Patel v. Siddhi Hospitality, LLC ( 2021 )

347
Argued and submitted October 30, 2019; reversed and remanded for
recalculation of plaintiff’s compensation for Riddhi without discounts for
minority interest or marketability, otherwise affirmed June 16, 2021
Dipak PATEL,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
SIDDHI HOSPITALITY, LLC,
an Oregon limited liability company;
Riddhi Hospitality, LLC,
an Oregon limited liability company;
Sumukh Hospitality, LLC,
an Oregon limited liability company;
Vinayak Hospitality, Inc.,
an Oregon corporation;
Lina Patel, Personal Representative of
the Estate of Balvant Patel;
Mukesh Patel; and Bhupendra Patel,
Defendants-Respondents.
Linn County Circuit Court
13CV06376; A159893 (Control)
Dipak PATEL,
individually and in a derivative capacity
for Siddhi Hospitality, LLC,
an Oregon limited liability company,
dba Holiday Inn Express;
Riddhi Hospitality, LLC,
an Oregon limited liability company,
dba Comfort Suites; and
Sumukh Hospitality, LLC,
an Oregon limited liability company,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
Mukesh PATEL;
Lina Patel, Personal Representative of
the Estate of Balvant Patel;
Bhupendra Patel;
Siddhi Hospitality, LLC,
an Oregon limited liability company,
dba Holiday Inn Express;
348 Patel v. Siddhi Hospitality, LLC
Riddhi Hospitality, LLC,
an Oregon limited liability company,
dba Comfort Suites; and
Sumukh Hospitality, LLC,
an Oregon limited liability company,
Defendants-Respondents.
Linn County Circuit Court
15CV18549; A164592
495 P3d 693
Plaintiff appeals from a judgment requiring defendants to purchase his
interests in two limited liability companies, Riddhi Hospitality, LLC and Siddhi
Hospitality, LLC, raising a number of assignments. He contends, among other
arguments, that, in determining the value of his interest under the Riddhi oper-
ating agreement, the court erred in applying minority interest and marketability
discounts to reflect that plaintiff’s share was a minority interest in a closely held
company. Plaintiff also contends that the court erred in determining, under the
Siddhi operating agreement, that his interest in Siddhi should be based on the
company’s book value. He contends, further, that the trial court erred in failing
to include cash reserves in determining Riddhi’s fair market value. Held: There
is no basis in the Riddhi operating agreement for applying minority and market-
ability discounts to plaintiff’s compensation to reflect that his ownership was a
minority interest in a closely held company, and the trial court therefore erred
in applying those discounts. However, the trial court correctly determined that
under the Siddhi operating agreement, plaintiff’s interest was to be determined
based on the company’s book value, and correctly determined based on the evi-
dence in the record that Riddhi cash reserves should not be included in the com-
pany’s fair market value.
Reversed and remanded for recalculation of plaintiff’s compensation for
Riddhi without discounts for minority interest or marketability; otherwise
affirmed.
Thomas McHill, Judge.
Terrence Kay argued the cause for appellant. Also on the
briefs was Matthew Chandler and Terrence Kay, P.C.
Robert J. McGaughey argued the cause for respondents
Siddhi Hospitality, LLC, Riddhi Hospitality, LLC, and
Sumukh Hospitality, LLC. Also on the brief was Kevin P.
Kress and McGaughey Erickson.
Susan Marmaduke, J. Aaron Landau, and Harrang Long
Gary Rudnick P. C. filed the brief for respondents Lina Patel,
Mukesh Patel, Bhupendra Patel, and Vinayak Hospitality,
Inc.
Cite as 312 Or App 347 (2021) 349
Before DeHoog, Presiding Judge, and Mooney, Judge, and
Kistler, Senior Judge.
DeHOOG, P. J.
Reversed and remanded for recalculation of plaintiff’s
compensation for Riddhi without discounts for minority
interest or marketability; otherwise affirmed.
350 Patel v. Siddhi Hospitality, LLC
DeHOOG, P. J.
Plaintiff Dipak Patel was a member and 25 percent
owner of defendant entities Siddhi Hospitality, LLC (Siddhi)
and Riddhi Hospitality, LLC (Riddhi), both of which are lim-
ited liability companies organized under ORS chapter 63.
Siddhi and Riddhi separately own and operate, pursuant to
franchise agreements, a Holiday Inn Express (Siddhi) and
a Comfort Inn Suites (Riddhi). Believing that he was not
being treated fairly by his fellow LLC members—defendants
Balvant Patel,1 Mukesh Patel, and Bhupendra Patel—and
that they were planning to expel him, plaintiff filed suit
against the entity and individual defendants. In cases ulti-
mately consolidated for trial, plaintiff filed complaints alleg-
ing various claims, some of a derivative nature, including
minority oppression, breach of contract, breach of the duty
of good faith and fair dealing, breach of fiduciary duties,
negligence, indemnity, “disgorgement of attorney fees,” and
wrongful termination. Plaintiff also sought to have Balvant
Patel removed or expelled and to have the LLCs buy out
his interests in Riddhi and Siddhi. Defendants filed coun-
terclaims, seeking to expel plaintiff from Riddhi and Siddhi.
The parties tried those matters to the court. At the
conclusion of trial, the court wrote a lengthy and thoughtful
letter “verdict” rejecting all of plaintiff’s claims. The court
found that plaintiff had not been subject to oppression; that
plaintiff had not been treated unfairly by the other LLC
members; that, in managing the LLCs’ business, the manag-
ing member had acted pursuant to the “Business Judgment
Rule”; that the other LLC members had not breached their
duties to plaintiff; and that, under the terms of the operat-
ing agreements, the other LLC members had the authority
to expel plaintiff from both Riddhi and Siddhi.
In accordance with plaintiff’s request that he be
compensated for his interests in the defendant LLCs, the
trial court determined those interests. The court determined
that, under the Siddhi operating agreement, plaintiff’s com-
pensation should be based on the company’s book value and
awarded plaintiff $409,740 for the buyout of his interest in
1
Balvant Patel is now deceased, and his personal representative has been
substituted as a defendant.
Cite as 312 Or App 347 (2021) 351
that LLC. Under the Riddhi operating agreement, on the
other hand, the court determined that plaintiff’s compensa-
tion was to be as calculated as 25 percent of the fair market
value of the LLC, discounted to reflect that plaintiff’s share
was a minority interest in a closely held company. The court
ordered that plaintiff be paid $990,000 for his interest in
Riddhi.
On appeal, plaintiff raises seven assignments of
error. The trial court’s findings, including its findings that
the LLC members did not oppress plaintiff and that they
had a basis under the operating agreements to expel him,
are supported by evidence in the record. We therefore reject
without further discussion plaintiff’s third, fifth, sixth, and
seventh assignments, which could only succeed if the trial
court’s findings did not have record support. See Loverin v.
Paulus, 160 Or App 605, 610, 982 P2d 20 (1999) (We “review
the trial court’s findings of fact to determine whether there
is any evidence to support them.”); Saga Enterprises, Inc.
v. Coldwell, Banker and Co., 287 Or 169, 180, 598 P2d 285(1979) (“Under the ‘any evidence’ test, we cannot set aside a
factual finding unless we can affirmatively say there is no
evidence to support it.”); see also ORCP 62 F (in an action
tried to the court, trial court’s factual findings are entitled
to same deference as jury verdict). We write only to address
aspects of plaintiff’s first, second, and fourth assignments of
error that turn on an issue of law, specifically, an interpre-
tation of the Riddhi and Siddhi operating agreements.
In his first assignment, plaintiff contends that the
trial court erred in concluding, on the basis of an expert opin-
ion, that, for purposes of the buyout of plaintiff’s interest in
Riddhi, the value of plaintiff’s interest should be discounted
to reflect that plaintiff’s interest was a minority share in
a closely held business. Defendant responds that the deter-
mination of the fair market value of Riddhi was a factual
determination supported by evidence in the record. See City
of Bend v. Juniper Utility Co., 242 Or App 9, 21, 252 P2d
341 (2011) (In “any context in which a factfinder is charged
with determining fair market value,” it is the factfinder’s
role to “make a factual call as to the fair market value of
the property in question.”). Defendant further asserts that,
in determining the amount to be paid to plaintiff, the court
352 Patel v. Siddhi Hospitality, LLC
did not merely value plaintiff’s interest under the operating
agreement, but acted within its equitable power to deter-
mine an amount that was fair:
“In determining the amount to be paid to plaintiff for
his membership interest, the trial court was not limited
to simply construing the Riddhi Operating Agreement to
determine the parties’ initial expectations. Rather, it was
entitled to consider all of the facts and circumstances bear-
ing on the task of finding ‘a fair way’ to determine what
defendants should have to pay to plaintiff.”
That determination, defendants contend, should be reviewed
for abuse of discretion and affirmed.
Defendants are correct that the determination of
the fair market value of Riddhi was a question of fact for the
trial court. And, as defendants point out, in an introductory
comment to the court’s evaluation of plaintiff’s request to be
indemnified for attorney fees, the court described its role,
sitting in equity, as requiring it to reach a fair result for the
parties. But we reject defendants’ contention that, in valu-
ing plaintiff’s share of Riddhi and Siddhi, the court engaged
in a wide-ranging, equity-based evaluation of what would
be “fair” to compensate plaintiff. It is clear from the trial
court’s letter verdict that it viewed the valuation of plain-
tiff’s interest in Riddhi to be controlled by that LLC’s oper-
ating agreement, which, the court stated, was “the best evi-
dence of the expectations of any departing member”; thus,
the trial court valued plaintiff’s interest in Riddhi pursuant
to its determination of what Riddhi’s operating agreement
required. We therefore turn to the operating agreement to
determine whether the trial court correctly interpreted it.
In the absence of an ambiguity, the construction of
the Riddhi operating agreement was a question of law for
the court, Hekker v. Sabre Construction Co., 265 Or 552, 555,
510 P2d 347 (1973), and we review the trial court’s inter-
pretation for legal error. In construing the operating agree-
ment, we apply the template for contract construction set
forth in Yogman v. Parrott, 325 Or 358, 361-64, 937 P2d 1019(1997). We examine first the text of the disputed provisions
in the context of the document as a whole. If the document’s
meaning is clear, our analysis typically ends. Yogman, 325
Cite as 312 Or App 347 (2021) 353
Or at 361.2 We conclude, based on our reading of the text of
the operating agreement for Riddhi, that the agreement is
unambiguous and does not provide for discounts for minority
interest and marketability.
The operating agreement for Riddhi describes the
determination of the value of a departing member’s interest
upon a buyout:
“Upon an election by the LLC to purchase the interest
of a member * * * the value of the affected member’s inter-
est shall be determined by multiplying the member’s per-
centage ownership interest by the fair market value of all
LLC assets.”
Thus, the value of the interest of a Riddhi member who is
to be bought out is determined by multiplying the member’s
percentage ownership interest in Riddhi by the fair market
value of all of the assets of Riddhi.
Paul Mettler, the valuation expert on whom the trial
court relied, provided the opinion that “the fair market value
of all” Riddhi’s assets was its business enterprise value—the
value of the business equity in total. Mettler opined that,
calculated in that manner, the fair market value of Riddhi
was $5.5 million. Mettler then determined that, without dis-
counts, plaintiff’s 25 percent share of that fair market value
was $1,375,000.
Mettler then testified that he had been charged
to provide an opinion of the fair market value of plaintiff’s
25 percent share. To do that, Mettler believed that it was
correct to apply minority and marketability discounts of 10
and 20 percent, respectively, to reflect the more limited mar-
ket for the sale of a minority share in a closely held company.
That had the effect of reducing the value of plaintiff’s inter-
est by $385,000.
Based on its view that the minority and marketabil-
ity discounts were applicable under the Riddhi operating
2
No party offered evidence of the circumstances surrounding the forma-
tion of the Rhiddhi operating agreement to establish an ambiguity on that point
that is not evident from the text. See ORS 41.740 (parol evidence rule); Batzer
Construction, Inc. v. Boyer, 204 Or App 309, 314, 129 P3d 773, rev den, 341 Or 366(2006) (recognizing that parol evidence is admissible for such purposes).
354 Patel v. Siddhi Hospitality, LLC
agreement, the trial court adopted Mettler’s valuation of
Riddhi. As noted, in his first assignment of error, plaintiff
challenges the application of both discounts.
We agree with plaintiff that the operating agree-
ment does not support the application of the discounts. If,
as Mettler understood it, plaintiff was to be compensated
for the fair market value of his minority interest (which,
Mettler testified, is an estimate of what a hypothetical
willing buyer will pay a hypothetical willing seller for that
interest in an arms-length transaction), then discounting
plaintiff’s compensation to reflect that his interest was a
minority share in a closely held company might have been
appropriate. But the operating agreement does not provide
that plaintiff be compensated for the fair market value of
his 25 percent interest. The operating agreement unambig-
uously required that plaintiff be compensated for his share
in the fair market value of all the assets of the LLC, not
for the fair market value of his share of the company. The
distinction is subtle but significant. Plaintiff’s compensa-
tion under the agreement was to be 25 percent of the fair
market value of Riddhi’s assets, not the fair market value
of his own 25 percent interest. Thus, if, as Mettler deter-
mined, the fair market value of all the assets of Riddhi
was $5.5 million, then plaintiff was to be compensated for
25 percent of that amount. There is no basis in the operat-
ing agreement for applying discounts to plaintiff’s compen-
sation to reflect that his ownership was a minority interest
in a closely held company. The trial court therefore erred
in adopting that aspect of Mettler’s valuation of plaintiff’s
compensation.3
Plaintiff’s fourth assignment of error raises a
related issue, but we reach a different conclusion as to that
assignment. In determining the fair market value of Riddhi,
Mettler excluded from the LLC’s assets cash reserves of
$300,000. Plaintiff contends that the court erred in accept-
ing that aspect of Mettler’s opinion, which plaintiff asserts
3
We reject without discussion defendants’ contention that plaintiff waived
his right to challenge the application of the discounts by accepting the payments.
See Schlecht v. Bliss, 271 Or 304, 310 n 1, 532 P2d 1 (1975) (noting that “accep-
tance of an award of damages does not preclude an appeal on the ground that
those damages were inadequate”).
Cite as 312 Or App 347 (2021) 355
had the erroneous effect of reducing plaintiff’s compensa-
tion by $75,000.
The record shows that the $300,000 in cash or cap-
ital reserves was set aside by the LLC for such things as
routine future maintenance, periodic renovations required
by the LLC’s franchise agreement, and other predictable
capital expenditures. Plaintiff’s own expert testified that
such reserves are “put away for capital expenditures” and
that they are accounted for as “an annual expense.” Nothing
in the record suggests that those future liabilities were not,
in fact, anticipated. That is, there is no evidentiary basis for
plaintiff’s assertion that the $300,000 in cash reserves was
an asset of Riddhi that should have been added to the fair
market value of all of the LLC’s assets. The trial court did
not err in accepting Mettler’s opinion on cash reserves.
Finally, in his second assignment of error, plaintiff
contends that the trial court erred in valuing his interest in
Siddhi based on the company’s book value rather than its
fair market value. The Siddhi operating agreement includes
a provision describing the circumstances under which a
member may be expelled:
“A member may be expelled from the company only for
cause and only upon the unanimous vote of all other mem-
bers. Cause includes a willful and substantial breach of
this agreement and conduct prejudicial to the company and
its members.”
The Siddhi operating agreement further provides for the
calculation of a departing member’s compensation:
“A departing member, or the estate of a deceased or
bankrupt member, shall be compensated in cash for the
membership interest of such member in an amount equal
to the member’s outstanding capital contribution plus the
member’s proportionate share of any accrued net company
profits, or less the member’s proportionate share of any
accrued net Company losses. The assets of the company
shall be valued at book value for purposes of this section,
and no value shall be attributed to goodwill.”
The trial court determined that plaintiff should be com-
pensated for his interest in Siddhi based on his share of
the book value of the company’s assets. Plaintiff contends
356 Patel v. Siddhi Hospitality, LLC
that the record does not support the trial court’s conclusion,
because the record does not support its finding that plain-
tiff was expelled from the LLC for cause. Further, plaintiff
contends, because the record requires the conclusion that he
was subject to majority oppression, he is entitled to a forced
purchase of his interest by defendants based on a 25 percent
share of Siddhi’s fair market value.
Plaintiff does not contend that the court’s reliance
on book value was incorrect, if, as the trial court found, the
evidence supports the court’s determinations that he could
be expelled from Siddhi and that there was no oppression.
In light of our conclusion that the evidence supports the trial
court’s findings, we reject the second assignment of error.
We reject plaintiff’s remaining assignments of error
without discussion.
Reversed and remanded for recalculation of plain-
tiff’s compensation for Riddhi without discounts for minority
interest or marketability; otherwise affirmed.