Berks Broadcasting Co. v. Craumer

Opinion by

Mr. Justice Horace Stern,

The determinant of this litigation is the provision of the Business Corporation Law of May 5, 1933, P. L. 364, section 701, that a corporation, in computing a surplus from which cash dividends may lawfully be paid, must not include as an asset any unrealized appreciation in the value of its fixed assets. The application of that mandate to the uncontroverted facts in this case compels a reversal of the judgment for defendants which was entered by the court below.

The circumstances underlying the controversy, though intricate in detail, are simple in substance.…