People v. Kings Point Corp.

Defendant Kings Point Corporation appeals from a judgment in favor of plaintiff, the People of the State of California. Because defendant has no standing to appeal, the appeal is dismissed.

Factual and Procedural Background

In 1977, defendants offered and subleased 1,401 coal-mining properties in conjunction with a contract for the sale of coal. Defendants conducted these activities from headquarters in Los Angeles, California. The investor could invest with either defendant Cambridge Corporation (hereafter Cambridge) or with Wyoming and Western Coal Reserves, Inc. (hereafter Wyoming and Western).

Under the Cambridge program, Cambridge would sublease to the investor a coal-mining property warranted to have certain net tonnage of economically recoverable coal, for which the investor had to pay Cambridge a minimum annual royalty. The royalty was a multiple of the investor’s initial cash payment, with the multiple being 3.25 times the amount of the cash investment. It was represented to the investor that the royalty payment was tax deductible. The investor would also enter into a sales contract with defendant Poly-Tex International (hereafter Poly-Tex). Under this…