Coca-Cola in stock shakedown
A California family says it's owed $130 million from the company after finding an ancient stock certificate at an estate sale.
That's the story that Tony Marohn's family is sticking with -- and it wants Coca-Cola (KO) to pay up. Marohn bought an antique Palmer Union Oil Co. stock certificate in 2008 for $5, and his family now says the certificate is worth $130 million in Coca-Cola shares.
How does the now-defunct Palmer Union Oil Co. translate into Coca-Cola stock? That's a little murky. Marohn found a roundabout connection through other old companies, including Petrocarbon Chemicals and Taylor Wine Co., Reuters reports.
Marohn died in 2010, but his California family is taking up his cause. Coca-Cola traded for $72.51 a share Tuesday, making the family's claim worth $130.5 million.
Coca-Cola went on the offensive after Marohn wrote it a letter demanding 1.8 million shares of stock. The company sued Marohn in Delaware's Chancery Court in 2009 and asked a judge to strike down his claim on the stock, the Daily Mail reports.
So far, a judge is not pleased with the Marohn family. "This is a new version of the Beverly Hillbillies," Judge Leo Strine said in a January hearing, according to the Daily Mail. He also warned the family against pursuing "a drive-by of a public company" to get millions of dollars."It's just not a sport," he added.
In a statement last week, Coke said Marohn's claim "is meritless and unfair to the company's millions of legitimate shareholders."
Is this a shameful grab for money or a family honoring its father's last wishes? I'll give you one guess how the family is spinning this.
"It's not so much about the money," the family's attorney told ABC News. "For my client, for Jamie and her mom, it's about her dad. This was a big deal for her dad before he passed away. She's going to finish the fight."
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| Tags: | Kim PetersonKO |
Based on Coca Cola's response to the court about the claim not being "FAIR" to its current & real shareholders Coca Cola is saying YES the certificate is good BUT i don't want to pay its 2 old.
I would say to Coca Cola Is it fair to pay people $8 hour to work and expect them to survive? Its not but thats life as we all know life is not FAIR.
I would say the certificate is valid & Coke needs to ante UP to ALL holders of these Palmer Union Oil Co certificates even if you found them in a TRASH can.
I Just bought the mineral rights to manhattan on ebay!
Im moving my equipment to wall street right now!
we are going to dig up and keep everything under the ground under those buildings!
I got it .99 buy it now!!!!
I bid on all the public traded stocks from the soviet union too!
should be getting those and calling russia tommorow!
anyone wanna pitch in? were gonna have a keg and some
dominos take out...
(I own dominos and A+B) so its on me...
bought that stock at a flea market in disney land.
Key questions:
1) Are there forever rights to such shares?
2) Can it be proven that the shares to Coca-Cola were never issued to the original owner, (which if they were would have invalidated the original oil company stock certificates)? In today's world, even mortgage paperwork was lost. What happened to files that were in existence and suspense 100 years ago?
2) What do the relevant states do with unclaimed property such as the stock that would have been issued but possibly never taken possession of by the rightful party? Was such a state function (unclaimed property) even in existence back then, and if not, what did the states do with prior cases when the laws came on the books? Certain things revert to the states when claimants and owners can't be found after a certain time, like safe deposit box contents.
3) Does the holder of such a right (and their heirs) retain those rights as long as they do not transfer the ownership, no matter what happens to the physical stock certificate? Or does "possession is nine points of the law" hold true? The latter seems unlikely since a thief could claim such possession.
I recall a case years ago in which some early employees of Sears were promised shares that were never given to them or whatever it was. I don't remember ever having heard of the disposition of that case.
"This is a new version of the Beverly Hillbillies," Judge Leo Strine said in a January hearing, according to the Daily Mail. He also warned the family against pursuing "a drive-by of a public company" to get millions of dollars."It's just not a sport,"
Is it legit or not? How about just giving an objective analysis of the case instead of injecting your opinions about how much you don't like the uncommonness of the scenario. Your job is to judge the law, not the intangibles of someone's character.
After reading the comments and "yeah/nea" voting on them, I am convinced that Coke has recruited an army of right-wing/religious people to comment and vote on their behalf.
I don't know what to think about these people or their stock, but after listening to these hateful reactions and seeing coke attempt to "game" the judiciary-not to mention the judges disparaging and biased comments about an American family which seem to substatiate that fact-I'm ready to root for them just on merit.
I have about 500 $1.00 US "Silver Cerificates, " when the US produced these paper notes it was an agreement to bear on demand 1 silver dollar. right now one silver dollar is worth about $30.00 that sums up to $15,000.00. Unfortunately the US Dept. of treasury still only value these notes as one dollar. even though its in writing right there on the note.
Highly doubtful they will ever see anything. Coca cola should be able to seek its legal fee's incured to defend itself. If the plaintiff is broke and thier attorney is working on a percentage,
Then the attorney should be held accountable for those fee's if they lose.
But thats not how it works! Just another problem our country faces.
Please!!!
You holier than thou hypocrites, If any of you owned this stock, and believed it to be legitimate, you'd go after the money too. If you say you wouldn't, you're a DAMN LIAR.
It' sounds like Coca-Cola already has the judge in their back pocket. I wonder how they had to pay him ( bribe him ) to get him to call the Morohn family "Hillbillies", and compare their case to a "drive-by" shooting?
Sorry folks I totally agree with the family claim. I know how stock,company mergers work.
Why should Coca -Cola be able to absorb the extra money? It's not like they don't have it.
And remember back in the time frame they speak of, the reason chemical companies were involved, was because Coca-Cola was made with real Coca if you know what I mean. Yes cocaine silly.
How do you think america got so addicted to it. Duh.
Anywho besides that ANY stock that is passed thru a merger of companies is entitled to the full rights it holds.
I know this because my family held stock to an insurance company that was absorbed into a larger one, and then again at 2 to 1 ratios. When I found them I queried my parents about why they are not cashing them in? They said they were told that the company was defunct well yes but not before it was merged. So I convinced them to take them (after doing some research), to a stock broker. I insisted that they take my research, and present it to him. He was awed that he did not realize this the first time and apologized.
End result? The 2 $500 certificates ended up paying nearly $30,000 booyah!
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