Opinion ID: 329996
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: payments from the e.n.m. company and the polydoris brothers.

Text: 23 The E.N.M. Company, owned and run by three brothers, Nicholas, Stewart and Louis Polydoris, sold one of its products to I-H during the 1960's. In late 1969 or early 1970, Louis Polydoris began to call on Bryza at I-H rather frequently because he hoped to sell to I-H, through Bryza, a second E.N.M. product. 24 In the spring or summer of 1970, Louis Polydoris offered Bryza a gift of two airline tickets to Las Vegas. Bryza took the tickets, but approximately a week later, he told Polydoris that he had tried to turn the tickets in for cash and had been unsuccessful. Polydoris said he would arrange to get cash for the tickets. A week later, Polydoris gave Bryza an envelope containing $500 in cash, stating that the money was cash from the airline tickets. 25 In the late summer or early fall of 1970, Bryza and Louis Polydoris met after work for a drink in a bar. During that meeting, Bryza stated that it was time E.N.M. Company had someone at I-H looking out for E.N.M.'s affairs and acting as E.N.M.'s agent. Bryza then asked to be paid five percent of E.N.M.'s total sales to I-H. Polydoris responded that five percent was not built into the price of the products E.N.M. was selling to I-H and thus the proposed plan was unworkable. Bryza then suggested that Polydoris could increase by $1.00 per unit the previously quoted price of the second E.N.M. product a service recorder which I-H was going to purchase. Bryza asked that the additional $1.00 per unit be paid to him. However, Polydoris responded that that plan also was unworkable because it would be impossible to change the previously quoted price. Bryza then said that a payment plan was possible because he had a company to which payments could be made and that I-H could not trace the payments to him. Polydoris promised to look into the possibility of making payments in some form and told Bryza that he would get in touch with him later. 26 A day or two later, Polydoris telephoned Bryza at I-H. During that conversation, it was agreed that Bryza would send an invoice for $100 from Searsport. Shortly thereafter, Polydoris received the invoice which stated that it was for consulting services for November, 1970. It was signed by Charles W. Morgan. Polydoris authorized payment. 27 Subsequently, the Polydoris brothers received regular invoices from Searsport and as a result, the company owned by the brothers paid Bryza, through Searsport, $125 per month until April, 1971. 28 In approximately May, 1971, Bryza and Louis Polydoris had a telephone conversation in which Bryza stated that the $125 monthly payments were no longer acceptable and that he felt the Polydoris brothers should reconsider his previously suggested plan of paying five percent of E.N.M.'s total dollar sales to I-H. Polydoris said that he would contact Bryza later. Louis Polydoris then transferred the Searsport account to his brother, Stewart Polydoris. 29 In September or October, 1971, Stewart Polydoris first met Bryza at a luncheon meeting. During the meeting, Bryza stated that the $125 monthly payments no longer were acceptable and he again demanded to be paid five percent of E.N.M.' § total sales to I-H. Stewart Polydoris refused to pay Bryza five percent of the total sales, but did agree to increase the payments to $250 per month. The Polydoris brothers subsequently began to make monthly payments of $250 to Bryza through Searsport. 30 In May, 1973, the Polydoris brothers received an invoice from Searsport which stated that their account was delinquent and payment was requested. After receipt of the invoice, Louis Polydoris authorized a single $250 payment to Searsport although the invoice showed that $775 was past due. Accordingly, the Polydoris brothers received a letter from Searsport, dated May 29, 1973 and signed again by Charles W. Morgan, which stated that, because the account was delinquent, the Searsport consulting services would be terminated. 31 The Polydoris brothers paid Bryza, through Searsport, a total of approximately $6,000. However, no consulting services or any other services were rendered in return for the payments. In Louis Polydoris' view, the payments were made to ensure continued business with I-H. 32 There was a substantial dispute concerning the start of the payments to Bryza. According to the Polydoris brothers the money was coerced from them. According to the defendant, the payments were a mutually agreed upon arrangement with no pressure or coercion involved. Sometime in the spring of 1973, Nicholas Polydoris, the president of E.N.M., apparently learned of the payments for the first time. He brought this information to the attention of International Harvester. 33