Pergament v. Pergament, 1310
| Decision Date | 16 December 1959 |
| Docket Number | No. 1310,1310 |
| Citation | 117 So.2d 26 |
| Parties | Martha J. PERGAMENT, Appellant, v. Bessie M. PERGAMENT et al., Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Hal H. McCaghren, West Palm Beach, for appellant.
Madison F. Pacetti, Caldwell, Pacetti, Robinson & Foster, West Palm Beach, for appellees.
The appellant was the plaintiff and the appellees were the defendants in the lower court.
The plaintiff filed a complaint for a declaratory decree against the defendants jointly and severally seeking an adjudication of the rights of the parties in and to the defendant corporation, its stock, assets, and the real property of the defendant corporation. The plaintiff also sought compensation for services rendered to the corporation; a determination of her right to occupy the manager's apartment in the defendant corporation's motel; whether the corporate veil should be pierced and the stock holders be declared tenants in common; and an accounting of the corporate funds.
Arnold Pergament, estranged husband of plaintiff, filed an answer denying the allegations of the complaint.
Bessie M. Pergament and Charles S. Pergament, parents of Arnold Pergament, and the defendant corporation denied the allegations of the complaint and filed a counterclaim seeking possession of the manager's apartment occupied by plaintiff and damage for its use and occupancy.
Plaintiff then filed an answer denying the allegations of the counterclaim.
After testimony was taken, the lower court entered an order dismissing plaintiff's complaint with prejudice; ordered plaintiff to vacate the apartment in defendant's motel; and ordered plaintiff to pay $1,100 to the corporate defendant for the use of the apartment. After denial of plaintiff's motion for rehearing, this appeal was taken.
In the fall of 1952 Arnold Pergament and his cousin, Jerome Pergament, contracted to purchase in their individual names a motel known as the Soughlands, located in West Palm Beach. Thereafter the Southlands Motor Lodge Corporation was formed and title to the motel was taken in the corporate name. The original stock issue was as follows: 34 shares to Arnold Pergament; 1 share to Martha Pergament, his wife; 34 shares to Jerome Pergament; and 1 share to Shirley Pergament, his wife.
Arnold Pergament experienced financial difficulty in 1954 and it became necessary to borrow $2,500 from one Feldman. Arnold and his wife pledged their 35 shares as security for the loan. When the first installment came due, Martha borrowed $1,500 from her mother, Mrs. Ford, to pay it and in return Arnold assigned to his wife, Martha, all his right and title to the 35 shares on January 15, 1955. Later in 1955, Bessie Pergament, Arnold's mother, apparently paid Martha's mother the $1,500 loan and in return Martha assigned her 35 shares to Bessie.
On April 24, 1957, Bessie Pergament purchased Jerome Pergament's 34 shares and Charles Pergament, the husband of Bessie Pergament, purchased Shirley Pergament's one share. Thereafter, on February 14, 1959, Bessie Pergament had Arnold Pergament's 34 share certificate, which had already been assigned to her, transferred on the corporate books to her. Thus, as of this time, Bessie owned 69 shares and her husband, Charles, owned the remaining share of the defendant corporation's stock.
The appellant alleges that Arnold's parents, Bessie and Charles, as owners of the defendant corporation permitted Arnold to misappropriate the corporate funds labeling such misappropriations as loans to Arnold. The record does not seem to support this contention.
The trial judge personally heard the evidence in this case and found in favor of the defendants below, appellees here, on the disputed testimony before him.
The lower court, in his final decree, said:
'There are two issues to be decided by the court: (1) The interests of the plaintiff, if any, in the defendant Southlands Motor Lodge Corp., a Florida Corporation, or the property owned by said corporation and described as Lots 301 to 308 inclusive, Woodlawn, a subdivision of the City of West Palm Beach, Florida, as recorded in the public records of Palm Beach County, Florida, in Plat Book 10, page 41; and (2) the right of plaintiff to occupy and possess the Manager's apartment situated on said property,...
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Gonzalez v. Barrenechea
...and the weight to be given the testimony are matters for the trier of fact to determine, not an appellate court. Pergament v. Pergament, 117 So. 2d 26, 29 (Fla. 2d DCA 1959). Furthermore, an appellate court will not substitute its judgment for that of the trial court when there is sufficien......
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Ford v. Turner, 2372
...chancellor after full consideration of documentary evidence and extensive testimony of both experts and laymen. In Pergament v. Pergament, Fla.App.1959, 117 So.2d 26, 29, Judge Allen speaking for this court said: 'An appellate court does not retry a case but accepts a determination of facts......
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Cruger v. Allstate Ins. Co., 63-543
...evidence to support the findings of fact of the chancellor and, therefore, his final decree should be affirmed. See: Pergament v. Pergament, Fla.App.1959, 117 So.2d 26; Stoller v. Jaffe, Fla.App.1960, 125 So.2d Originally, agreements to arbitrate disputes arising in the future were not enfo......
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Casey v. Cohan, No. 97-1669
...trial judge where the record discloses testimony from which the trial judge could have determined the facts...." Pergament v. Pergament, 117 So.2d 26, 29 (Fla. 2d DCA 1959). In 1986, appellee Stanford Cohan entered into an agreement to sell one half of the common stock he owned in the Palm ......