Weitzman v. Weitzman
| Decision Date | 16 December 1941 |
| Docket Number | 37634 |
| Citation | 156 S.W.2d 906 |
| Parties | WEITZMAN v. WEITZMAN |
| Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
Louis Kawin and Earl Susman, both of St. Louis, for appellant.
Casper S. Yost, Jr., of St. Louis, for respondent.
WESTHUES, Commissioner.
Appellant, plaintiff nisi, filed this suit in which he asked judgment in the sum of $ 4,206.32 actual damages, alleged to have been sustained as the result of an alleged fraud perpetrated upon him by the defendant. Appellant also asked for punitive damages in the sum of $ 3,500. The trial court sustained a demurrer to plaintiff's petition and when he declined to plead further judgment was entered, whereupon an appeal was taken.
The sole question for review is whether the petition stated facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action. The following are the material facts as set forth in plaintiff's petition. Plaintiff and defendant were brothers. They owned all of the stock of Weitzman Brothers, Incorporated, a Missouri corporation, and, while the stock was not equally divided in number, it was understood that each owned a one-half interest. For three years preceding January 2, 1939 plaintiff had been ill and had sought temporary relief by spending some time in the states of Arizona and California. During these three years plaintiff's illness prevented him from attending to his business even when he was in St. Louis. Plaintiff stated that therefore he was uninformed and ignorant of the financial condition and net financial worth of the corporation and was ignorant of the true value of the stock of the corporation; that the defendant, well knowing the above circumstances and conditions and desiring to induce plaintiff to sell all of his interest in the corporation for a sum substantially less than its true value, for the purpose of defrauding the plaintiff and inducing him to sell his stock without first investigating its true financial worth, stated to plaintiff, about January 2, 1939, that he desired to liquidate and discontinue the business of the corporation; that the defendant offered to purchase all of plaintiff's interest in the corporation at a sum equal to fifty per cent of the net financial worth of the company, or to sell to plaintiff his share in the corporation for a sum equal to twenty-five per cent less than what he offered to pay plaintiff; that the defendant stated to plaintiff that as of December 31, 1938, the net financial worth of the corporation was $ 40,600; that the defendant's offer to sell to plaintiff for less than he offered to pay plaintiff was a part of the scheme and fraud to keep plaintiff from making inquiry as to the true value of the stock; that the defendant well knew plaintiff was unable to purchase the interest of the defendant and was not able to conduct the business; that relying upon all of the above representations as made by the defendant and being deceived thereby, he sold his interest in the corporation to the defendant for the sum of $ 20,300; that subsequent to the sale he discovered that the net worth of the corporation, as of December 31, 1938, was $ 49,012.65; that the defendant knowingly and for the purpose of defrauding plaintiff misstated the worth of the company. Plaintiff further alleged that had he known the true value of his stock he would not have sold it for less than $ 24,506.32; that he was therefore damaged in the sum of $ 4,206.32, for which sum he sought judgment together with the punitive damages above mentioned.
We have carefully read and reread the petition of plaintiff and from it we are unable to discern the nature of the business in which the corporation was engaged, whether it was dealing in bibles, moonshine whiskey or some other commodity. We are also...
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