Opinion ID: 1873693
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: district court's 2004 order

Text: Following a bench trial in 2004, the district court ruled that the estate's shares were not subject to redemption. It reasoned that the 1960 agreement controlled at the time of R.W.'s death. Because the board did not hold a shareholders' meeting within the 30-day time limit for valuing the estate's shares, the court concluded that Pennfield had waived its right of redemption. It further found that even if Pennfield had not waived this right, allowing it to redeem the estate's shares would be contrary to the parties' intent to give Bill majority ownership of Pennfield's shares. The court found this intent from the parties' 1960 agreement, R.W.'s gifts of shares to Bill over the years, and R.W.'s will, devising his remaining shares to Bill. It also found that Bill's agreements with Andrew showed that Bill did not intend for Andrew to be the majority shareholder. The court therefore concluded it would be inequitable to require Bill to surrender the estate's shares. In the light of these findings, the court denied each and every other claim in W.L. and Andrew's counterclaim and cross-claims not specifically addressed herein.