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MALONE v. ARMOR INSULATING COMPANY

Supreme Court of Georgia1940-11-13No. No. 13544
191 Ga. 146

Summary

Holding. The court affirmed the lower court's decision to sustain the general demurrer, holding that the stockholder stated no legal basis for requiring cash dividend payments under the preferred stock terms or for appointing a receiver based on general allegations of mismanagement.

A minority stockholder sought relief against a corporation and its directors, claiming they improperly issued new common stock as dividends on his preferred shares instead of paying cash dividends. The stockholder also requested appointment of a receiver, alleging various breaches of fiduciary duty including discrepancies in financial reporting, excessive salary payments to management, and unfavorable corporate transactions. The court found that the stockholder's preferred stock agreement explicitly made cash dividends discretionary, requiring declaration by the board of directors. Since the board affirmatively decided not to declare cash dividends, the stockholder had no contractual right to demand them regardless of how other dividends were distributed.

The court further held that the stockholder's general allegations of mismanagement and breach of trust were insufficient to warrant appointing a receiver or removing control from the directors. The court reasoned that even if some of the alleged misconduct were true—such as excessive salaries or unfavorable lease terms—these actions would not necessarily violate the directors' fiduciary duties or justify judicial intervention in corporate management. The stockholder failed to identify any specific ultra vires act threatened in the future that required an injunction.

Summary generated by law.co from the public-domain opinion. The opinion text itself is public domain.

Key issues

  • Whether a preferred stockholder can compel cash dividend payments when the board has discretionary authority and has declined to declare them
  • Whether general allegations of mismanagement and breach of fiduciary duty justify appointment of a receiver
  • Whether an ultra vires act that has already occurred and will not be repeated can support an injunction

Procedural posture

The case reached the appellate court after the trial court sustained a general demurrer to the stockholder's amended petition.

Authorities cited

No cited authorities resolved to law.co cases yet.

Opinion

majority opinion

Grice, Justice.

Does the complainant set forth a state of facts entitling him to the relief prayed for, or under his prayer for general relief should the suit have been retained in order to grant him any other relief to which he was entitled, not inconsistent with that for which he specifically asked ? This is not an effort on the part of the minority stockholder to prevent the corporate authorities from doing an ultra vires act. The only ultra vires act complained of was the issuance of stock as dividends. This has been done. There is no allegation that the directors contemplated doing so again, and not one threatened act is alleged which the plaintiff wishes enjoined. He has, in his second amendment, a prayer that the defendant corporation pay him dividends in cash. The reference is clearly to dividends on the preferred stock. The petition can not be retained for that purpose, because the stock certificate declares that “Holders of this preferred stock shall be entitled to receive, when and as declared by the board of directors, from the surplus or net profits of this corporation, dividends,” etc.; and it further affirmatively appears that the directors have declined to declare that any cash dividend be paid. Let it be granted that the directors had no right to declare that dividends on the preferred stock should be paid by issuing to the holders new common stock in the company. That would give the complainant no right to require the corporation to pay him cash dividends on his preferred stock, when the affirmative action of the board was that no cash dividends should be paid. He acquired this preferred stock knowing that he would not be entitled to receive the $1.50 dividend therefrom, except “when and as declared by the board of directors.”

The complainant does not show any right to have the management of the corporation taken away from its directors and placed in the hands of a receiver. The allegations as to discrepancies between the financial statement sent to stockholders and the information contained in income-tax returns, and in a statement sent to the securities commission, do not warrant appointment of a receiver. Nor do his allegations that the directors use all the profits as salaries, and allow the president to draw an excessive salary. Both may be true, and yet consistent with good faith. The same observation may be made with reference to the alleged negligence and breach of trust in paying excessive rent for a ten-year rental, with the ultimate purchase of an office and warehouse. The management of the affairs of the corporation is in the hands of the directors. The stockholders have committed its management to their judgment. General allegations of a breach of trust count for nothing, even as against a general demurrer. Lathrop v. Miller, 164 Ga. 167, 170 (138 S. E. 50), and eit. The petition as amended stated no facts to justify appointment of a receiver, or a decree that the corporation pay cash dividends. It was not error to sustain the general demurrer. Judgment affirmed.

All the Justices concur.