Smith v. Bulkley

18 Colo. App. 227
Colorado Court of Appeals·Decided September 15, 1902·No. No. 2206·Published·Cited by 5 cases

Opinion

Gunter, J.

A general demurrer to the complaint was sustained and a judgment of dismissal entered. Plaintiff appealed. The allegations of the complaint pertinent to this ruling are: Plaintiff is and was at all times mentioned therein a stockholder of The Tabor Mines and Mills Company, a corporation; and sues for himself and others similarly situated. June 12, 1893, the president and secretary of the corporation gave a note and trust deed, the latter, on corporate real estate, with the purpose of borrowing funds for the individual use of said president; obtained the same thereby, and the money so obtained was so used. All of which facts were known to the lender of the money, and the present holder of the note, Frederick G. Bulkley. On May 23, 1896, the trustee in the above trust deed advertised the property covered thereby for sale June 15- next thereafter. This action was brought against The Tabor Mines and Mills Company and three of its directors, to have the no-' ticed sale enjoined and the note and trust deed can-celled, the plaintiff contending that the giving of the note and trust deed was an ultra vires act .of the president and secretary of the corporation.

It further appears from the complaint that four [229] directors of the corporation, for the first year of its existence, were named in the articles of incorporation at the time of the organization of the corporation March 16, 1893, and that no election of directors had heen held since.

The act complained of, the giving of the, note and trust deed, was an alleged attempt to misappropriate assets of The Tabor Mines and Mills Company, it was, therefore, a wrong attempted against the corporation, a direct wrong to it, and only an indirect wrong to the stockholder, the plaintiff herein. The right to bring an action to redress this wrong was in the corporation which sustained it. The wrong was committed 'June 12, 1893, the present action for relief was instituted by plaintiff June 8,1896.'

As to when he-first ascertained'that the wrong had been committed the complaint is silent. It does not appear that he or any other person at any time,although three years elapsed between the giving of this note and trust deed and the institution, of this action, requested the board of directors of defendant corporation to institute this suit, nor is any explanation offered as to why he made no effort to induce action by the proper corporate officers for relief from the alleged wrong. No allegation is made of any effort to have the stockholders take steps, by removal of the board of directors or otherwise, for righting this alleged wrong. So far as we are advised by the complaint the stockholder instituted this action to redress the alleged corporate wrong without ever having made any effort, through the officers or stockholders of the corporation, to have such action brought, and without offering any explanation why such application was not made by him before institution of this action. The authorities are as one that under such circumstances an action by the stockholder will not lie. The powers of a corporation are-[230] exercised by the stockholders in legal session, the board of directors and other agencies. It is necessary for the economic and efficient management of a corporation that its powers be exercised by the proper agencies. To permit any stockholder to institute an action in the corporate name to redress an alleged corporate wrong without a showing on his part that every reasonable effort had been made through the proper channels to induce corporate action, and that unredressed wrong would result to the corporation unless he were permitted to sue, would be to tolerate a practice prejudicial to corporations and other stockholders, and one violating all established precedents. In Miller v. Murray, 17 Colo. 408, 30 Pac. 46, a stockholder sued in behalf of himself and other stockholders, similarly situated, to redress a wrong sustained through an alleged misappropriation of corporate assets. Relief was denied, the ground therefor being that he had made no effort through the stockholders of the corporation to have a suit to redress the wrong brought by the corporation. In the course of the opinion it is' said:

“The vast and increasing importance of the business transacted by corporations and the immense number of stockholders in many of these companies, require that the court should closely scrutinize actions brought by stockholders where the cause of action is primarily one belonging to the company. If it be once conceded that such companies may be embarrassed and subjected to cost and expense by every stockholder who thinks he has a grievance, the usefulness of corporations would be seriously crippled. ’ ’

Therein it is further said:

“Among other requisites of a bill of this nature, in addition to the grievances which would warrant this kind of relief to the company, it was held that before the shareholder could be allowed to conduct a [231] litigation he should satisfactorily show that he had exhausted all the means within his reach to obtain, within the corporation itself, redress of his grievances. In addition to making an earnest effort to induce the managing body of the corporation to seek relief, he must further show, if he fails with the directors, that he has made an honest effort to obtain relief through the stockholders as a body, if time permits or has permitted him to do so. And if this be not done he must show cause why it could not be done or that it would be unreasonable to require it. ’ ’ — See also Hawes v. Oakland, 104 U. S. 450; Jones v. Pearl Mining Co., 20 Colo. 421, 38 Pac. 766; Beshoar v. Chappell, 6 Colo. App. 323, 332, 40 Pac. 244; Peoples Savings Bank v. Mining Exchange Bldg. Co., 8 Colo. App. 354, 356, 46 Pac. 620; Hutton v. Bancroft & Sons Co., 83 Fed. 17.

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Smith v. Bulkley, 18 Colo. App. 227 (Colo. Ct. App. 1902).

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