Shingledecker v. Spencer

193 So. 2d 340, 1966 La. App. LEXIS 4609
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 5, 1966
DocketNo. 2363
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 193 So. 2d 340 (Shingledecker v. Spencer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Shingledecker v. Spencer, 193 So. 2d 340, 1966 La. App. LEXIS 4609 (La. Ct. App. 1966).

Opinion

YARRUT, Judge.

Plaintiffs are Kenneth W. Shingledecker, liis wife, Ruth N. Shingledecker, and her brother, James H. Neal. Mrs. Shingledecker was employed as manager of a beauty college operated by Linda Brooks Corporation .at the time she negotiated with Defendants, •the sole shareholders, L. Clay Spencer, Gilbert J. Fortier, Jr., and Rosemarie B. Mee-han, for the sale of all of the capital stock of the Corporation. On February 28, 1963, .a purchase agreement was executed in which Plaintiffs agreed to pay Defendants $10,000; $5,000 in cash and the balance in 30 days. To secure the deferred payment, the stock was pledged and delivered to Corwin B. Reed, attorney and notary, as 'Trustee; to surrender to Plaintiffs upon full payment; or, upon default, to dispose ■of it under the terms of the agreement of sale. Plaintiffs thereafter paid only $2,-.500, leaving a $2,500 balance.

Plaintiffs charged Defendants with falsely and fraudulently misrepresenting the accounts receivable; misrepresenting that the lease contained an option to renew when, in fact, it did not; misrepresenting that Defendant Spencer would obtain financing for students’ tuition, and would endorse the notes if necessary; misrepresenting that Spencer would pay a Times-Picayune Publishing Company advertising bill; and scheming to foist on Plaintiffs all liabilities, while systematically draining the assets, e. g., cash necessary to operate the beauty college.

They prayed the Court: (1) To decree to be null and void the “Sale of Stock with Stock Pledge,” and to order Defendants to return the $7,500 paid to date by Plaintiffs; (2) in the alternative, for a reduction of the purchase price as the Court may deem fair and just; (3) in the further alternative, decreeing the balance of $2,500 as not due and owing to Plaintiffs, and ordering the Defendants to transfer the stock of Linda Brooks Corporation to Plaintiffs; (4) for an accounting of the management of Linda Brooks Corporation during the years 1960, 1961, 1962, and 1963, and for solidary judgment against Defendants for whatever amount found owing by the Defendants to Plaintiffs. They also asked for and obtained a preliminary injunction to prevent the Trustee from disposing of the stock to any parties other than the Plaintiffs. On July 10, 1963, Plaintiffs supplemented and amended their petition by adding the following paragraph:

“The Defendant, Gilbert J. Fortier, Jr. is justly and truly indebted to the petitioners herein, in the sum of Four Thousand and No/100 ($4,000.00) Dollars, representing his subscription to Twenty (20) shares of common stock of Linda Brooks Corporation, which is represented by certificate number 1 issued in the name of Gilbert J. Fortier of the stock of said corporation for Forty-Five (45) shares of which Twenty (20) shares remain subscribed for, issued, but unpaid.”

[342]*342The Court rendered judgment in favor of the Plaintiffs, Kenneth W. Shingle-decker, Ruth N. Shingledeclcer and James H. Neal, and against Defendants, L. Clay Spencer, Gilbert J. Fortier, Jr., and Rosemarie B. Meehan, jointly, severally and in solido, in the sum of $3,402.08, with legal interest from date of judicial demand until paid, and for all costs; and against the Defendant, Gilbert J. Fortier, Jr., in the sum of $3,804.27, with legal interest from date of judicial demand until paid, and for all costs; and that the preliminary injunction previously issued be made permanent.

The Trial Judge gave no reasons for judgment, but the judgment indicates that he reached the following conclusions: (1) that the accounts receivable were inflated in the sum of $3,402.08, and that the price of the shares of stock should be reduced by that amount, but that Plaintiffs had not proven other items of damage; (2) that Plaintiffs were also entitled to the amount that Defendant Gilbert J. Fortier, Jr. had pledged to purchase 20 shares of stock at $200 a share, less $195.73, the amount he had spent for materials for the School.

Defendants appeal for a reversal of the judgment of $3,402.08 against them in soli-do contending: (1) That Plaintiffs failed to make a prima facie case because Mrs. Shingledeclcer was the only party Plaintiff to testify; that the failure of her husband and her brother to testify raised the presumption that their testimony would be unfavorable and inconsistent with hers for two reasons: (a) They were fellow Plaintiffs (citing Gulf States Utilities Co. v. Guidry, La.App., 183 So.2d 122), and (b) they were relatives (citing Veillon v. Sylvester, La.App., 174 So.2d 189). The cited cases are not apposite here. In Gulf States Utilities, the driver of an automobile which struck a utility pole, did not testify in his behalf although he was the only witness to the accident, the court concluding:

“It is settled jurisprudence that when a party to a suit fails to testify to cardinal facts obviously within his knowledge and vital in determining the just result of the litigation, the presumption exists that his testimony, if adduced, would be unfavorable.” 183 So.2d at 129.

In the Veillon case, cited supra, one of the parties in an assault and battery case failed to call his son who witnessed the altercation. In this case, also, the court noted that this particular witness possessed peculiar knowledge essential to his father’s cause. In the instant case it is clear, from the record, that Mrs. Shingledeclcer was the only party with whom Defendants conducted their negotiations. In fact, her brother, a resident of Detroit, Michigan, gave Mrs. Shingledeclcer his power-of-attorney and she signed all documents for him. There is no evidence that Mrs. Shingledeclcer’s husband or brother possess any peculiar knowledge of the situation in the instant case; therefore, Defendants can not avail themselves of the benefit of either presumption.

(2) Defendants also contend that, even if it were proper to give judgment in diminution against Defendants and in favor of Plaintiffs, then Defendants are entitled to off-set, as compensation, $4,127.-69 which they paid Plibernia Bank on a note, as a result of Linda Brooks Corporation’s default. This contention is without merit because Defendants did not assert the affirmative defense of compensation, nor did they reconvene. Compensation may either be pleaded as an affirmative defense (LSA-C.C.P. art. 1005), or by way of re-convention (LSA-C.C.P. art. 1062), but it can not be allowed unless pleaded. Snyder v. Snyder, La.App., 152 So.2d 246. However, it is admitted in Plaintiffs’ petition that the contract price for the shares of stock was $10,000 and Plaintiffs have paid only $7,500; therefore, the $2,500 balance should have been deducted from the amount of the $3,402.08 judgment and the Defendants held liable for only $902.08.

[343]*343Defendant Fortier appeals for a reversal of the $3,804.27 judgment against him for the following reasons:

(a) Even if it were proper to cast him in judgment, then the proper party to recover judgment against him was the Corporation, Linda Brooks, Inc., and not the stockholders thereof, e. g., the Plaintiffs; (b) because the judgment against him is .based upon a demand not contained in the ■original petition, but made by supplemental pleadings filed ex parte without a contra- ■ dictory hearing; and (c) because the evidence adduced at the trial clearly shows that the shares of stock, allegedly subscribed for in fact, were the subject of an op.tion which became rescinded.

We agree that the proper party •to recover judgment against Gilbert J. For-tier, Jr.

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Related

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193 So. 2d 340, 1966 La. App. LEXIS 4609, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/shingledecker-v-spencer-lactapp-1966.