James D. Swoish, Inc. v. Panda Foods, Inc.

Plaintiff-Appellant James D. Swoish, Inc. (plaintiff), appeals the summary judgment entered in favor of defendantappellee Thomas Wong (Wong). We reverse.

Viewed in the light most favorable to plaintiff, the facts are as follows:

Wong is an officer (secretary-treasurer), director, and stockholder (19,495 of 74,800 shares) of Panda Foods, Inc. (Panda). He co-signed Panda’s ten-year lease of 10,000 square feet of warehouse space.

In early 1974 Panda entered into the business of growing and selling bean sprouts but found it to be unprofitable. In an attempt to “save the company,” Panda decided to…