BRANCH, Judge.
Between 2000 and 2010, Scott A. Beale and Roderick O'Shea were business partners, with each man owning 50% of FlightWorks, Inc. This dispute arises out of the ultimately successful efforts of O'Shea to purchase Beale's ownership interest in the company. As a result of that transaction and the events leading up to it, Beale asserted claims against O'Shea for fraud, breach of contract, and breach of fiduciary duty.
Denial of summary judgment is warranted when any material fact is undisputed, as shown by the pleadings and record evidence, and this fact entitles the moving party to judgment as a matter of law. Cowart v. Widener, 287 Ga. 622, 623(1)(a), 697 S.E.2d 779 (2010). To prevail on a motion for summary judgment, therefore,
(Citations and punctuation omitted.) Strength v. Lovett, 311 Ga.App. 35, 39(2), 714 S.E.2d 723 (2011). "We review the denial of a motion for summary judgment de novo, viewing the evidence in the record, as well as any inferences that might reasonably be drawn from that evidence, in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party." (Citation omitted.) Vann v. Finley, 313 Ga.App. 153, 155, 721 S.E.2d 156 (2011).
Viewed in the light most favorable to Beale, as the non-movant, the record shows that the Flight Works Amended and Restated Shareholders Agreement (the "Shareholders Agreement"), which was signed by both Beale and O'Shea and became effective January 1, 2005, called for a five-person Board of Directors. It granted O'Shea the authority to elect three directors and Beale the authority to elect two. Until sometime in 2009, however, O' Shea and Beale, who was also employed by FlightWorks, served as the company's sole directors. In 2009, O'Shea discovered that Beale had unilaterally authorized FlightWorks to guarantee $8.25 million in loans from Huntington National Bank ("HNB") to Beale, his wife, and/or entities they owned. After making that discovery, O'Shea fired Beale as a FlightWorks employee and exercised his right to elect two additional members to the FlightWorks Board of Directors. O'Shea elected Daniel T. Lucey, FlightWorks President, and William Lewis, FlightWorks CFO. Following the election of Lucey and Lewis in June 2009, Beale was removed from the board.
Feeling that Beale's conduct had left the company's future in question, Lucey and Lewis had their lawyer prepare for each of them a document entitled "Change in Control Protection Agreement." Those agreements provided that if the control of FlightWorks changed such that O'Shea no longer owned at least 50% of the company, then at the closing of the sale of stock resulting in the change in control of FlightWorks, Lucey and Lewis would be entitled to severance pay.
The Shareholders Agreement contains a compulsory sale provision, pursuant to which each shareholder had the right to solicit and present bona fide third-party offers to purchase all the shares of FlightWorks. Under that provision, if one shareholder receives a bona fide third-party offer, the other shareholder is required either to match that offer and purchase the shares of the selling shareholder or he must join in the sale and sell his shares to the third party at the price agreed to by the selling partner.
In November 2009, FlightWorks Holdings, LLC ("Holdings"), an entity formed by Beale and Sean Boyd
Believing that the offer from Holdings was not a bona fide third-party offer, O'Shea initiated this litigation in January 2010 seeking a declaratory judgment as to whether the offer was a valid offer, obligating him either to purchase Beale's FlightWorks shares or to sell his own shares.
On May 11, 2010, Beale and Holdings rescinded and withdrew the First Right Offer and simultaneously submitted an Amended First Right Offer. That offer set the purchase price of all FlightWorks' shares by Holdings at "$13,500,000 ... minus the balance due O'Shea for shareholder loans by him to [the] Company with the remainder divided by the number of shares of the Company then authorized, issued, and outstanding." Also on May 11, the FlightWorks Board of Directors voted to approve a $1.5 million shareholder loan from O'Shea to the company. O'Shea accepted the Amended First Right Offer six days later, on May 17, and agreed to buy Beale's FlightWorks shares at the price set forth therein. Beale, however, refused to close the transaction after O'Shea tendered what Beale believed to be less than the agreed upon purchase price.
After receiving and accepting Beale's Amended First Right Offer, O'Shea contacted HNB to request confirmation that, upon tender of the purchase price, HNB would release Beale's shares and would also release FlightWorks from any and all obligations on Beale's outstanding loans. In June 2010, after Beale refused to close on the sale of his FlightWorks shares, O'Shea negotiated the purchase of those shares directly from HNB for $3.5 million.
The trial court granted summary judgment to Beale on his claim for breach of contract resulting from O'Shea's failure to honor the Amended First Right Offer (Count II).
Beale now appeals from the orders of the trial court granting summary judgment to O'Shea on Count VI, as well as on Beale's claims that O'Shea failed to distribute shareholder profits, in violation of the Shareholder Agreement (Counts IV and V).
1. Beale's claim for breach of fiduciary duty resulting from the Change in Control Protection Agreements is based on his contention that the purpose of those agreements was to make it harder for him to sell his FlightWorks shares to anyone other than O'Shea by reducing the price Beale could receive from third parties.
To avoid summary judgment, a party is "not required to present evidence of a specific dollar amount of damages." Pollman v. Swan, 289 Ga. 767, 768-769(2), 716 S.E.2d 191 (2011). Rather, he must only "present evidence sufficient to serve as the basis for a factfinder to calculate the amount of damages due ... should liability ... be established." Id. And in cases such as this one, where the damages relate to the value of real or personal property, the question of value is normally regarded as "peculiarly for the determination of the jury." (Citation omitted.) Varnedoe v. Singleton, 154 Ga.App. 332, 268 S.E.2d 387 (1980). Thus, a claim for damages related to value will be submitted to the jury "where there is any data in the evidence upon which the jury may legitimately exercise their own knowledge
Georgia law provides that with respect to damages calculated on the value of property, "testimony as to market value is in the nature of opinion evidence. One need not be an expert or dealer in the article in question but may testify as to its value if he has had an opportunity for forming a correct opinion." OCGA § 24-9-66. The opportunity for forming an opinion as to value may be established by showing the witness's experience and familiarity with the item being valued. See Williams v. State, 246 Ga.App. 347, 352(2), 540 S.E.2d 305 (2000) ("An owner does not have to be an expert to testify as to the value of his property (or that property under his control), provided he has experience or familiarity with such values.") (citing OCGA § 24-9-66); Varnedoe, 154 Ga.App. at 332, 268 S.E.2d 387 ("[F]or a witness to give his opinion as to value, he must give his reasons for forming that opinion by showing that he had some knowledge, experience, or familiarity as to the value of the item.") (citations omitted). And our case law establishes that a shareholder in a closely-held corporation may testify as to his opinion of the company's worth. Rental Equip. Group v. MACI, 263 Ga.App. 155, 159(1)(d), 587 S.E.2d 364 (2003); Southern Cellular Telecom v. Banks, 208 Ga.App. 286, 287-288(3), 431 S.E.2d 115 (1993). Applying these principles to the case at hand, we find that Beale presented sufficient evidence to create a jury question as to whether the Change in Control Protection Agreements caused him any damage.
In support of his motion for summary judgment on this claim, O'Shea relied on the deposition testimony of Clay Westbrook, a principal in Konsortium Capital Partners, the firm that worked to find financing for Holdings' proposed buyout of FlightWorks. He was also the representative of Holdings that executed both the First Right Offer and the amended offer. When asked at his deposition what factors determined the proposed purchase price, Westbrook responded that the price "was determined by the amount of the financing that we were able to procure and the amount of the equity investment that we anticipated we would need." O'Shea argues that this testimony shows unequivocally that the existence of the Change in Control Protection Agreements did not factor into, much less reduce, the offer made by Holdings. This argument, however, ignores other evidence of record, including other testimony offered by Westbrook.
Notably, Westbrook was never asked about the Change in Control Protection Agreements and he never stated that those agreements played no role in calculating the proposed purchase price. Westbrook also testified that he did not determine the purchase price offered by Holdings, but that instead, Beale and Sean Boyd told him what price Holdings would offer. Westbrook further stated that to determine purchase price one would need to examine the company's financial statements, balance sheets, and other information as to the companies assets and liabilities. And, as Beale points out, the need for any buyer other than O'Shea to pay out $800,000 at closing could certainly be considered a liability that would play a role in determining what kind of offer should be made.
Additionally, Sean Boyd submitted an affidavit in which he stated that he was "involved in the calculations with respect to the purchase price offered and the financing" that could be obtained for both offers made by Holdings, and that he was aware of the Change in Control Protection Agreements. Boyd further averred that the Change in Control Protection Agreements were "dilutive in the sense that they were designed to make FlightWorks a less attractive acquisition target and/or required an acquirer to pay a premium for the Company. Any purchaser who or which acquired FlightWorks, would have immediately had a liability to pay out approximately $800,000 to Mr. Lewis and Mr. Lucey." Thus, Boyd concluded that:
Furthermore, through his verified pleadings and interrogatory responses, Beale offered his opinion testimony, as an owner of FlightWorks and as one who sat on the FlightWorks Board for a number of years, that the Change in Control Protection Agreements devalued his shares in the Company by at least $400,000. Taken together, this evidence was sufficient to create a factual issue for the jury as to whether Beale suffered damage as a result of the Change in Control Protection Agreements. See Dyer v. Honea, 252 Ga.App. 735, 744(6), 557 S.E.2d 20 (2001) (seller of restaurant not entitled to summary judgment based on buyer's alleged inability to prove damages, where buyer "testified that he would not have purchased the restaurant had [seller] informed him of the outstanding liens and that as a result of the purchase, he was forced to borrow funds to keep the restaurant open"); Williams, 246 Ga.App. at 352-353(2), 540 S.E.2d 305 (even "weak" evidence of property's value is sufficient to allow the issue of value to go to the jury); Southern Cellular Telecom, 208 Ga. App. at 288(3), 431 S.E.2d 115. Accordingly, summary judgment on this claim is not appropriate.
2. The Shareholder Agreement required FlightWorks to make annual shareholder distributions in an amount equal to or greater than the estimated tax liability for each shareholder, with such distributions to be made no later than March 15 of each taxable year. In his counterclaim, Beale asserts that O'Shea breached this provision "by using [O'Shea's] illegal control of the board to withhold distributions to Beale," and that the facts underlying this breach of contract claim also constituted a breach of O'Shea's fiduciary duty to Beale.
We find that this evidence supports the trial court's grant of summary judgment to O'Shea on Counts IV and V of Beale's counterclaim.
For the reasons set forth above we reverse the trial court's order of October 12, 2011, granting summary judgment to O'Shea on Beale's claim for breach of fiduciary duty resulting from the Change in Control Protection Agreements. We affirm, however, the trial court's order of September 16, 2011, granting summary judgment to O'Shea on Counts IV and V of Beale's counterclaim.
Judgment affirmed in part; reversed in part.
MILLER, P.J., and RAY, J., concur.