Winitz v. Kline

288 A.2d 456
CourtCourt of Chancery of Delaware
DecidedApril 21, 1971
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 288 A.2d 456 (Winitz v. Kline) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Chancery of Delaware primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Winitz v. Kline, 288 A.2d 456 (Del. Ct. App. 1971).

Opinion

DUFFY, Chancellor:

This is the decision on (a) a motion by a defendant to quash an order of sequestra *458 tion on the ground that the stock seized is the property of a voting trust and not his property; and (b) plaintiff’s motion for a default judgment against the moving defendant.

A.

Milton Winitz (plaintiff) is seeking an order for specific performance of a contract to which he is a party with S. Allan Kline and Vivonex Corporation, a Delaware corporation (defendants). Plaintiff alleges that he is entitled to but has not received a 2(4% equity interest in Vivonex. 1 Kline is a nonresident of Delaware and an order of sequestration was entered compelling his appearance. 2 10 Del.C. § 366. Kline appeared specially and moved to quash that order.

There are 2,230,089 Vivonex shares issued and outstanding; all are held in the name of five trustees pursuant to a voting trust agreement dated October 1, 1967. Kline is a trustee and one of thirty persons and firms who have placed such shares into the voting trust. 3

Preliminarily, I note that there is no attack on the validity of the voting trust which, by its terms, ends December 31, 1972; plaintiff tacitly concedes that it is valid under 8 Del.C. § 218, the voting trust statute.

The agreement provides for a turnover of all Vivonex shares held by the parties to five voting trustees who then surrender them to the Corporation for cancellation and receive new certificates in their names as voting trustees. The stock is to be voted by the trustees. The agreement provides that each party to it receives a voting trust certificate for the number of Vivonex shares he deposits with the trustee; in form, the certificate states:

“Vivonex Corporation
Voting Trust Certificate
“This is to certify that_ will be entitled upon surrender hereof after the termination of the Agreement hereinafter mentioned, and upon payment of any applicable stamp or transfer tax, to receive a certificate or certificates for —_ fully paid and nonassessable shares of the capital stock (par value $1 per share) of Vivonex Corporation, a Delaware corporation (hereinafter called ‘Vivonex’), deposited with the undersigned pursuant to the terms of the Agreement hereinafter mentioned . . and in the meanwhile the holder hereof shall be entitled to receive payments equal to the cash dividends received by the undersigned . . . upon a like number of shares of capital stock of Vivonex, less the amount of any expense chargeable to the holder hereof. Dividends received by the Voting Trustees in stock of Vivonex having voting power shall be payable in voting trust certificates in form similar hereto.
*459 “. . . No voting right passes by this certificate, and until the actual delivery by the Voting Trustees of stock certificates for shares of stock in Vivonex as aforesaid, the Voting Trustees shall, subject to the provisions of such Agreement, be entitled to exercise all rights of ownership with respect to such stock.
“No stock certificate shall be deliverable hereunder until the termination of the aforesaid Voting Trust Agreement and, until so delivered, such stock certificates and the shares represented thereby shall be subject to the provisions of such Agreement.
“This certificate is transferable on the books of the Voting Trustees . . .”

Kline’s shares in Vivonex have been deposited with the voting trustees who have issued voting trust certificates to him. Was there a seizure by the Sequestrator of an interest which Kline has or may have in the Vivonex shares?

B.

A voting trust is an agreement between stockholders on one side and trustees on the other whereby rights to vote the stock are transferred to and vested in the trustees 8 Del.C. § 218; a stockholder who deposits his stock in a voting trust parts with his voting rights but retains “beneficial” ownership. Clarke Memorial College v. Monaghan Land Co., Del.Ch., 257 A. 2d 234 (1969). Smith v. Biggs Boiler Works Co., 33 Del.Ch. 183, 91 A.2d 193 (1952); Peyton v. William C. Peyton Corporation, 22 Del.Ch. 187, 194 A. 106 (1937). Under certain circumstances a holder of a voting trust certficate has the rights of a stockholder in the corporation. See e. g. Chandler v. Bellanca Aircraft Corporation, 19 Del.Ch. 57, 162 A. 63 (1932); O'Grady v. United States Independent Telephone Co., 75 N.J.Eq. 301, 71 A. 1040 (1909). And conversely, the'holder has for certain purposes the liability of a stockholder. John W. Cooney Co. v. Arlington Hotel Co., 11 Del.Ch. 286, 101 A. 879 (1917).

Thus by the very nature of a voting trust all interest in deposited shares remains in the beneficiary of the trust except the right to vote them and that is vested in the trustees. Clarke Memorial College v. Monaghan Land Co., supra; compare Tracey v. Franklin, 30 Del.Ch. 407, 61 A.2d 780 (1948) aff'd 31 Del.Ch. 477, 67 A.2d 56 (1949). Parties, of course, may contract for other terms as to both substance and mechanics. Scott v. Arden Farms Co., 26 Del.Ch. 283, 28 A.2d 81 (1942).

These rules of law establish beyond doubt that Kline has an equitable interest in the 310,952 shares of Vivonex which he deposited in the voting trust. But to say this is not to decide the motion because every equitable interest is not seizable. We must now look to the statute and its requirements before it can be determined whether or not Kline’s interest was seized.

C.

10 Del.C. § 366 reads:

“. . . The Court may compel the appearance of the defendant by the seizure of all or any part of his property, which property may be sold under the order of the Court to pay the demand of the plaintiff, if the defendant does not appear, or otherwise defaults. . . . ”

The primary purpose of this statute is to compel the appearance of a nonresident. Trans World Airlines, Inc. v. Hughes Tool Company, 41 Del.Ch. 11, 187 A.2d 350 (1962); Lefcourt Realty Corporation v. Sands, 35 Del.Ch. 164, 113 A.2d 428 (1955), aff'd 35 Del.Ch. 340, 117 A.2d 365 (1955). And, of course, only his property may be seized. Nickson v. Filtrol Corp., Del.Ch., 265 A.2d 425 (1970). And to be seizable that property must be salable; indeed sale is the only deposition which can be made of it, if the nonresident does not appear. Wife v. Husband, Del.Ch., 271 A.2d 51

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Bluebook (online)
288 A.2d 456, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/winitz-v-kline-delch-1971.