Kennedy Drug Co. v. Keyes
Kennedy Drug Co. v. Keyes
Opinion of the Court
This is an appeal from an order appointing a receiver in three consolidated actions prosecuted against Frank W. Keyes, Bessie Keyes, his wife, and F. W. Keyes Drug Company, a corporation, by Kennedy Drug Company, a corporation, George E. Trumball and Walter Eyers and others, as plaintiffs, all of whom are, or claim to be, stockholders in the defendant corporation. A consideration of the issues and proofs in the Kennedy Drug Company action will be controlling.
The plaintiff in that action, in substance, alleged that Frank W. Keyes had fraudulently obtained control of, and claimed the ownership of, nearly two-thirds of the capital stock of the defendant corporation; that he had caused such stock to be issued in his own name; that he claimed the same had been fully paid; that he had not, nor had any other person, paid any consideration to the corporation therefor; that by means of such stock he had acquired control of the corporation; that he had elected himself and two nominal stockholders as its trustees; that the trustees were under his complete domination; that the corporation was engaged in the drug business in the city of Seattle; that it was successor to and vendee of the plaintiff, the Kennedy Drug Company; that Keyes was so conducting the corporation as to dissipate its assets, destroy its business, defraud the plaintiff, incur heavy indebtedness, and cause the corporation to become insolvent. The plaintiffs in all three of the actions moved for the appointment of a receiver. Their motions, after notice, were heard on affidavit, exhibits, and other evidence. The trial judge made an order appointing a receiver, and the defendants have appealed.
The allegations above mentioned and others contained in the complaints are, if sustained, sufficient to support the order. From the evidence we find the following facts: The respondent Kennedy Drug Company was the owner of a stock of goods, a going drug business, certain fixtures, and a leasehold estate in Seattle. About January £8, 1909,
After deducting from the $23,000 the debts of the respond-
From this statement it will be seen that the appellant Keyes has obtained complete control of the corporation, holding nearly two-thirds of its capital stock for which he paid noth
Despondent charges that F. W. Keyes, as manager, had contracted heavy obligations by causing the corporation to borrow money at a high rate of interest, a charge sustained by the evidence. Other irregular acts have been shown, but we think a sufficient statement has been made to disclose the manipulation, attitude- and conduct of appellants. Keyes, as a promoter of the new corporation, has obtained for himself, without consideration, large profits in the form of stock held by him, which he votes and which places him in absolute control of the corporation. He has reaped such profits by the use of property of respondent, to its disadvantage and prejudice, and by the violation of his promise to sell, for the benefit of the new corporation and its business, the identical stock which he now holds and claims to own. He did not sell to the corporation, at a fair valuation, any property which he owned or to which he held title. On the contrary, he used respondent’s property, not only to procure the money and stock which respondent received, but also to obtain for himself a much greater amount of stock to which he now asserts ownership. He has thus secured for himself heavy profits not disclosed to respondent, which he was not entitled to obtain without its consent and which he now holds and uses to its prejudice.
Appellants insist that respondent knowingly consented and
“When Kennedy [respondent’s agent] turned this property over to Keyes to go into this corporation, it is inconceivable that it was in the mind of Kennedy, at least, at that time, that a corporation for $100,000 should be formed and that he should have 176 shares for his $17,600 worth of property and that Keyes would have 611 shares for no assets whatever. Keyes now has the absolute control of this corporation. While the capital stock is a thousand shares, he owns 611. There are 75 shares in the treasury. There are 15 shares which have been retired, according to their theory of it, which would reduce it to 915 shares, or 925 shares, it makes no difference. That being true, Keyes now owns 611 shares or two-thirds, over two-thirds of the voting capital stock of that concern. The board of trustees is absolutely under his domination. He can call a meeting of the stockholders and discharge every member of the board of trustees, under the statute, by two-thirds vote. Kennedy’s property has now come under the absolute domination of Keyes. He has the power to bond this property for $20,000, put it out of existence and deprive Kennedy of anything more than he might get pro rata on his stock as it now stands. I do not believe that the law ever intended in dealing with corporations that one man should get the control of another man’s property in the method in which this was obtained and retain dominion over it.”
In Mangold v. Adrian Irrigation Co., ante p. 286, 111 Pac. 173, recently decided by this court, we held that promoters of a corporation who in a sense are trustees for, and owe an obligation of good faith to, investing stockholders, and who themselves have no substantial investment in the enterprise, cannot be permitted to obtain profits to themselves without the knowledge or consent of investing stockholders who have furnished the only financial support or assets which the promoted corporation possesses. A
The judgment is affirmed.
Rudkin, C. J., Dunbar, Mount, and Parker, JJ., concur.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Kennedy Drug Company v. Frank W. Keyes
- Cited By
- 1 case
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- Published
- Syllabus
- Corporations — Receivers—Grounds—Fraud of Promoter — Stockholders. A receiver is properly appointed for a corporation where it appears that a promoter, through fraudulent representations, obtained a drug business and property of the other stockholders of the value of $33,000, and conveyed the same to the corporation in full payment of stock of the par value of $100,000, two-thirds of which he issued to himself without paying anything therefor, and in violation of his agreement to sell the same for the benefit of the corporation, by means of which he absolutely controls the corporation, and secured heavy profits to himself for which he refuses to account, and that he is about to bond the company, and threatens the corporation with insolvency by ill management.