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  • DYER CRAIG vs. DYER CUSTOM INSTALLATIONDCXOTHER (CIVIL) document preview
  • DYER CRAIG vs. DYER CUSTOM INSTALLATIONDCXOTHER (CIVIL) document preview
  • DYER CRAIG vs. DYER CUSTOM INSTALLATIONDCXOTHER (CIVIL) document preview
  • DYER CRAIG vs. DYER CUSTOM INSTALLATIONDCXOTHER (CIVIL) document preview
  • DYER CRAIG vs. DYER CUSTOM INSTALLATIONDCXOTHER (CIVIL) document preview
  • DYER CRAIG vs. DYER CUSTOM INSTALLATIONDCXOTHER (CIVIL) document preview
						
                                

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MATTHEW A. > mnowak@ns-la c NOWAK & STAUCH A Limited Liability Partnership 10000 N. CeNTRaL Expressway, Suite 1040 wwww.ns-law.net July 24, 2012 Vis HAND DELIVERY Honorable Emily G. Tobolowsky 298™ JUDICIAL DISTRICT CourT Dallas County District Courts 600 Commerce St., Box 822 Dallas, TX 75202 Re: Cause No. 04-01100-M; Craig Dyer _y. Dyer Custom Installation, Inc. (DC). Joseph Geeting, Susan Lambert, Richard Geeting and Lauri_Geeting/Pro Plumbing & Appliance Installation, Inc. f/k’a Dyer Custom Installation, Inc. v. Craig Dyer, Melisa Contreras and the Estate of Larry Dyer; Filed in the 298" Judicial District Court of Dallas County, Texas; Our File No. 0679.002 Dear Judge Tobolowsky: While we agree the Court has broad discretion in balancing equities to correct shareholder oppression, we disagree with Mr. Murto’s approach in his July 23° letter to the Court in which he attempts to value 510 shares of Pro Plumbing & Appliance Installation, Inc. f/k/a Dyer Custom Installation, Inc. (“DCI”) at $40,499.10. This valuation is irmproper because Plaintiff is utilizing a valuation from February of 2004 to provide a current 2012 value of DCI’s 510 shares. Even worse, if the Court recalls, the $23,824 valuation was not based upon any expert testimony or ownership testimony at trial, but rather was picked out of a hat by Mr. Oncken and should not be considered for any sort of equitable remedy. Not surprisingly, the $79.41 value of one DCI share provided by Mr. Murto is much tower than the November 1, 2010 valuation conducted by Douglas Rudiey and conveniently favors Craig Dyer in this situation while ignoring the prior 2010 valuation that took considerable time. effort and cost. Defendants further object to Plaintiff's revised proposed Final Judgment on the following - grounds: 1) Plaintiff's newly added paragraph 7 provides that Craig Dyer recover $123,197 in attorney’s fees from DCI for the services he provided DCI in bringing the derivative lawsuit against Defendants. As the Court will recall, attorney's fees awarded in Question No. 27 were predicated on an answer of “yes” to Question No. 2 and Question No. 10 involving individual causes of action by Craig Dyer against Joseph Geeting for failure to comply with the 80/20 Agreement and for statutory fraud concerning the December 2002 Agreement in which Joseph Geeting acquired fifiy- one percent (51%) of DCL. These individual causes of action in no way involvedNowak & STAUCH, LLP Honorable Emily G. Tobolowsky July 24, 2012 Page 2 DCI’s derivative cause of action. Therefore, Texas law does not provide Plaintiff's requested relief as proposed in paragraph 7; 2) Texas law does not provide for DCI’s award against Craig Dyer for damages and prejudgment interest to be offset by attorneys’ fees awarded Craig Dyer on the derivative causes of action because Craig Dyer was not awarded attorneys’ fees on the derivative causes of action. Thus, paragraph 8 is improper; 3) Paragraph 9 is improper in that it requires Joseph Geeting to sell all 510 shares of DCI to Craig Dyer for $40,499.10 based upon Mr. Murto’s valuation which is grossly undervalued compared to the November 1, 2010 valuation and is not based upon any current expert valuation; 4) There is no basis for paragraph 11 allowing $40,499.10 to be set off against what Craig Dyer owes Joseph Geeting and this set off conveniently only benefits Craig Dyer; 5) There is no basis for paragraph 12 that would require DC] to show on its books the transfer of the 510 shares from Joseph Geeting to Craig Dyer until this Court determines a fair market value of the DCI shares; and 6) There is no basis for paragraph 13 allowing for a setoff for attorney’s fees being awarded to Craig Dyer from DCI. Mr. Murto’s revised proposed Final Judgment is advantageous to his client Craig Dyer and is not based upon the jury’s findings or a proper valuation of DCI. Again, we respectfully request that this Court consider the attached proposed Final Judgment that was ettached to my correspondence of November 23, 2011. See attached November 23, 2011 correspondence with proposed Final Judgment and other attachments. As you referenced again during the conference call last week, these parties need a divorce. We continue to believe the only way to achieve a divorce is through correction of the verdict as proposed in the attached proposed Finai Judgment. Once that has been accomplished, this Court can fashion a less drastic equitable relief than receivership, such as a forced buyout at a fair price. See Ritchie v. Rupe, 339 S.W.3d 275, 285- 86 (Tex. App. — Dallas 2011, pet. granted). If this Court were to entertain Plaintiff's revised proposed Final Judgment, the problems associated with the 80/20 Agreement, the fraudulent inducement claim concerning the December 2002 Agreement, and the statutory fraud damages are still not resolved including Plaintiff's late amendments to his petition after the evidence closed and the issues of lack of consideration for the 80/20 Agreement, the failure of Plaintiff to ever exercise his option on the 80/20 Agreement, ratification and statute of limitations issues concerning the December 2002 Agreement, and lack of valuation for the majority of the damages awarded Plaintiff. As discussed at the March 29, 2012 hearing, the hard economic times have taken their toll on DCI’s operations. However, this fact and the fact that DCI never had an exclusiveNoWAK & STAUCH, LLP Honorable Emily G, Tobolowsky July 24, 2012 Page 3 contract with the Home Depot {its biggest client) should not be used by Plaintiff and his counsel as a reason for a forced buy-out at a jess than current valuation or the reason to appoint a receiver. Plaintiff and his counsel have been provided financials of DCI since the jury trial in July of 2010 and to date have failed to show any wrongdoing or dilution of assets by Joseph Geeting since the verdict. Moreover, Plaintiff and his counsel have even resisted substantial settlement offers by Mr. Geeting based upon the November 2010 valuation of DCI. Now, that DCI is struggling, Plaintiff and his counsel want to use this as leverage for the Court to execute Plaintiffs revised proposed Final Judgment. While we agree that something needs to be done, this Court agreeing to the language in Plaintiff's revised proposed Final Judgment gets neither party any closer to a fair and equitable divorce. Lastly, I did not see any reference to the appointment of a receiver by Plaintiff or suggested names of individuals to be appointed receivers in Mr. Murto’s letter. If Plaintiff or the Court is still entertaining the appointment of a receiver, we respectfully request a receiver that has no ties to Plaintiff and his numerous counsels. Defendants and their counsel will make themselves available to appear before the Court, either in person or by telephone, to discuss the attached proposed Final Judgment sent on November 23, 2011 and the problems with Mr. Murto’s revised proposed Final Judgment. Sincerely, Jie! A bred, Matthew A. Nowak MAN/ksr Enclosure cc: VIA FAX Mitchell Madden LAW OFFICES OF MITCHELL MADDEN Four Hickory Centre 1755 Wittington Place, Suite 300 Dallas, TX 75234 VIA FAX Kevin Oncken Jeffrey Uzick UziCK & ONCKEN, P.C. 238 Westcott Houston, TX 77071