Stout v. Oates

This is an action brought by W. I. Stout, minority stockholder in the Southern Mattress Co., an Arkansas corporation, to compel J. Carl Oates, Elsie P. Oates, and Sam C. Oates, officers and majority stockholders, to repay to the corporation certain sums received by them as “salaries” during the years 1941-48. The Chancellor found for the defendants and dismissed Stout’s complaint. He appeals.

The Southern Mattress Co. was dominated by J. D. Oates, its president, until his death in 1941. Of the I,000 shares of its stock, J. D. Oates owned 608 shares; his son J. Carl Oates owned 25 (of which 9…