Leu Machinery Corp. v. Wenko Trailer & Body Co.
Leu Machinery Corp. v. Wenko Trailer & Body Co.
Opinion of the Court
The plaintiff below appeals from a judgment rendered in part in its favor and in part adverse. Plaintiff sold certain specialized machinery to the defendant Wenko Trailer & Body Co., Inc., herein referred to as Trailer. The corporate stock of Trailer was owned by the defendant Wenko Realty Corporation. The stock of the latter and of the defendant Wenko Equipment Co., a Florida Corporation, was owned by the defendant James H. Wenck.
Plaintiff filed an action against Trailer, seeking recovery of the unpaid portion of the cost of the machinery, and for damages for alleged fraud on the ground that Trailer acquired the machinery with intent not to pay therefor. Later, with leave of court, plaintiff filed a second amended complaint, in which it joined Wenck, Wenko Realty Corporation and Wenko Equipment Co., and in added counts alleged that the negotiations which resulted in sale of the machinery to Trailer were made by Wenck, acting for himself or for the other named corporations, and that Wenck and said other corporations thereby incurred liability to plaintiff for the cost of such machinery; that Wenck and said other corporations had represented to plaintiff that they would be the purchasers; that such representation was false; that Trailer was a sham corporation, and was employed by the other defendants for “illegal and unlawful purposes”, whereupon plaintiff sought judgment piercing the corporate veil of Trailer, and judgment against all defendants.
Following a non-jury trial, judgment was entered in favor of the plaintiff against Trailer for $19,302.14, with costs and attorney fees (to be determined later), and in favor of Wenck, Wenko Realty Corporation and Wenko Equipment Co., absolving them of liability. The appellant contends the latter portion of the judgment was error. In consideration thereof and in the light of the record, briefs and argument we hold no reversible error has been shown.
Inherent in the judgment were findings of the court, as the trier of the facts, adverse to the plaintiff that Wenck and the
The judgment is affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.