Williams v. Stanford

977 So. 2d 722, 2008 WL 762483
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedMarch 25, 2008
Docket1D06-3701, 1D06-4808
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 977 So. 2d 722 (Williams v. Stanford) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Williams v. Stanford, 977 So. 2d 722, 2008 WL 762483 (Fla. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

977 So.2d 722 (2008)

Paul R. WILLIAMS and James F. Williams, Jr., on Behalf of Brown & Stanford Company, Inc., a Florida Corporation d/b/a J.C. Stanford & Company, Inc., Appellants,
v.
John C. STANFORD, Jr., an Individual; Victoria B. Stanford, an Individual; Brown & Stanford Company, Inc., a Florida Corporation d/b/a J.C. Stanford & Company, Inc.; J.C. Stanford & Son, Inc., a Florida Corporation; and Henderson Keasler Law Firm, P.A., a Florida Professional Corporation, Appellees.

Nos. 1D06-3701, 1D06-4808.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.

March 25, 2008.

*723 J. Michael Lindell and Roger K. Gannam of Lindell, Farson & Pincket, P.A., and Michael J. Korn of Korn & Zehmer, P.A., Jacksonville, for Appellants.

Alan D. Henderson of Henderson & Maxwell, Jacksonville for Appellees John C. Stanford, Jr., Victoria B. Stanford, J.C. Stanford & Son, Inc., and Henderson Keasler Law Firm, P.A.

William G. Cooper, Jacksonville for Appellee Brown & Stanford, Inc.

Bryan S. Gowdy of Mills & Creed, P.A., Jacksonville, for Appellees.

*724 KAHN, J.

This case calls upon us to navigate the relatively uncharted terrain of a recently revised portion of Florida's statutory corporations law. We decide here whether minority shareholders who object to a total transfer of corporate assets, and who allege that the majority shareholder has engaged in a course of conduct involving improper self-dealing and malfeasance over time, are limited to the statutory remedy of offering up their shares for a fair price. We conclude that Florida law does not so constrain minority shareholders' rights in the limited cases where such shareholders raise facially sufficient and serious allegations of unfairness. In such cases, minority shareholders may seek remedies beyond appraisal. Accordingly, we partially reverse the summary judgments entered in appellees' favor and remand for further proceedings; we affirm without comment the grant of summary judgment as to appellants' claim for trade name infringement. Quite obviously, we express no view on whether appellants will ultimately be entitled to the remedies they seek.

BACKGROUND

These two consolidated appeals reflect a soured business relationship between appellants Paul and James Williams ("the Williams brothers") and appellee John C. Stanford. The Williams brothers together held a thirty percent stake in Brown and Stanford, Inc. ("B & S"), at one time a successful construction company in Jacksonville; Mr. Stanford held the remaining seventy percent of the close corporation's shares. The Williams brothers worked as carpenters for B & S from 1997 until 2002.

At some point, the Williams brothers began to harbor suspicions about Mr. Stanford's management of B & S finances. When, despite increasing revenues, the once-profitable company recorded a net loss for calendar year 2001, the Williams brothers asked Mr. Stanford to permit them to examine B & S's financial records. Mr. Stanford initially made limited records available, but two days later, on May 6, 2002, he summarily fired the brothers.

Subsequent investigation — much of it in the form of discovery — procured evidence that Mr. Stanford and his wife had charged numerous personal expenses to the company's credit card (including charges totaling approximately $48,000 to a popular home-shopping network), and had used B & S funds to build a 3,200-square-foot home for themselves and to improve property belonging to Mr. Stanford's father. The Williams brothers allege that, in all, the Stanfords misappropriated at least $250,000 in corporate funds and credit and, either intentionally or not, concealed those expenditures by hiding them in existing customers' accounts over a period of years.

On July 31, 2002, the Williams brothers demanded that Mr. and Mrs. Stanford, as B & S's directors, initiate a suit to recover the corporate funds they used for personal benefit. Not surprisingly, the Stanfords balked at such a suit. On October 23, 2002, the Williams brothers filed a shareholder-derivative action on behalf of B & S, naming the Stanfords as defendants. As this controversy matured, the Williams brothers added numerous claims and amended their complaint several times. The complaint ultimately included two counts — a claim that the Stanfords breached their fiduciary duty by paying personal expenses with company monies, and a claim that they breached their common law duty of loyalty — which are not on appeal.

In July 2003, the Stanfords retained appellee Henderson Keasler, a Florida law firm, to represent themselves individually *725 and to represent B & S in defense of the derivative action. Sometime afterward, Mr. Stanford apparently expressed his desire to stop working for B & S, in counsel's words, as "an indentured servant to [the Williams brothers,] who had accused him of stealing and pilfering his own company." On the advice of his attorneys, he resigned as B & S's qualifying agent in October 2003, but continued to collect B & S paychecks. Mr. Stanford's resignation as B & S's qualifying agent prevented B & S from conducting continued business as a construction company. Consequently, on October 31, 2003, B & S shut down its operations.

Henderson Keasler and the Stanfords, with the consult of B & S's accountant, evaluated several strategic options to effectuate Mr. Stanford's goals, including filing for bankruptcy and dissolving B & S. The Stanfords and their counsel determined, based on a 2002 appraisal that considered the company's financial situation at the time, but did not account for corporate funds used for the Stanfords' benefit, that B & S's assets were roughly equal to its liabilities. They then decided upon a transaction by which the Stanfords would form a new company, appellee J.C. Stanford & Son, Inc., and transfer B & S's assets to Stanford & Son in exchange for the latter's assumption of B & S's liabilities. The asset transfer, which appellees have loosely characterized as a merger, began on November 1, 2003; the Williams brothers happened upon the news of the asset transfer during a November 24, 2003, deposition of Mr. Stanford, at which time the transaction was well under way. Mr. Stanford, through counsel, notified appellants by letter dated December 4, 2003, that the company would purchase each brother's B & S stock for $25,000, and that appellants had a statutory right to have their shares appraised. The asset transfer to Stanford & Son, which Mr. Stanford solely owned, was completed by December 31, 2003. Stanford & Son forged ahead, commencing on November 1, 2003, the day after B & S shut down, conducting the business known as J.C. Stanford & Co., just as B & S had done up until the merger. The company maintained the same location, the same telephone number, and the same staff, equipment, and vehicles as previously used by B & S.

Appellants were now faced with a dilemma. They could exercise their appraisal rights as to all their shares (twenty-one each) and thereby seek compensation, but in the process they would divest their holding in B & S and would lose standing to maintain their derivative action. They could, in the alternative, forego their appraisal rights and risk defeat in the derivative action.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
977 So. 2d 722, 2008 WL 762483, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/williams-v-stanford-fladistctapp-2008.