Ward v. Ward

747 S.E.2d 95, 322 Ga. App. 888, 2013 Fulton County D. Rep. 2413, 2013 WL 3498230, 2013 Ga. App. LEXIS 629
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedJuly 15, 2013
DocketA13A0088
StatusPublished

This text of 747 S.E.2d 95 (Ward v. Ward) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ward v. Ward, 747 S.E.2d 95, 322 Ga. App. 888, 2013 Fulton County D. Rep. 2413, 2013 WL 3498230, 2013 Ga. App. LEXIS 629 (Ga. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

Ray, Judge.

This case involves a dispute between shareholders regarding majority ownership, management, and control over B & W CarryOut, Inc. (“B & W”), a small, family-owned corporation. Gordon Frank Ward, Jr. (the appellant) filed a complaint against his sisters, Pamela Ward and Denise Eilers (the appellees), seeking a declaratory judgment and asserting claims for injunctive relief, accounting, money had and received, misappropriation and waste, and attorney fees. The appellees each filed answers and counterclaims seeking a declaratory judgment and asserting claims for accounting, conversion, tortious interference with contractual relations, tortious interference with business relations, intentional infliction of emotional distress, punitive damages, and attorney fees. The trial court entered a declaratory judgment, finding that the issuance of certain shares of [889]*889stock did not comply with Georgia law and, thus, that the appellant is not the majority shareholder of the corporation. The trial court did not rule on the parties’ other claims, which remain pending below. The appellant appeals the trial court’s order on declaratory judgment. For the following reasons, we affirm.

1. We first address our jurisdiction. The appellees contend that the appellant’s direct appeal from the order on declaratory judgment is not properly before this Court. The appellees contend that the order is not a final judgment subject to direct appeal because the parties’ other claims remain pending. However, we find that we have jurisdiction. A declaratory judgment is directly appealable because it has the “force and effect of a final judgment” and is reviewable as such. OCGA § 9-4-2 (a). This is so even if other issues in the case remain pending before the trial court. Building Block Enterprises, LLC v. State Bank and Trust Co., 314 Ga. App. 147, 150 (1) (723 SE2d 467) (2012).

2. In this case, all the parties sought a declaratory judgment as to who was the majority shareholder in B & W. The resolution of this issue turns on whether certain stock certificates issued to the appellant, which purportedly make him the majority shareholder, were validly issued. After hearing oral argument and reviewing the record, the trial court found that the transfer of the stock certificates at issue did not comply with OCGA § 14-2-621 (b) because the transfer was not authorized by B & W’s board of directors. In four enumerations of error, the appellant contends that the trial court erred in finding that the transfer of the stock at issue was not valid. We discern no error.

“A trial court’s findings of fact after a declaratory judgment hearing are analogous to a jury verdict and will not be interfered with if there is any evidence to support them. However, we review the trial court’s conclusions of law de novo.” (Citation and punctuation omitted.) Bank of the Ozarks v. DKK Dev. Co., 315 Ga. App. 539, 540 (726 SE2d 608) (2012).

The record shows that B & W was incorporated on October 4, 1960. According to its bylaws, B & W transacted business and acted under the authority of a board of directors. The president of the corporation has general and active management of the corporation, and is required to ensure that all orders and resolutions of the board of directors are carried into effect. The president is also required to perform other duties as the board may direct. Among those duties, the president, along with the secretary of the corporation, is required to sign all stock certificates.

From its inception until 2006, B & W issued forty-five stock certificates. Said certificates were either expressly authorized by the board of directors prior to the issuance of the stock or ratified by the [890]*890board thereafter. B & W had a history of receiving loans from its shareholders and then later converting this debt to equity in B & W by issuing additional shares of stock in exchange for cancellation of the debt. The record shows that such transactions required approval from the board of directors.

The last meeting of the board of directors and shareholders was on February 3, 2005. The appellant contends that in 2006, B & W’s board of directors consisted of three members. Although the record is unclear, there is some evidence to indicate that B & W had five members on its board of directors at that time: Gordon Frank Ward, Sr., Martha Ward, appellees Pamela Ward and Denise (Ward) Eilers, and the appellant. In addition to serving as board members, Gordon Frank Ward, Sr., was B & W’s president, and the appellant was its vice-president/secretary. Prior to the transfer of the specific stock certificates at issue in this case, no shareholder had majority ownership of stock in B & W.

Between 2006 and 2008, the president, along with the appellant, issued stock certificates numbered 46, 48, 49, 50, and 511 (the “disputed stock certificates”) to the appellant to compensate him for monies he personally paid on behalf of the corporation for repairs to corporate property and for other matters. This was done without a formal resolution or authorization by the board of directors. The issuance of the disputed stock certificates significantly increased the appellant’s number of shares and purportedly made him the majority shareholder in B & W.

On April 25, 2006, the president executed an affidavit to be used as a substitute for the 2006 meetings of the stockholders and board of directors. The board of directors also signed the document, acknowledging and approving the use of the affidavit for this purpose. At the time the board of directors signed the document, the affidavit did not mention the issuance of the disputed stock certificates to the appellant. The record is undisputed that exhibits B through F to the affidavit, signed only by the president and the appellant in their capacities as officers of the corporation, were later attached to the affidavit as purported authorization for the issuance of the disputed stock certificates and that the exhibits were not approved by other members of the board.

(a) The appellant contends that the trial court erred in finding that the disputed stock certificates were not valid due to the lack of authorization by the board of directors. The appellant argues that the [891]*891issuance of the disputed stock certificates did not require a formal resolution board, but that the issuance of the disputed stock certificates was nevertheless approved by the board because the appellant and Gordon Frank Ward, Sr., who had a power of attorney from board member Martha Ward, constituted a majority of the board of directors and that they signed the stock certificates in their respective capacities as officers of the corporation. We find that this argument lacks merit.

OCGA § 14-2-621 (b) provides:

The board of directors may authorize shares to be issued for consideration consisting of any tangible or intangible property or benefit to the corporation, including cash, promissory notes, services performed, contracts for services to be performed, or other securities of the corporation.

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Related

The DRAGON CORPORATION v. Syphers
70 S.E.2d 105 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1952)
Jackson v. Southern Pan & Shoring Co.
369 S.E.2d 239 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1988)
Bank of the Ozarks v. DKK Development Co.
726 S.E.2d 608 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2012)
Building Block Enterprises, LLC v. State Bank & Trust Co.
723 S.E.2d 467 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2012)
Garmany v. Lawton
53 S.E. 669 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1906)

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Bluebook (online)
747 S.E.2d 95, 322 Ga. App. 888, 2013 Fulton County D. Rep. 2413, 2013 WL 3498230, 2013 Ga. App. LEXIS 629, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ward-v-ward-gactapp-2013.