Woodstock Ent. v. INTERN. MOORINGS, ETC.

524 So. 2d 1313
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 23, 1988
Docket87-143
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 524 So. 2d 1313 (Woodstock Ent. v. INTERN. MOORINGS, ETC.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Woodstock Ent. v. INTERN. MOORINGS, ETC., 524 So. 2d 1313 (La. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinion

524 So.2d 1313 (1988)

WOODSTOCK ENTERPRISES, INC., Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
INTERNATIONAL MOORINGS & MARINE, INC., Defendant-Appellee.

No. 87-143.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

March 23, 1988.

*1314 Thomas B. Waterman, Ponchatoula, for plaintiff-appellant.

Juneau, Hill, Justice, Hill & Adley, Marc W. Judice, Lafayette, for defendant-appellee.

Before FORET, DOUCET and SWIFT[*], JJ.

FORET, Judge.

This is an action on open account filed by plaintiff, Woodstock Enterprises, Inc. (Woodstock) against International Moorings & Marine, Inc. (IM & M) for $26,625.00 for use of Woodstock hunting facilities. IM & M reconvened, alleging Woodstock was indebted to IM & M on a promissory note in the amount of $206,519.00. This appeal has been consolidated with Woodstock Enterprises, Inc. v. International Moorings & Marine, Inc., 524 So.2d 1319 (La.App. 3 Cir.1988), which is an action for breach of four hunting contracts between the same parties and in which a separate judgment is being rendered this date.

The trial court rendered judgment in favor of Woodstock on the suit on open account in the amount of $26,625.00 and, additionally, found that Woodstock was indebted to IM & M in the amount of $206, 519.00[1]. On the action for breach of the four hunting contracts, the trial court found that the contracts were void or voidable and had been effectively terminated by IM & M.

Woodstock appeals from the trial court's finding that the four hunting contracts were void or voidable. Additionally, Wood-stock contends that the trial court erred in finding that Woodstock was indebted to IM & M in the amount of $206,519.00. We conclude that the trial court was correct, and we affirm.

FACTS

In 1976, International Moorings & Marine, Inc. was formed by Charlie Mann, Harry Wilson, and Wilton Helveston. During 1978, these three formed a partnership entitled Southwest Louisiana Woodstock Plantation Investor Group. This partnership was formed for the purpose of investing in and developing Woodstock Plantation, a large tract of land in Mississippi, as a hunting and fishing facility. It was intended that Woodstock would be used to hunt and entertain IM & M clients and IM & M did begin using Woodstock to entertain clients after the formation of this partnership in 1978.

Woodstock was incorporated in early 1980 as Woodstock Enterprises, Inc. On May 13, 1980, shortly after Woodstock's incorporation, four hunting contracts were entered into between Woodstock Enterprises, Inc. and IM & M. These contracts granted IM & M the exclusive use of the hunting lodge on the Woodstock properties for a term of twenty years. In return, these contracts obligated IM & M to a minimum use of 507 man-days per year at a cost of $300 per man-day or $152,100.00 per year.

At this time, the Board of Directors of Woodstock resigned and was replaced by Helveston as the new Woodstock President; Hugh Cranford, an IM & M employee, as the new Woodstock Secretary-Treasurer; and Gerald Sanders, another IM & M employee, as Woodstock's new Treasurer. Several other shareholders/directors/officers and/or employees of IM & M assumed directorships in Woodstock.

*1315 Also, on this fateful day, May 13, 1980, all of the issued shares of Woodstock stock were sold to new owners; the majority of these purchasers being the same IM & M shareholders, officers, directors and/or employees, who were now new Woodstock officers and directors. IM & M received no stock in Woodstock Enterprises, Inc.

During 1978, 1979, and 1980, funds and services were advanced by IM & M to Woodstock for improvements to the hunting lodge, construction of deer blinds and a bridge, among other things. It was intended that IM & M would, at some time, acquire an interest in Woodstock or Woodstock properties. Although negotiations took place, no agreement whereby IM & M acquired an ownership interest in Woodstock was ever consummated. In June of 1980, Wilton Helveston, Woodstock's President, signed a promissory note on behalf of Woodstock in favor of IM & M in the amount of $206,519.00. This note represented IM & M's calculations as to its unsecured investment in Woodstock.

The relationship between IM & M and Woodstock apparently began to sour in November of 1982, when an ex-employee and competitor of IM & M, Wilton Helveston, entered the Big Lodge at Woodstock. Mr. Mann of IM & M wrote a letter on December 21, 1982 to Woodstock stating that IM & M would consider the exclusivity clause of the contract breached unless the Woodstock Board of Directors took action by January 15, 1983, to insure IM & M's exclusive use of the hunting lodge.

The situation continued to deteriorate. On July 6, 1983, Woodstock sued IM & M for $26,625.00 for use by IM & M of the Woodstock facilities between January 8 and January 23, 1983. This action commenced the instant litigation involving the promissory note in favor of IM & M and the four hunting contracts.

ISSUES

Woodstock Enterprises, Inc. contends that:
1. The trial court erred as a matter of law in applying La.R.S. 12:84 and the jurisprudence governing a director's breach of his fiduciary duty to his corporate principal to this case, a contractual dispute between two discrete and independent corporate entities.
2. The trial court erred in finding that Woodstock breached the exclusivity provision of the hunting agreements.
3. The trial court erred in finding that IM & M proved, by a preponderance of the evidence, an alleged indebtedness owed by Woodstock.
4. The trial court erred as a matter of law in failing to allocate the respective rights and obligations of the parties in accordance with the law of lease.

Appellant, Woodstock, contends that the trial court erred in applying La.R.S. 12:84 and the jurisprudence governing a director's breach of his fiduciary duty to his corporate principal to the controversy involving the four hunting contracts executed between Woodstock and IM & M. We find no merit in this assignment of error.

La.R.S. 12:84 states, in pertinent part:

"A. No contract or transaction between a corporation ... and any other business,... in which one or more of its directors or officers are directors or officers or have a financial interest, shall be void or voidable solely for this reason, or solely because the common or interested director or officer was present at or participated in the meeting of the board or committee thereof which authorized the contract or transaction, or solely because his or their votes were counted for such purpose, if:
(1) The material facts as to his interest and as to the contract or transaction were disclosed or known to the board of directors or the committee, and the board or committee in good faith authorized the contract or transaction by a vote sufficient for such purpose without counting the vote of the interested director or directors; or

(2) The material facts as to his interest and as to the contract or transaction were disclosed or known to the shareholders entitled to vote thereon, and the contract or transaction was *1316 approved in good faith by vote of the shareholders; or

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