K-Ross Building Supply Center V‪.‬

The plaintiff, K-Ross Building Supply Center, Inc., seeks to hold defendant Arnold Appell, an employee of defendant Winnipesaukee Chalets, Inc. (Winnipesaukee), personally liable on a $3,000 check that Appell gave the plaintiff in payment of a corporate debt owed the plaintiff by Winnipesaukee. After a hearing, the Master (Paul A. Gruber, Esq.) recommended that defendant Appell be held jointly and severally liable in the amount of $3,000 along with Winnipesaukee and defendant Leonard Appell, also an employee of Winnipesaukee. The Superior Court (Johnson, J.) approved the master's recommendation, and defendant Appell appealed. During the summer of 1979, Arnold Appell contacted the plaintiff's credit manager, Sidney D. Gold, about purchasing pipe worth $3,000. The plaintiff and Winnipesaukee had enjoyed a satisfactory business relationship with one another since 1977. Because Winnipesaukee's account was considerably past due, however, Gold told Appell that he could not extend any more credit to Winnipesaukee. The parties agreed that a check for $3,000 would be given to the plaintiff's driver when he delivered the pipe to Winnipesaukee. The driver arrived with the materials but there was no check awaiting him. Nevertheless, because Gold had been able to obtain payment from Winnipesaukee in the past, he instructed the driver to leave the pipe at Winnipesaukee's work site.