Southmoor, Inc. v. Baptist Memorial Hospital

444 S.W.2d 716, 60 Tenn. App. 148, 1969 Tenn. App. LEXIS 311
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedMay 28, 1969
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 444 S.W.2d 716 (Southmoor, Inc. v. Baptist Memorial Hospital) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Southmoor, Inc. v. Baptist Memorial Hospital, 444 S.W.2d 716, 60 Tenn. App. 148, 1969 Tenn. App. LEXIS 311 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1969).

Opinion

MATHERNE, J.

This is a suit in equity to set aside two deeds on the ground that the first deed was obtained by fraud and that the persons signing for the corporate grantor were not authorized so to act. The parties will be referred to as they appeared below, appellants as complainants, and appellees as defendants.

The complainants are Southmoor, Inc., and Southmoor Golf and Country Club, Inc., and several individual complainants who allege they were and still are the officers of the two corporate complainants. However, by order of the Chancellor the individuals were allowed to withdraw as individual complainants leaving only the two corporate complainants.

The defendants are General Vendors, Inc., the grantee of the complainant corporations; Baptist Memorial Hospital, the grantee of General Vendors, Inc.; Virgyl Johnson, Vice-President of Southmoor, Inc. and Parker Henderson, an officer of General Vendors, Inc.

[151]*151The deed which was allegedly fraudulently obtained from the grantor is dated December 17, 1963, wherein Southmoor, Inc., conveyed approximately 42 acres of land to General Vendors, Inc. This deed is executed for South-moor, Inc., by Virgyl Johnson, Vice-President, and G. E. Bennett, Secretary-Treasurer.

The complainants insist that the two named officers had no authority to execute the deed and that there was no meeting of the stockholders nor action by the stockholders of Southmoor, Inc., 'authorizing the sale. Complainants insist further that the deed was the result of a fraudulent scheme to deprive the corporate complainants of the land and that illegal and fictitious meetings were held in an attempt to sell this property.

The same property was conveyed by General Vendors, Inc., to defendant, Baptist Memorial Hospital, by deed dated June 10,1965. Complainants allege that the officers of General Vendors, Inc., were a part of the fraudulent scheme to deprive corporate complainants of the real estate and that defendant, Baptist Memorial Hospital, purchased the property from General Vendors, Inc., with full knowledge of the fraudulent scheme and with full knowledge that the corporate complainants had been illegally deprived thereof.

The defendants answered denying all allegations of fraud or a scheme on their part or with anyone else as alleged in the Original Bill. Defendants alleged that the parties who signed the deed for Southmoor, Inc., were the proper officials so to act, and the named individuals complainants were not officers of either of said corporations. These defendants alleged that they were bona fide purchasers of the property for valid consideration and al[152]*152leged that the complainants, with knowledge, had stood by-while defendants expended considerable sums improving the property and that complainants are thus barred by laches.

This cause was tried before the Chancellor and a jury. The Chancellor submitted twelve issues of fact to the jury. These issues of fact and the finding of the jury in favor of the defendants on each issue are as follows:

“ISSUES OF FACT
(1) Was December 10, 1963, the date fixed either by the charter, the by-laws or any official minutes of the stockholders as the date for the annual stockholders meeting of Southmoor Golf & Country Club ?
Answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; Yes
(2) Was there an especially called meeting of the stockholders of Southmoor Golf & Country Club held on December 10, 1963, after written notice to each stockholder?
Answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; Yes
(3) Were Hugh Dancy, Virgil Johnson and G. E. Bennett the duly elected Directors of Southmoor Golf & Country Club, Inc. on December 17, 1963?
Answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; Yes
(4) Did Hugh Dancy refuse to sign the deed conveying the title to the property of Southmoor, Inc., which was executed on December 17,1963 ?
Answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No’: No
[153]*153(5) Was a sale of all the real property belonging to Southmoor, Inc., authorized or ratified prior to December 17, 1963?
Answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No’: Yes
(a) By the Board of Directors of Southmoor, Inc. Yes
(b) By the stockholder of Southmoor, Inc. Yes
(c) By the stockholders of Southmoor Golf & Country
Club, Inc. Yes
(d) By the Board of. Directors of Southmoor Golf & Country Club, Inc. Yes
(6) Did General Vendors sustain a monetary loss or gain out of the transaction in question, and if so, how much?
Answer: Loss: $4,938.08
Gain:-
(7) Did the defendant General Vendors, Inc., acquire the real estate in good faith belief that it was acquiring valid title to said property?
Answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No’: Yes
(8) Did the defendant Baptist Memorial Hospital acquire the real estate in good faith belief that it was acquiring valid title to said property?
Answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No’: Yes
(9) Did Virgil Johnson and G. E. Bennett have the authority of the Board of Directors of Southmoor, Inc., to execute the sales contract of November 11, 1963?
Answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No’: Yes
[154]*154(10) Did Virgil Johnson and G. E. Bennett have the authority of the Board of Directors of Southmoor, Ine., to execute the deed of December 17, 1963?
Answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No’: Yes
(11) Have the rights of the defendants been prejudiced by reason of the delay on the part of the complainants in bringing this suit?
Answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No’: Yes
(12) Were the defendants or any of them guilty of any fraud against the complainants in connection with the transactions in question?
Answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; No
Which defendants, if any? None
Thomas D. Bell
Foreman”

The Chancellor entered an order that the foregoing verdict of the jury was approved and adopted, and the Original Bill as amended was dismissed.

By Assignment of Error VI complainants claim the Court erred in submitting to the jury Issue (6) concerning any gain or loss sustained by defendant, General Vendors, Inc., as result of this purchase and sale of the land. Complainants claim this issue is immaterial, and the Court erred in submitting same to the jury. It is true that immaterial issues should never be submitted to the jury. Gibson’s Suits in Chancery, 5th Ed., Vol. I, Sec. 579. However, here the complainants clearly alleged fraud on the part of General Vendors, Inc., and its official, Parker Henderson, to the effect that Henderson along with defendant, Virgyl Johnson, were attempting to take [155]

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444 S.W.2d 716, 60 Tenn. App. 148, 1969 Tenn. App. LEXIS 311, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/southmoor-inc-v-baptist-memorial-hospital-tennctapp-1969.