Tankersley Inv. Co. v. Tankersley Inv. Co. ex rel. Tankersley

1949 OK 112, 210 P.2d 167, 202 Okla. 51, 1949 Okla. LEXIS 405
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedMay 17, 1949
DocketNo. 32301
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 1949 OK 112 (Tankersley Inv. Co. v. Tankersley Inv. Co. ex rel. Tankersley) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tankersley Inv. Co. v. Tankersley Inv. Co. ex rel. Tankersley, 1949 OK 112, 210 P.2d 167, 202 Okla. 51, 1949 Okla. LEXIS 405 (Okla. 1949).

Opinions

ARNOLD, V. C. J.

. The principal question presented by this appeal is one of fact and that is the controlling question, as we view it.

That question is whether Earl Tank-ersley sold and Dan Tankersley bought Earl’s stock in the Tankersley Investment Company. For brevity the two will be referred to by their first names. Earl contends he did not sell or agree to sell. Dan contends they did agree and that he bought and fully paid for Earl’s stock, in complete compliance with the agreement.

It is our duty to affirm on the fact question unless we find the trial court conclusion to be contrary to the weight of the evidence. Payne v. Wade, 190 Okla. 222, 122 P. 2d 144, and Uhrina v. Mastako, 100 Okla. 294, 229 P. 196. And it is equally our duty to reverse if, we find that conclusion to be clearly against the weight of the evidence. Crabtree v. Standard Savings & Loan Association, 187 Okla. 189, 102 P. 2d 127, and Turban v. Douglass, 76 Okla. 78, 183 P. 881.

In such a case it is our duty to examine the record, weigh the evidence, and from an overall consideration of the record, in the light of the briefs and arguments, to determine whether the evidence supports the trial court conclusion.

The contest is between two brothers who for more than ten years operated together in prosperity and complete harmony, but who in depression times faced business bankruptcy and came to outspoken enmity towards each other. Dan, the older, founded the business life involved before the first World War, continued it after he returned from that service, and about 1926 took in the younger brother Earl as an equal partner. The productive business ac[52]*52tivity was that of construction contracting.

From an humble beginning there was some prosperity, but not great wealth. Two corporations were formed, one the Tankersley Investment Company, to hold title to an apartment building in Tulsa, and another the Tankersley Construction Company to cover the productive business of the brothers. The dates of incorporation are unimportant, likewise the exact stock issuance details. There were enough stockholders for legal requirements. But for all practical purposes, and all purposes of this consideration, Dan and Earl each owned one-half of each corporation, and they worked together in harmony.

All went well with co-operation and congeniality until in the 1930’s when adversities came. In about 1934 Earl took federal employment in executive or administrative work for H.O.L.C. full time, while Dan continued work, giving his full time to and with the two corporations. Both brothers continued to draw money for personal use from the corporate funds and from the corporate bank account.

The financial condition of the two corporations went from bad to worse, and to very much worse, until both corporations came to be insolvent, and heavily involved, and as it then appeared, perhaps hopelessly insolvent.

That was the condition of the corporations in 1939. The apartment building was mortgaged for substantially more than it was worth and the Investment Corporation only awaited to be foreclosed out of existence. The Construction Corporation was in debt many thousands of dollars more than its assets with little construction work to be had.

Meantime the brothers had been separated in work as above stated, their relationship had become strained by Earl’s continuing checking against the corporate bank account. There were harsh words, and bitterness, and active hostility, and in late 1939 a complete break, and open enmity between the two brothers.

They could no longer operate together or tolerate each other, and it became apparent that the business or corporate affairs might go overboard entirely or that one of the brothers must buy out the other, and it was so stated between them, and so understood and agreed between them. Earl either was not interested, or not able to consider buying. Dan, with no other activity in mind, or available to him, did desire to carry on with the corporations.

Each of the foregoing facts is either conceded, or definitely shown without dispute, and we come down to consider what did or did not happen in the closing days of 1939, and the early part of the following year 1940.

We should now notice briefly the contentions of the parties. Both parties concede that there were negotiations in reference to sale by Earl and purchase by Dan, but Earl contends they never went beyond the state or stage of negotiation. Dan’s contentions are that he bought and paid for and took over the properties from Earl by agreement fully consummated. In further detail Dan contends that he requested Earl to list what he wanted as full consideration to get out of both corporations, and that Earl listed the following requirements:

(1) Release of a certain oil payment owned by him, but at that time pledged to a bank for his indebtedness to the bank of a little over $2000.00;

(2) A stated list of building machinery and equipment to start in the construction business for himself; and

(3) Payment of his personal income taxes, state and federal for 1939; and

(4) Dan to assume and release Earl .from all corporate debts, including Earl’s debt to the corporations of about $26,000.

Dan contends that he agreed to all that and made full and complete compliance, thereby paying Earl the full consideration agreed upon for his half of both corporations.

[53]*53The extreme bitterness between the brothers was spiteful and severe. The testimony offered by each brother fully and vigorously supports his own theory and would completely vanquish and banish the advisory theory. Their own statements are so at variance that we have tried to give such statements full credence only when supported by outside physical facts or demonstrated truths.

In such a case there is splendid application of the rule giving special force to manifest physical situations, physical facts, common knowledge, and conceded facts or facts established by evidence beyond room for fair controversy. In Samulski v. Menasha Paper Co., 147 Wis. 285, 133 N.W. 142, it was held:

“The testimony of a witness or finding of a jury, contrary to manifest physical situations, common knowledge, or conceded facts, is efficiently impeached thereby.
“A physical fact, existent as matter of common knowledge or established by evidence beyond room for fair controversy, cannot be overcome by human testimony, opinion or theorizing.”

And in Schrager v. Foster, 108 N. Y. S. 240, it was held:

“A verdict based on a finding directly contrary to physical facts established by uncontradicted evidence cannot stand.”

In further reference to the above-stated contentions of the parties, the physical facts demonstrate that Dan did (1) borrow money personally and pay off Earl’s debt at the bank and obtain release of Earl’s oil payment at the cost of a little over $2,000, and had the oil payment returned to Earl, and (2) Dan delivered a stated list of building machinery and equipment to Earl which was picked up by a man representing Earl from a man representing Dan at Dan’s yard and it was receipted for and delivered to Earl, and (3) Dan did pay Earl’s income tax, state and federal, for 1939, and (4) Dan did assume, and ultimately paid, all of the debts, releasing Earl from any claim thereon, including releasing Earl from his debt to the corporation’s account of about $26,000.

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Related

Tankersley Inv. Co. ex rel. Tankersley v. Tankersley
1950 OK 68 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1950)
Tankersley Inv. Co. ex rel. Tankersley v. R. H. Siegfried Co.
1950 OK 20 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1950)

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Bluebook (online)
1949 OK 112, 210 P.2d 167, 202 Okla. 51, 1949 Okla. LEXIS 405, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tankersley-inv-co-v-tankersley-inv-co-ex-rel-tankersley-okla-1949.