Hamill v. Greater Northern Copper Co.

• Decision Date: 31 December 1927
• Docket Number: 6082
• Citation: 217 N.W. 195,52 S.D. 271
• Parties: J. L. HAMILL et al, dba Hamill & Perkins, Plaintiff and respondents, v. GREAT NORTHERN COPPER COMPANY, Defendant and appellant.
• Court: South Dakota Supreme Court

52 S.D. 271

217 N.W. 195

J. L. HAMILL et al, dba Hamill & Perkins, Plaintiff and respondents,

v.

GREAT NORTHERN COPPER COMPANY, Defendant and appellant. South Dakota Supreme Court Appeal from Circuit Court, Beadle County, SD Hon. Alva E. Taylor, Judge File No. 6082—Affirmed F. P. Matz, Huron, SD Attorney for Appellant. Dick Haney, Huron, SD Attorneys for Respondents. Opinion filed December 31, 1927

BURCH, J.

Respondents Hamill & Perkins are partners doing business at Pittsburg, Pa. Appellant, the Great Northern Copper Company, is a corporation organized under the laws of South Dakota, but its principal place of business is in Pittsburg, Pa. On August 14, 1924, respondents commenced an action against appellant by service of a summons on W. A. Johns, resident agent at Huron, S. D., to recover on account, $18,470.93. Johns forwarded the summons to A. E. Roose, president of the corporation, at Pittsburg, who acknowledged the receipt thereof on September 2, 1924. On the 26th day of September, 1924, default judgment was entered against the corporation for $18,631.21, including interest and costs. Neither the corporation itself nor any officer thereof complains of the judgment or the proceedings in obtaining it, but Obadiah Hodder, a stockholder and Creditor of the corporation, employed an attorney to represent his interests, and his said attorney, claiming to represent the corporation, moved the court, under section 2378, R. C. 1919, in the name of the corporation, to vacate and set aside the judgment and allow the corporation to answer and defend. The motion was denied, and, from the order denying the motion, defendant appealed.

The motion was brought on by order to show cause, supported by the affidavit of Hodder, in which he says he is a British subject and citizen of Newfoundland residing in Twillingate, and at the present time has his principal place of business and office in Pittsburg, Pa.; that he is the owner of one-third of the capital stock, and is a large creditor of the defendant corporation; that the present officers and directors have used their official position to acquire control of the affairs of defendant and have conspired with plaintiffs to allow them to take judgment against the corporation for $18,631.28, without lawful claim therefor, in fraud of stockholders and creditors.

In this opinion we do not attempt to set out the many allegations of fraud and collusion set forth in Hodder’s affidavit,...