State ex rel. Bulkley v. Whited & Wheless, Ltd.

104 La. 125
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedNovember 15, 1900
DocketNo. 13,389
StatusPublished
Cited by32 cases

This text of 104 La. 125 (State ex rel. Bulkley v. Whited & Wheless, Ltd.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State ex rel. Bulkley v. Whited & Wheless, Ltd., 104 La. 125 (La. 1900).

Opinion

The opinion- of the court was delivered by

Nicholls, C. J.

This suit is brought by P. C. Bulkley, in his own right and as agent of his wife, Mary M. Bulkley.

In the petition filed it was alleged that- the plaintiffs had an interest in Wbited & Wheless, Ltd., a corporation incorporated under the laws of Louisiana and domiciled in Bossier parish.

That the stock of the company or corporation was thirty thousand Hollars in shares of par value of one hundred dollars each, and that relator, P. C. Bulkley, subscribed and paid for shares to the value of ■five hundred dollars; that relator, Mary M. Bulkley, subscribed and paid for shares to the amount of nine thousand five hundred dollars; that at date of incorporation, F. T. Whited and H. H. Wheless, each subscribed ten thousand dollars; that the relator, P. O. Bulldey, was president of said corporation until the first Monday of October, 1899, and had been informed that since that date F. T. Whited had -acted as president of said corporation; though to knowledge of relator no publication of such election had been made, or of the convocation of the stockholders as provided by the charter. That to their knowledge II. II. Wheless had been and was still secretary and treasurer of said corporation. That they, or either of them, had never unconditionally sold or disposed of their stock in said corporation, as was evidenced by a written document annexed.

That Mary M. Bulkley was the owner of large tracts of land in said parish of Bossier, the pine timber on part of which she sold, standing, to said corporation upon the terms and conditions writen in exhibits “C” and “D,” also annexed; that present officers of said corporation had rendered to relators statements of the timber they had cut, or alleged had been cut, from said lands of Mary M. Bulkley, but refused and still refuse to permit Mary M. Bulldey’s attorney in fact, P. O. Bulkley, to examine the books of said corporation so as to verify the correctness of said statements, or correct errors therein, as to the scaling of the timber .included and referred to in said exhibits “0” and “D.” That so far as they had any knowledge, F. T. Whited and H. II. Wheless were alike [127]*127the controllers of said company and the sole custodians of the books, and that relators had made (Mary M. Bulkley through her attorney in fact) verbal and written demands of said custodians of said books of said corporation to inspect them for tM purposes heretofore alleged, and that permission to examine said books of said corporation had been absolutely and categorically refused and denied.

In view of the premises, relators prayed that “said F. T. Whited and H. H. Wheless be all and each of them cited according to law, and that a writ of mandamus issue commanding them and each of them to give relators,'P. C. Bulkley in his .own right and as attorney in fact for Mary M. Bulkley, to have inspection of the books of Whited & Wheless, Ltd., for the several purposes of examining the stock books of said corporation and for the purpose of correcting if any, of the statements referred to in the foregoing petition, and for such other purposes as are detailed herein, or show cause to the contrary, on a day and hour to be fixed by the court, and that on final hearing, said writ of mandamus be made peremptory and for all other necessary orders and decrees, and for general relief.”

Defendants excepted.

1st. That the petition showed no cause of action.

2nd. That for whatever rights plaintiffs might possess there were remedies at law, and no ground appeared for the extraordinary writ of mandamus.

Under benefit of these exceptions defendant answered.

After pleading the general issue defendants averred that they owned all the stock of the defendant company except one share held by A. E. Eakin, and that neither of the plaintiffs had any proprietary interest in Whited & Wheless, Ltd., and did not have when the alleged demand was made for inspection of the books, nor at the time of filing of the petition, but that the entire stock formerly held by them was purchased by and was then the property of defendants, F. T. Whited and II. H. Wheless, as appeared from documents annexed to petition and the letters annexed thereto. That the sum of five thousand dollars was paid in cash by defendants at the time of purchase, their notes to the order of Mrs. M. M. Bulkley, given by them in pursuance of said contract of purchase attached to plaintiffs’ petition and paid as they fell due, $2,000 in addition to the $5,000 having been paid at this time. That the said [128]*128former stock of plaintiffs being now held as collateral by the National Bank of Commerce of St. Louis (as per aforesaid attached documents), could never re-invest in plaintiffs unless they became purchasers thereof.

Respondents further averred that the real and' sole object of plaintiffs in desiring to inspect defendants’ books was to attempt to manufacture a claim against the company defendant, and that instead of the application being on part of a stockholder and proprietor to conserve his or their interests as stockholders, it was an attempt of an alleged creditor, hostile to the corporation, intending to harass it with writs to attempt to fasten liabilities upon it and, necessarily, an attempt to injure and depress the interest of the corporation, its proprietors and its slock, and if allowed would be violative of Article 1 of the Constitution of Louisiana, Articles IV and V amendments to Constitution of the United States, work an invasion of their private affairs and business, and would work great damages to them. That the right to protect their said affairs and books was worth exceeding twenty-five hundred dollars to them.

That if the said plaintiffs had any claims against the corporation defendant, the laws of Louisiana furnished ample facilities for obtaining evidence, but not by the writ of mandamus.

The District Court rendered judgment in favor of the relators, P. C, Bulkley and Mary M. Bulkley, against the respondents, Whiled & Wheless, Ltd. It ordered, adjudged and decreed that the mandamus prayed for by relators be made peremptory and the board of directors of said corporation through its proper officers were ordered to afford free access to and give permission to the relators, P. C. Bulkley and Mary M. Bulkley, or to their duly authorized agent or agent of either of them, to inspect and examine all the books, records, accounts and muniments thereto appertaining and belonging to said corporation, and which relate to the business of said corporation, as an incorporated body without unnecessarily incommoding the officers and directors of said company, and also to make copies of such papers, accounts, etc., as said relators may desire, as well as memoranda in writing relative to the same.

Defendants appealed.

Opinion.

Whited & Wireless Co., Ltd., is a corporation for manufacturing and selling lumber, organized in the parish of Bossier, in 1894, with a capital stock of -thirty thousand dollars. Of this P. O. Bulkley, one of the [129]*129relators, owned five shares, his wife, Mary M. Bulkley, the other relator; owned ninety-five shares, making a total of one hundred shares held by them.

The balance of the «took was held by F. T. Whited and II. H. Wheless, one hundred shares each. The stock continued in this way until July 1st, 1899, when P. O.

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Bluebook (online)
104 La. 125, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-bulkley-v-whited-wheless-ltd-la-1900.