Alexander v. Hergenroeder

PBR Curiam. Appellants, the Alexanders, obtained a judgment for $69,147.58 against John Hergenroeder, Sr. (Senior), and John E. Hergenroeder, Jr. (Junior), but not, as they had sought, against their wives who had not signed the notes sued on. ⁵⁶⁰ This Court affirmed the judgment in Alexander v. Hergenroeder, 215 Md. 326 , 138 A. 2d 366 . Thereafter the Alexanders petitioned for special relief as judgment creditors under Maryland Rule 628, praying that the assets of Hergenroeder’s Bakery, Inc., be declared to be the property of Senior, that its outstanding capital stock and the certificates representing it (which had been issued originally to Senior and his wife as tenants by the entireties and later transferred to their children) be voided and annulled, and that the assets of Woodlea Bakery, Inc., be declared the property of Junior and that its outstanding capital stock and the certificates representing it (originally issued to Junior and his wife as tenants by the entireties and the same day transferred to some of Junior’s children) be voided and annulled. The matter was referred to a Special Master, Samuel J. Fisher, who carefully considered the testimony of the Hergenroeders and other witnesses and documentary evidence and came to the final conclusion that the bakery businesses had been owned and operated by Senior and his wife and Junior and his wife, respectively, as tenants by the entireties, prior to their incorporation and the issuance of stock to the owners in exchange for the transfer of assets to the new corporations.

He found that early ownerships of real estate as tenants by the entireties and early joint cash ownerships, as well as significant and continued contributions by the wives to the successful operations of these family businesses were more