Barr V. Petzhold

The material facts were these. In 1929 defendant John H. Barr, then a large stockholder and secretary-treasurer of the S. A. Gerrard Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, as an inducement for plaintiff, then assistant secretary-treasurer and now president of said company, to accept employment in said company, gave plaintiff an option to purchase 25,000 shares of capital stock of said company for $25 a share. By the agreement plaintiff expressly reserved the right to cancel the option at any time and demand return of the amounts theretofore paid to defendant for the stock. Pursuant to such agreement, between September 4, 1929, and December 31, 1931, plaintiff made payments to defendant in the sum of $18,404.10. In 1930, defendant Ida H. Barr acquired twelve acres of land in Fort Thomas, Kentucky, and a residence was constructed thereon at a cost of approximately $125,000. Defendants attempted to show that the house was paid for entirely out of proceeds from the sale of stock belonging solely to defendant, Ida H. Barr. Plaintiff's evidence, on the other hand, indicates that $50,000 of this sum was contributed by defendant John H. Barr, being money borrowed from one Albert Diem.