96 A.D.2d 852 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1983
—■ In a shareholder’s derivative action, defendants Castle W. Jordan, E. Moulton Prussing and Aegis Corporation appeal from an order of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Douglass, J.), entered August 2, 1982, which denied their motion to dismiss plaintiff’s complaint. Order affirmed, with costs. Plaintiff Salvatore Laurenzano, a New York resident and shareholder of defendant Aegis Corporation (hereinafter Aegis), commenced this action setting forth as defendants, Aegis, a Delaware corporation with principal executive offices in Flordia, the corporation’s seven directors (including defendants Jordan and Prussing, both of whom are also Aegis officers), and Sol Goldman, a former shareholder of Aegis common stock. Of the directors, only Jordan and Prussing were served. (Special Term, in the order appealed from, contemplated that the complaint would be amended to delete the names of the five directors who were not, and apparently were not intended to be served.) The gravamen of the complaint is that the defendant directors conspired and engaged in a scheme to keep Aegis within their control and to thwart third parties from gaining control. Laurenzano alleged that the directors conspired to purchase, without any business purpose, 979,000 shares owned by Goldman at a premium in excess of one dollar per share and that following execution of the agreement to purchase these shares, the directors no longer had to fear that Goldman would obtain control of Aegis, and replace management and terminate salaries, bonuses, fees and indorsements which the directors received. Defendants Jordan, Prussing and Aegis moved to dismiss the complaint on the grounds, inter alia, of lack of personal jurisdiction over the directors and forum non conveniens. The motion was correctly denied. Jordan entered New York on January 14, 1982, met with Goldman, and negotiated a tentative agreement whereby Aegis would repurchase Goldman’s shares and the parties would seek dismissal of pending litigation between Goldman and the corporation. Prussing was in New York on January 20,1982. On that day, he conducted a telephone conference with the other Aegis directors, with the exception of Jordan, who was in Europe and unavailable. The agreement was approved; Prussing then executed documents relating to the agreement and returned to Florida. The fiduciary shield doctrine holds that acts performed by a person in his capacity as a corporate fiduciary may not form the basis for exercising jurisdiction over him in his individual capacity (see, e.g., Lehigh Val. Inds. v Birenbaum, 527 F2d 87, 92-93). Here, Jordan and Prussing assert that their actions in New York were solely on behalf of Aegis and therefore the fiduciary shield doctrine is applicable to