Williamson v. Ohio Broadcasting Corp.
Williamson v. Ohio Broadcasting Corp.
Opinion of the Court
OPINION
It appears that on the 29th day of January, 1931, one Clayton C. Townes had purchased from the two Williamsons, the defendants, 17% shares of the stock of WKBN Broadcasting Company, leaving the Williamsons with 87% shares of stock. At that time the plaintiff and the defendants entered into a trust agreement, putting their stock in the hands of trustees for voting purposes, and they also in that agreement entered into a contract providing what each should do in case one should want to sell their stock or purchase the others’ stock. It is only with the latter part of the contract that we are now concerned. This agreement, so far as that question is concerned, reads as follows:
“Said trust agreement to further contain in addition to said customary and ordinary provisions of similar trust agreements, the provision that, should either of the parties hereto desire to sell or relinquish his interest in said corporation, he or they shall first made a bona fide offer to the other party to either buy the interst of the other party or to sell his interest to the other-party for a definitely stipulated amount per share, said offer to be accompanied with a certified check for ten per cent of the amount so offered. Any such offer must be in writing and sent by registered mail or delivered personally to the other party. Upon the receipt of any such offer, the receiving party shall within ten days from the receipt of the same, elect either to buy the interest of said offering party at the figure named, or shall sell his interest to*732 such offering party for the same amount per share. In the event the receiving party fails to so elect, it shall be understood and agreed hereby that the receiving party shall sell his interest to the offering party for the consideration named therein; in such event it is hereby covenanted and agreed between the parties hereto, that this contract shall serve as an enforceable contract for the sale and purchase of said radio broadcasting station for the consideration named in such offer.”
In addition to these 17% shares which Mr. Townes acquired from the plaintiffs in error, it had acquired 70 shares from Mr. Lewis, which gave the defendant in error 87% shares, so that the Williamsons and Townes had each 87% shares, except one .share of Williamsons that was in the name of Arthur P. Jones, so that he could be a director. After entering into this contract and the purchase of 70 shares, Townes sold his shares and transferred them to the Ohio Broadcasting Corporation; which seems to have been located in Cleveland, and also transferred his inteerst in this trust agreement and the sale contract to the Ohio Broadcasting Corporation. On the 20th of October, that year, and prior to that time, there had grown up some dissention between the persons operating the Ohio Broadcasting Corporation and the Williamsons about the management or what should be done with the Broadcasting Company, and on the 20th of October the Ohio Broadcasting Corporation met and referred in a resolution to the differences and authorized Mr. Townes to make an offer under the trust agreement to purchase at $200 a share the 87% shares which the William-sons owned, with one share of Jones. With the offer Townes forwarded a draft for ten per cent of this offer. Townes did not do anything with the offer of the Ohio Broadcasting Corporation to purchase the stock of plaintiffs in error until the 26th, when the proposition to purchase under the resolution was forwarded by Townes to the Williamsons at Youngstown. In the meantime, on the 22nd of October there was a call for the directors of the Broadcasting Company of Youngstown to meet in Youngstown. We should further say that after the sale of this property by Townes to the Ohio Broadcasting Corporation, he retained one share and Bender of that company was given one share in order to become director. The directors of the broadcasting company were the two Williamsons, Jones, of this city, and Townes and Bender. As far as Bender is concerned, he does not appear to have been at the meeting of October 22nd. When the question of what should be done with the broadcasting company was under discussion, Mr. Townes, possibly, offered a resolution. He proposed that some merger proposition with the Columbus Broadcasting Company should be accepted. That was not accepted. The Williamsons were in favor of some proceedings before the Broadcasting Commission in Washington, in securing probably some more territory that was then held by the Columbus company. The Broadcasting Company was without funds, and the proposition was to raise funds to carry on this contention or claim before the Broadcasting Commission of Washington. Different amounts that would be required to finance this proposition were talked of, two, three or probably four thousand dollars would be necessary, and after talking it over the directors adjourned that meeting for the purpose of ascertaining just about what would be required to finance this contention that they had before the Broadcasting Commission. At least the directors meeting adjourned without fixing any amount or going any further than discussion. There was some treasury stock discussion in which each of the parties had the right to ah equal number of shares, and there was no contention between these parties but that each would have the right to take one-half of the number that should be 'sold. The meeting adjourned, possibly for the reason that the notice given of the meeting was not sufficient to authorize any further action. There was then notice given to the directors that there would be a meeting on the 24th of October for the purpose of issuing and selling the required amount of treasury stock to finance this contention or the'claims the company had before the Broadcasting Commission. Mr. Townes testified that he received that notice and the purpose of the meeting, on the 24th, but that he did not attend the meeting. Neither was Mr. Bender there. At that time the board of directors passed a resolution to sell twenty shares of the treasury stock for the purpose of financing whatever enterprise or contention there was before the Broadcasting Commission at Washington, and each side, the Ohio Broadcasting Corporation and the Williamsons, had a -right to subscribe for half of this amount. 'There was also at this meeting a resolution passed providing that the purchase price of the stock should be placed in the hands of Jones, under his control and not in the
We think that the Ohio Broadcasting-Corporation was not required under the offer it made to pay for the extra ten shares, or 97% shares, that the defendants below then owned, and that it had a right to withdraw its offer. It had a right to recover back the ten per cent of the purchase price. The judgment of the court below is affirmed.
Judgment affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.