Smith v. Chase & Baker Piano Mfg. Co.
Smith v. Chase & Baker Piano Mfg. Co.
Opinion of the Court
This case has been heard once before on demurrer which was sustained. Thereupon complainant filed the present amended bill, in which is incorporated verbatim the whole of the original bill with some additions. The prayer for relief is un
Complainant is a citizen and resident of the state of Michigan. The defendants are citizens and residents of the state of New York. The Chase & Baker Piano Manufacturing Company was organized as a corporation on the 8th day of February, 1910, and acquired and owns a factory located in the village of Holly, in this state, where it manufactured pianos during the years 1910 and 1911. Its capital stock consists of 2,500 shares of the par value of $100 of which the Chase & Baker Company owns and holds 2,200, the complainant 250, the defendant Jacob Heyl 47, and the defendants Erik Heyl, Paul Henrich, and William F. Bayer one each. The Chase & Baker Company is a corporation whose capital stock is largely owned by the individual defendants; complainant having no interest therein. Complainant and the defendants Jacob Heyl'and William F. Bayer are the directors of the Chase & Baker Piano Manufacturing Company. Complainant is its vice president and factory manager, and purchases all materials and supplies, hires the employés at the factory, pays the bills out of moneys sent to him from New York, and receives a salary of $5,000 per year. During the years 1910 and 1911 the individual defendants, having control of both corporations, sold and turned over to the Chase & Baker Company all of the pianos made by the Chase & Baker Piano Manufacturing Company at prices fixed by themselves which were 'less than the cost of manufacture, thereby causing considerable loss to the manufacturing company, nearly if not quite all of which was attributable to the fact that the purchasing company did not take a sufficient number of pianos to keep the manufacturing company running to its full capacity. In July, 1911, the board of directors of the Chase & Baker Company, acting for that company, submitted to complainant, as manager of the Chase & Baker Piano Manufacturing Company, a schedule of prices which the former company proposed to pay for pianos manufactured by the latter company during that year. Complainant refused to consent to such prices, and objected to the continuance of the contract then existing between the two companies. Thereupon the defendant Jacob Heyl, as president of the Chase & Baker Piano Manufacturing Company, notified the complainant by letter that, in view of his “objection to the proposals of the Chase & Baker Company and the schedules of prices submitted by them * * * which in all probability will involve a complete rearrangement of the trade relations existing between the two companies,” it would be necessary to have a meeting of the board of directors of the manufacturing company to vote upon those matters and that such meeting had been called for Monday, July 31st. Complainant did not attend the meeting of the (directors, and does not know what action was taken.
The amended bill further alleges that the action of the individual defendants as directors and officers of the Chase & Baker Piano Manu-' factoring Company in selling to the Chase & Baker Company all of its product “was in pursuance of a contract craftily, corruptly, and fraudulently, entered .into between the two corporations, by which
The prayer of the original and! amended bills is: (1) “That the action of the board of directors of the Chase & Baker Piano Manufacturing Company in turning over to the Chase & Baker Company all of the pianos manufactured at the factory and plant in Holly at prices less than the cost of production and a fair profit may be declared illegal and a violation of the rights of the Chase & Baker Piano Manufacturing Company and of your orator as a minority stockholder therein”; (2) that the defendants may be temporarily and perpetually enjoined from selling pianos to the Chase & Baker Company, unless the selling price and the contract to manufacture and sell is unanimously approved by all the stockholders of the manufacturing company ; (3) that an accounting may be had concerning the pianos sold during the years 1910 and 1911; (4) that the amount found due to complainant on such an accounting may be declared an equitable lien on the real and personal property in Michigan of the manufacturing company to be enforced by the appointment of a receiver and such other proceedings as may be necessary; (5) that' complainant’s investment in the capital stock of the manufacturing company may also be declared an equitable lien upon the property of that company and enforced in the same manner; and (6) for general relief.
Defendants have demurred to the amended bill on several grounds, Only two of which require special consideration.
(a) Under some circumstances and conditions, a court of equity will enjoin the majority directors and stockholders of a corporation from making and entering into a particular contract or pursuing a particular course of conduct, but the case would have to be extreme to warrant the issuance of an injunction restraining corporate action, unless assented to and sanctioned by all the stockholders. Such restraint would necessarily result in transferring the management of corporate affairs from the majority to the minority and would place the corporation and all persons interested therein at the mercy of the smallest minority stockholder.
An order will be entered sustaining the' demurrer, with leave to complainant to amend his bill, if he so elects, within 20 days.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- SMITH v. CHASE & BAKER PIANO MFG. CO.
- Cited By
- 10 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. Courts (§ 322*) — Federal Courts — Bill by Stockholder — Collusive Suit — Pleading. A bill brought' in the federal District Court by a minority stockholder to redress wrongs claimed to have been inflicted upon his corporation is demurrable if it fails to state that the suit is not a collusive one to confer on a federal court jurisdiction of a cause of which it would not otherwise have cognizance, as applied by equity rule 94 (29 Sup. Ct. xxxvii). [Ed. Note. — For other cases, see Courts, Cent. Dig. §§ 876-881, 887; Dee. Dig. § 322.* Rights of minority stockholders as to management of corporate affairs, see note to American Locomotive Sander Co. v. Economy Locomotive Sander Co.; 89 C. O. A. 482.] 2. Corporations (§ 320*) — Bill by Stockholder — Requisites. A bill by a minority stockholder to redress wrongs claimed to have been inflicted upon the corporation is demurrable if it fails to set forth with particularity his efforts to secure action by the managing directors or the stockholders, and the causes of his failure to obtain such action as required by equity rule 94 (29 Sup. Ct. xxxvii), and especially where the bill shows that suit was brought without any attempt to settle the differences, though complainant was requested to attend a directors’ meeting. [Ed. Note. — For other cases, see Corporations, Cent. Dig. §§ 1426-1431, 1433-1439; Dec. Dig. § 320.*] 3. Corporations (§ 320*) — Stockholders’ Bill — Sufficiency. A bill by a minority stockholder against those in control charging infliction of wrong upon the corporation is insufficient where it fails to allege tangible facts sustaining general averments of fraud or misconduct. [Ed. Note. — For other cases, see Corporations, Cent. Dig. §§ 1426-1431, 1433-1439; Dee. Dig. § 320.*] 4. Corporations (§ 370*) — Officers and Stockholders — Mutual Dealings. Corporations controlled and managed by the same officers and stockholders can deal with each other, and courts will not interfere in their internal affairs, unless the action of the majority in control is dishonest or fraudulently oppressive; losses from ignorant or even foolish mismanagement not being subject to redress. [Ed. Note. — For other cases, see Corporations, Cent. Dig. §§ 1511-1518; Dec. Dig. § 370.*] 5. Injunction (§ 70*) — Management of Corporate Affairs — Bill by Minority Stockholder. Under some circumstances and conditions, equity will enjoin the majority directors and stockholders from making a particular contract or pursuing a particular course of conduct, but the case would have to be extreme to warrant an injunction restraining corporate action, unless assented, to and sanctioned by all the stockholders. [Ed. Note. — For other cases, see Injunction, Cent. Dig. §§ 136, 137; Dec. Dig. § 70.*] 6. Corporations (§ 553*) — Receivers—Appointment. Courts on proper application will appoint receivers for Insolvent corporations, whose assets have been diverted and dissipated, but will seldom, if ever, assume management and control of a solvent and going concern, where relief may be otherwise had. [Ed. Note. — For other cases, see Corporations, Cent. Dig. §§ 2201-2216; Dec. Dig. § 553.*] 7. Corporations (§ 182*) — Minority Stockholder — Rights. Where two corporations are controlled by the same officers and majority stockholders, a minority stockholder of. one of them is not entitled to an equitable lien upon the property of the other on account of any wrong of the controlling officers in selling the product of the minority stockholders’ company to the other at a loss. [Ed. Note. — For other cases, see Corporations, Cent Dig. §§ 680-690; Dec. Dig. § 182.*]