133 P.2d 721 | Idaho | 1943
Respondent intervener, Thiessen Land Company, obtained a money judgment against the Metz Corporation, which upon appeal was affirmed. (Thiessen Land Co. v. Metz Livestock Co.,
The sole issue is thus succinctly, though negatively, stated by appellant: "A corporate entity may be disregarded only where it is shown (1) that there is such a unity of interest and ownership that the individuality of the corporation and the stockholders, officers, or directors has ceased, and (2) that the observance of the fiction of separate existence would, under the circumstances, sanction a fraud or promote an injustice." Hayhurst v. Boyd,
Appellant prayed for return of the property, or its value, and damages for its retention. Consequently, the action was in tort, properly triable before a jury. (Carver v. Ketchum,
Appellant claimed he was entitled to reimbursement for the amount of feed and the rental of the barns and feed lots used in connection with custody and care of the livestock between the date of the levy thereon, February 20, 1940, and the sale, March 6. The court granted reimbursement for the cost of the hay, etc., after the date of the sale, March 6, but denied the other. The result was proper because the expense of keeping the livestock between the date of the levy and the date of the sale would have been allowable as costs in connection with the levy of execution, and therefore the allowance and reassessment would have been an idle procedure, inasmuch as appellant as the alter ego of the corporation was eventually responsible for such expense, the levy being sustained. (30-2703, I. C. A.;South Side Live Stock Loan Co. v. Iverson,
The judgment is therefore affirmed, and costs awarded to respondents.
Holden, C.J., Ailshie and Budge, JJ., and Buckner, D.J., concur.