Stevens & Kendall Co. v. Headlee

467 A.2d 794, 56 Md. App. 310, 1983 Md. App. LEXIS 385
CourtCourt of Special Appeals of Maryland
DecidedNovember 8, 1983
DocketNo. 18
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 467 A.2d 794 (Stevens & Kendall Co. v. Headlee) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Special Appeals of Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Stevens & Kendall Co. v. Headlee, 467 A.2d 794, 56 Md. App. 310, 1983 Md. App. LEXIS 385 (Md. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

LISS, Judge.

On May 14, 1982, Robert A. Headlee, the appellee herein, filed a declaration in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, alleging a debt-confessed judgment owed by the appellants, Stevens & Kendall Co., Inc., a Maryland corporation, and Kay N. Kendall, to the appellee. The allegations in the declaration were supported by an attached note and affidavit.

On May 28, 1982, the appellants responded to the appellee’s declaration with an application to vacate the confessed judgment and to quash the attachment. The trial court quashed the attachment on the same date and set the matter for hearing. On July 1, 1982, the appellants renewed their [312]*312application to vacate and requested a hearing. A supporting memorandum was thereafter filed.

After a full evidentiary hearing on November 12, 1982, the trial court reduced the amount of the judgment (previously entered by confession) by the amount of $9,004.75. The appellants then noted this appeal, asking this Court to consider whether the circuit court abused its discretion by failing to strike the whole of the judgment entered against the appellants and by failing to permit the appellants to adduce evidence to support their claim of misrepresentation and breach of warranty in their defense on the merits of the case.

On January 20, 1982, appellant Stevens & Kendall Co., Inc., and the appellee entered into an agreement for the sale and purchase of R.A.H. Enterprises Corporation, also referred to as R.A.H. Enterprises, Inc., a Maryland corporation engaged in the business of operating an automotive service station under the name of Bel Pre Mobil in Silver Spring, Montgomery County, Maryland. The agreement between the parties included, inter alia, the following pertinent provisions:

7. This Agreement shall be contingent upon STEVENS & KENDALL CO., INC’S., obtaining the necessary approval of Mobil Oil Corporation of the sale of stock herein contemplated including but not limited to Mobil Oil Corporation’s written consent to the transfer of the Lease to STEVENS & KENDALL CO., INC., or to one of its controlling principals. If the aforesaid contingency is not satisfied by May 1,1982 then this Agreement shall be null and void. Purchaser agrees to file immediately all necessary documents to obtain such approval.
8. The seller represents and warrants as follows:
D) The Seller has delivered to the Buyer copies of Financial Statements all of which are true and complete and which have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principals, each of which [313]*313accurately presents the result of the company’s operations for the period indicated.
E) Except to the extent reflected or reserved against in the company’s balance sheet of December 31, 1981 the company as of this date has no liabilities of any nature, whether accrued, absolute, contingent (sic), or otherwise, including without limitation, tax liabilities due or to become due, except as noted above; or arising out of any transaction entered into or any state of facts existing prior to the date of these present.
L) No representations or warranties by the Seller in this Agreement contain or will contain any untrue statements of a material fact or omit or will omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements contained therein misleading.

As part of this agreement, appellant Kay N. Kendall unconditionally guaranteed a promissory note payable by the buyer to the seller in the amount of $165,000, representing a portion of the purchase price totaling $210,000. The promissory note executed by the buyer and guarantor contained a confessed judgment provision. Settlement occurred on February 8, 1982, and on March 18, 1982, assignment of the existing lease was effectuated pursuant to paragraph 7 of the agreement.

At the hearing on the motion to vacate, appellants contended that several months after settlement they were convinced they had bought a “pig in a poke” as a result of certain misrepresentations made by the appellee to the appellants, primarily by reason of the refusal of Mobil to renew the Bel Pre station’s existing lease. The trial court found as a result of the evidence offered by the appellants that they raised the three following grounds to support their motion to vacate the confessed judgment entered against them:

That the Defendant misrepresented the lease situation with Mobil Oil, that the Plaintiff failed to furnish a December 31st, 1981, financial statement, and there were [314]*314certain bills in charge which were claimed against the station of Mr. Headlee’s in a total amount, according to the Plaintiff, of $9,004.75.

The trial court found the appellants’ complaint concerning the alleged misrepresentation of Mobil’s refusal to renew the lease unpersuasive. So do we. Mr. Kendall admitted on both direct and cross-examination that when he negotiated the agreement to purchase the stock of R.A.H. Enterprises, Inc., he knew the Mobil Corporation lease was to expire at the end of July, 1982. Mr. Kendall testified:

Q. Well, in the contract that you have for the purchase of this stock, before you signed that contract you knew that the lease of the premises expired on July 31st, didn’t you?
A. That is correct.
Q. So you knew you were buying a five-month lease, right?
A. Correct.
Q. And you knew that the leasee [sic] of record was Kevin Headlee, right?
A. Correct.
Q. And in the contract it says that Kevin Headlee and Mr. Headlee have to get an assignment of Kevin Headlee’s lease to you by May 1st, correct?
A. Correct.

The assignment of the lease was delivered prior to May 1, 1982. The appellants also argued before the trial court that the appellee had attempted to conceal from them Mobil’s letter dated January 27, 1982 to Headlee in which it gave notice of its intention not to renew appellee’s existing lease. This contention was demolished by paragraph 3 of the March 18, 1982 consent to the assignment of Headlee’s existing lease to the appellants. The paragraph read as follows:

3. Company’s consent to this assignment is expressly conditioned upon the acknowledgement by Assignor and Assignee that Mobil has given timely and sufficient notice of its intent to terminate, effective July 31, 1982, the service station lease and retail dealer contract dated Janu[315]*315ary 29, 1979. Assignor and Assignee agreed that, as a result of Mobil’s January 27, 1982, letter to Kevin Head-lee, said service station lease and retail dealer contract, together with all related instruments, have not ever-greened for a new term, and, as such, will expire on July 31, 1982.
IT IS FURTHER AGREED by Mobil that said January 27, 1982, letter to Kevin Headlee shall operate only as a notice of non-renewal of the said service station lease, retail dealer contract, and related instruments, and shall not be effective as notice of non-renewal of the franchise relationship.

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Bluebook (online)
467 A.2d 794, 56 Md. App. 310, 1983 Md. App. LEXIS 385, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stevens-kendall-co-v-headlee-mdctspecapp-1983.