BATA v. HILL


112 A.2d 519 (1955)

Thomas J. BATA, Thomas J. Bata and David H. Graham, as Executors of the Estate of Mary T. Bata, and Western Investment and Trading Company, Limited, a Bermuda corporation, Plaintiffs, v. Donald M. HILL, Donald M. Hill, Jr., Donald M. Hill and Donald M. Hill, Jr., as Voting Trustees under Voting Trust Agreement for North River Securities Corporation, a Delaware Corporation, dated October 22, 1940, Charles Jucker and Hans Berger, individually, as mandatories in accordance with the law of Switzerland, and as a partnership, North River Securities Corporation, a Delaware corporation, Walter Runge, Louis F. Sperry and Frank A. Seller, Edward N. Goodwin, Nicholas Danforth, A. Turney Savage, Harold J. Faulkner, William F. Clare, Jr., and A. Pennington Whitehead, partners in the practice of law under the firm name of "Goodwin, Danforth, Savage & Whitehead" successor firm to a partnership which practiced law under the firm name of "Campbell, Harding, Goodwin & Danforth", Edward N. Goodwin and Harold J. Faulkner, as surviving Voting Trustees under a Voting Trust Agreement for Westhold Corporation, a Delaware corporation, dated October 14, 1940, Cagodan Corporation, a New York corporation, Westhold Corporation, a Delaware corporation, New World Investments Limited, a Canadian corporation, Roycan & Co., a Canadian partnership, N. V. Hollandsche Handelmaatschappij Bave, a Dutch corporation, Per Norgren, as Liquidator of N. V. Hollandsche Handelmaatschappij Bave, a Dutch corporation, N. V. Nederlandsche Schoen-en Lederfabrieken Bata-Best, a Dutch corporation formerly bearing the name N. V. Schoen-en Lederindustrie Amsterdam, Jan A. Bata, Transoceanique S. A., a Luxembourg corporation, Hans Berger, as Liquidator of Transoceanique S. A., a Luxembourg corporation, and Leader A. G., a Swiss corporation, Defendants.

Court of Chancery of Delaware, New Castle.

March 8, 1955.


Attorney(s) appearing for the Case

Aaron Finger (of Richards, Layton & Finger), Wilmington, and Inzer B. Wyatt and Robert MacCrate (of Sullivan & Cromwell), New York City, for plaintiffs.

George Tyler Coulson (of Morris, Steel, Nichols & Arsht), Wilmington, and Henry Cohen, New York City, for defendants, Donald M. Hill, Donald M. Hill, Jr., Donald M. Hill and Donald M. Hill, Jr., as voting trustees, Jan A. Bata and North River Securities Corp.

Henry A. Wise, Jr. (of Wise & Suddard), Wilmington, for defendant, Westhold Corp.

William Poole (of Berl, Potter & Anderson), Wilmington, for Charles Jucker and Hans Berger, individually, as mandatories in accordance with the law of Switzerland, and as a partnership.

The other defendants have either not been served or not appeared.


SEITZ, Chancellor.

After reading the various papers filed with the Court, I believe I now have in focus the presently relevant facts in a most complicated situation. However, I believe no purpose would now be served by narrating facts beyond those necessary to this decision. I particularly desire to avoid the expression of any unconscious or conscious evaluation of facts beyond the necessities of the present application.

Plaintiffs ultimately seek a declaratory...

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