 500 shares. The articles of association of each company recited that the stock [643] was paid in full. The appellant subscribed for one share of the Wautauga stock, and paid for same. He subscribed for 200 shares of the Red Fox stock, and paid thereon $3000. Both companies maintained offices in Joplin, and engaged in mining in Jasper county, but proved to be financial failures, and ceased to transact business about a year before this suit was commenced. Their properties were covered by mortgages, and according to the testimony, they had no intention to, and were absolutely unable, to resume business.

The Wautauga Company at the time it ceased business, owed debts to numerous creditors of whom it had purchased supplies and machinery to enable it to carry on its mining operations, and this plaintiff was one of such creditors, and the accounts of fifteen other creditors were assigned to him for collection, and this suit was instituted on these accounts and against the defendant for his unpaid subscription to the capital stock.

The Red Fox Company at the time it ceased to do business, was. indebted to the plaintiff for machinery and supplies furnished, and was also indebted to eleven other creditors, who assigned their accounts to plaintiff, and a suit was instituted by plaintiff against the appellant on all of said demands, and seeking to recover on the theory that appellant had not paid for his stock and was indebted to the company therefor at the time it ceased to do business, and at the time the suit was instituted. The two suits were consolidated by agreement, and tried as one, and the plaintiff recovered a judgment on each count of the two petitions, and defendant appealed to this court.

It is claimed the petition fails to state a cause of action. As each count is practically the same, it will only be necessary to consider one.

The second count charges: “That the Wautauga Mining Company was a corporation doing busi[644] ness in Joplin, Missouri, in 1909, but on or about tbe first day of March, 1910, said • corporation was dissolved by abandonment of its business and property, all its property being consumed by liens and mortgages, and it bas now no assets or property, and tbe said corporation left among other debts unpaid an indebtedness due to tbe Home Powder Company, a corporation, in tbe sum of twenty-seven dollars for powder and blasting material, and tbe same remains due and unpaid. Tbe said Home Powder Company bas this day assigned its said account to this plaintiff for tbe purpose of collection, and tbe same is herewith filed marked ‘Exhibit B.’ Plaintiff states that tbe defendant was tbe owner and bolder of tbe stock of tbe said Wautauga Mining Company, of tbe par value of $11,100 and took said stock knowing tbe same bad not been paid up, and there is now due and unpaid on tbe said stock so held by tbe defendant tbe sum of $6,500. Wherefore, plaintiff sues tbe said defendant as a former stockholder in said Wautauga Mining Company for tbe sum of twenty-seven dollars and for costs of suit.”

Tbe counts in tbe Red Fox transaction were practically tbe same, except they alleged that tbe appellant was one of tbe original subscribers to the capital stock of the company, and bad not paid therefor. No demurrer was filed to tbe petition and appellant answered, and not until trial was commenced, and then only by oral objection to the introduction of testimony, was any complaint leveled against tbe petition.

While tbe defendant bas tbe right to object to tbe introduction of testimony on tbe ground that tbe petition does not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action, this practice is one which is to be discouraged, and if tbe petition is sufficient to sustain a judgment, tbe objection should be overruled. [Mfg. Co. v. Montgomery, 144 Mo. App. 494, 129 S. W. 460; [645] Johnson & Co. v. Ice & Refrigerating Co., 143 Mo. App. 441, 127 S. W. 692.] Of course if the petition is fatally defective, then the objection may be made for the first time after judgment, or even in the appellate court. [Simpson v. Witte Iron Works Co., 144 S. W. 895.]

It is first claimed that the petitions are fatally defective because they do not allege that any judgment had been rendered against the corporation. It is not necessary that the creditor should be a judgment creditor. [State Savings Assn. v. Kellogg, 63 Mo. 540; Bittner v. Lee, 25 Mo. App. 559.]

The next objection is that the accounts sued on were not filed. Exhibits are not a part of the petition, and cannot be considered in passing on the sufficiency of the petition. [Paper Co. v. Publishing Co., 156 Mo. App, 187, 136 S. W. 736; Merrill v. Central Trust Co., 46 Mo. App. 237; Lime & Cement Co. v. Wind, 86 Mo. App. 163.]

The petitions are further objected to on the ground that they do not show that the corporations were dissolved in the manner provided by section 3006, Revised Statutes 1909. Under the settled law of this state, the creditor of an insolvent corporation does not have to wait until the corporation’s charter has expired, or until the corporation has been judicially dissolved, but as to him the corporation will be deemed dissolved when it has ceased to be a going concern, and has disposed of its tangible assets and there is no probability of its again attempting to carry on the business for which it was organized. [Farmers Bank v. Gallagher, 43 Mo. App. 483; Bank v. Kellogg, 52 Mo. 583; Moore v. Whitcomb, 48 Mo. 543; Elliott v. Sullivan, 156 Mo. App. 496, 137 S. W. 287; Brookline Canning & Packing Co. v. Evans, 163 Mo. App. 564, decided by this court April 1, 1912.]

The last objection to the petitions is that that it is not alleged that defendant was a stockholder at the [646] time of such dissolution. It is true the petitions do not allege that the appellant was a stockholder at the time of the dissolution, but it is alleged that he was a stockholder and then asked judgment against him on the ground that he was a former stockholder.

It seems to us that in as much as no demurrer was filed to the petitions, or no motion to make them more definite and certain, and that in the objection to the .introduction of testimony the trial court’s attention was not called to the indefiniteness of this allegation, we would not be justified in reversing the judgment on account of this defect.

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Schneider v. Johnson, 147 S.W. 538, 164 Mo. App. 639, 1912 Mo. App. LEXIS 365 (Mo. Ct. App. 1912).

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