Court Opinion

ID: 9825672
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-01 13:54:42.891706+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:41:16.060389
License: Public Domain

Hart, C. J., (on rehearing). Counsel for J. E. Engleman, Inc., earnestly insist that a rehearing should be granted because the opinion of the court is contrary to the well-known rule that the officers of a corporation are distinct and separate from the corporation itself, and that the appearance of an officer of a corporation is not an appearance by the corporation. We are of the opinion that the peculiar facts of the case at bar make it an exception to this well-settled rule. The record shows that J. C. Engleman, Inc., is a Delaware corporation, and that the wife of J. C. Engleman, Jr., owns practically all the stock in it. The corporation was engaged in selling lands in Texas to persons in Arkansas, and J. C. Engleman, Jr., alone had charge of its affairs and conducted its business in the State of Texas. He had the authority to employ attorneys for it and to conduct its litigation. Constructive service was had upon the corporation and upon Engleman as an individual. The presumption is that both the corporation and Engleman individually were sued in order to prevent a shifting of responsibility in the premises. J. C. Engleman, Jr., was .just as necessary as a witness for the corporation as he was for himself. He alone conducted the business of the corporation, and he alone could advise the attorneys of the corporation about this particular lawsuit. The continuance was had at his request, because he was sick and unable to attend court. In his motion for a continuance he stated that his presence was necessary to advise the lawyers about the conduct of the case and to be a witness in it. The interest of the corporation and of Engleman as an individual • was so commingled that the same testimony would be introduced in each case, and the presence of Engleman was just as necessary for the corporation as it was for himself. Under these circumstances it is inferable that the continuance was had for the benefit of both parties and resulted in the entry of the appearance of both of them. It is also insisted that the court erred in submitting to the jury whether the land attached in Logan County belonged to the corporation or to Engleman. It is earnestly insisted that there is no testimony in the record upon which to predicate such an instruction. We do not agree with counsel in this contention. As we have already seen, the corporation was organized under the laws of the State of Delaware, and was engaged in selling land in the State of Texas. Practically the whole of the stock of the corporation belonged to the wife of J. C. Engleman, Jr., who alone had charge of its affairs in this part of the country. It is true that he testified that he never took any Arkansas lands for the corporation in exchange for its Texas lands. He states that he took the lands for himself. Under the circumstances, the jury was warranted in finding that the taking of the title in himself was colorable merely, and that the corporation owned the beneficial interest in the lands. It is inferable from the evidence in the record that the Texas lands of the corporation were often exchanged for lands in Arkansas. Agents were especially employed by J. C. Engleman, Jr., to sell lands to persons in'Arkansas. Frequently the owners of lands in the State of Arkansas were induced to exchange their lands for lands belonging to the corporation in the State of Texas. The owners of the Arkansas lands would not convey their lands directly to the corporation, but would convey them to J. C. Engleman, Jr. It is not shown that he had any interest in the matter except as an agent of the corporation, and it is fairly inferable from all the attendant circumstances that the beneficial interest or equitable title was in the corporation. Therefore we hold there was no error in sustaining the attachment on the ground that the lands attached belonged to a nonresident corporation. The motion for a rehearing will be denied.