State v. Hynds

529 P.2d 829, 84 Wash. 2d 657, 1974 Wash. LEXIS 770
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 12, 1974
Docket43104
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 529 P.2d 829 (State v. Hynds) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Hynds, 529 P.2d 829, 84 Wash. 2d 657, 1974 Wash. LEXIS 770 (Wash. 1974).

Opinions

Hamilton, J.

— Leslie Eugene Hynds and Raymond Lee Whittle were charged and convicted of a criminal violation of The Securities Act of Washington and of grand larceny. They appeal. We affirm.

The three.principal issues in the case are whether the trial court erred in: (1) admitting evidence of an over-the-counter dealer as to the going price of the stock allegedly fraudulently sold to the complaining witness; (2) instructing the. jury on the elements of a criminal violation of The Securities. Act of Washington; and (3) not requiring the State to elect alternatively whether to charge a violation of The Securities Act of Washington or-the grand larceny statute.

; We state the facts briefly. Defendant (appellant) Hynds had formerly been employed by Idaho Investment Corporation to sell stock for the purpose of raising its initial’ capital in 1964-65. After leaving that employment, he bought and sold stock for his own account along with other sales activities. He testified he purchased one block of Idaho Investment Corporation stock from an individual at 25 cents per share and another block at $1.-85 a share. Defendant (appellant) Whittle was an acquaintance of Hynds and likewise had sales experience. In 1972, Hynds, with the aid of Whittle, sold 100 shares of his Idaho Investment Corporation stock to a retired couple, the Turners. The sale price was $7 per share, and Hynds and Whittle equally divided the net profit on the sale.

Disputed testimony in the case was offered from which the 'jury could have found that the. defendants, utilizing persistent sales tactics, made a number of false representations about the stock they were seeking to sell to the Turners.-These were: (1) the Idaho Investment Corporation: was about to merge with Sierra Life Insurance Corporation and that the new corporation would be the largest in Idaho, [659]*659except for Boise-Cas'cade Corporation; (2) the stock defendants had for sale belonged to the president of the company who had to sell $10,000 worth of the stock in order to effectuate the merger pursuant to governmental regulations;' (3); defendants were authorized to sell the corporate president’s stock in $2,500 lots at $7 per share; however, the Turners were being offered a special opportunity to buy 100 shares at $7 a share; (4) after the Turners purchased the : stock at the quoted price, " they could call additional shares at the same price every 6 months for a period of 2 years, which constituted a bargain because the price of- the stock would be increasing to $12 to $14 a share following the-merger; and (5) after the merger, the company would: be listed on the New York Stock Exchange like Standard Oil Company.

There was testimony at the trial from which the jury could haye found that each of the preceding representations was false and made with the requisite criminal knowledge and intent.

In undertaking to establish that the defendants intentionally made false representations concerning the value of the stock at the time of the sale, the State introduced the testimony of Mr. Fred Frazier, founder and president of the Idaho Investment Corporation, and Mr. Alex Sinclair, president of a stockbrokerage firm located in Twin Falls, Idaho.

In essence, Mr. Frazier testified that, as president of and a. stockholder in the corporation, he was interested in the value of the stock, that there was a market for the stock in 1972, albeit the market was confined to one stockbrokerage firm in Twin Falls, and that he followed the broker’s quotations of- its value as published in the Twin Falls newspaper. Over objection he was permitted to state that in 1972 the stock was quoted at between 18 and 25 cents per share, and that after merger with another corporation (Greater Idaho Corporation) in late 1972 the value remained substantially the same.

Mr. -Sinclair, in turn, testified that his brokerage firm [660]*660acted in the capacity of a market maker for the corporate stock during 1972 and that the firm’s published bid and ask prices of 12% and 17% cents per share, respectively, prevailed. He further testified in detail as to numerous transactions wherein the firm, as principal, had bought and sold thousands of shares of the stock in 1972 for which the firm paid from 12% to 20 cents a share and sold for between 17 and 25 cents per share.

Defendant Hynds testified at the trial. Defendant Whittle did not. In pertinent substance, Hynds testified that sometime prior to the stock transaction here involved, Whittle had been in communication with Mr. Frazier concerning prospects of a future merger of Idaho Investment Corporation with another corporation. He stated that the two of them discussed the information Whittle had acquired on the weekend preceding the Turner sale. He further asserted that, after the sale was consummated, he deducted the “cost” of the stock to him, calculated at approximately 20 cents per share, and split the remainder of the $700 sale price with Whittle, despite his earlier claim that he had paid from 25 cents to $1.85 per share for the stock.

Defendants’ initial claim of error on appeal runs primarily to the testimony of Mr. Sinclair. They contend that Mr. Sinclair’s brokerage firm does not qualify as a “bona fide independent market maker” under the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission, thus constituting the firm’s noncompetitive pricing and trading of Idaho Investment Corporation stock a deceptive and misleading market making practice under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. § 78o). For this reason, they argue, Mr. Sinclair’s testimony relating to the firm’s transactions and price quotations represents an unreliable indicator of the true market value of the stock involved and is otherwise irrelevant. We find no merit in this claim of error.

While it is true that at the time in question there was no established market for Idaho Investment Corporation stock created by widespread competitive bidding, nev[661]*661ertheless, this court has recognized and resolved the problem of stock valuation in these circumstances. In In re West Waterway Lumber Co., 59 Wn.2d 310, 316, 367 P.2d 807 (1962), we observed:

We cannot see how the absence of an established market price for shares of the Douglas Fir Export Company can detract from the value of the shares, whatever it may be. If a market price were available, it no doubt would have some influence on the process of valuation; the absence of a market price simply means that the court has fewer guides or standards to provide assistance in determining the value of corporate shares.

Thus, where, as here, a traditional competitive market and market price has not been established, other probative evidence of value may be resorted to and relied upon. In addition to the prices quoted by Mr. Sinclair and alluded to by Mr. Frazier, Mr. Frazier testified from personal knowledge as to the “book value” of the stock (28 cents per share), and defendant Hynds, as noted, testified that the “cost” of the stock sold to the Turners was 20 cents per share. The fact of Mr. Sinclair’s method and motive in seeking to create a market in Idaho Investment Corporation stock was placed before the jury and affects only the weight, not the admissibility of his testimony.

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State v. Hynds
529 P.2d 829 (Washington Supreme Court, 1974)

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Bluebook (online)
529 P.2d 829, 84 Wash. 2d 657, 1974 Wash. LEXIS 770, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-hynds-wash-1974.