Alpine Gulf, Inc. v. Valentino, 1822

• Decision Date: 22 February 1978
• Docket Number: No. 1822,1822
• Citation: 563 S.W.2d 358
• Parties: ALPINE GULF, INC., et al., Appellants, v. Salvatore VALENTINO, Appellee. (14th Dist.)
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

Page 358

563 S.W.2d 358

ALPINE GULF, INC., et al., Appellants, v. Salvatore VALENTINO, Appellee.

No. 1822.

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas, Houston (14th Dist.).

Feb. 22, 1978.

Rehearing Denied March 15, 1978.

Kenneth M. Morris, Morris & Campbell, Houston, Gifford, Woody, Carter & Hays, New York City, for appellants.

R. Hayden Burns, Butler, Binion, Rice, Cook & Knapp, Houston, John F. Triggs, Glass, Greenberg, Irwin, Pellman & Slade, New York City, for appellee.

CIRE, Justice.

Alpine Gulf, Incorporated and its parent company, Alpine Geophysical Associates, Incorporated, appeal from an order granting a temporary injunction prohibiting the transfer of assets from Alpine Gulf to either Alpine Geophysical or any of Alpine Geophysical's subsidiaries.

Plaintiff-appellee Salvatore Valentino filed his original petition on December 14, 1977 seeking a temporary restraining order, temporary injunction, and ultimately a permanent injunction against Alpine Gulf and Alpine Geophysical. Appellee alleged that he had purchased nineteen percent of Alpine Gulf's stock, worth $190,000, and had loaned the same company $95,000. He claimed that these investments were induced by fraud and misrepresentation on the part of Alpine Gulf and Geophysical. Valentino further alleged that in September of 1977 he had entered into a contract with appellants which gave him the right to recoup all of his money, and that in November of 1977, he had exercised his rights under the September contract. Valentino additionally accused Alpine Gulf and Geophysical and the companies' officers, directors and management of conspiring to loot Alpine Gulf of its assets and transferring and attempting to transfer such assets to Geophysical. Valentino, in his prayer, asked that upon final hearing, the temporary injunction be made permanent; requested a judgment ordering specific performance of the alleged obligations, and a damage award.

Defendants-appellants Alpine Gulf and Alpine Geophysical filed an answer and special exceptions to Valentino's petition, claiming, among other things, that his petition should be abated and dismissed because of a prior action previously filed by Valentino in the United States District Court, Southern District of New York, involving the same parties and same ultimate relief. This New York action had been filed five days prior to the filing of this suit.

The trial court in December 1977 granted the temporary restraining order and, after hearing the temporary injunction application, entered an order enjoining Alpine Gulf from transferring any of the assets or any of the proceeds of any loans made to Alpine Gulf, Inc., from Alpine Gulf, Inc., to Alpine Geophysical Associates, Inc., its officers and directors or any companies that they control including but not limited to Radmar Trading Corp. Thus, the order prohibits the transfer of any assets from Alpine Gulf, whether legitimate or not, to Alpine Geophysical or any of Alpine's subsidiaries.

Appellants, in their brief, assert six points of error. Point of error five alleges that the trial court erred in granting the temporary injunction because the suit should have been stayed pending ultimate adjudication of the New York suit. We agree that the trial court abused its discretion when it refused to stay the suit. See Evans v. Evans, ...