Benedetto v. di Bacco

99 S.E. 170, 83 W. Va. 620, 1919 W. Va. LEXIS 210
CourtWest Virginia Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 25, 1919
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 99 S.E. 170 (Benedetto v. di Bacco) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering West Virginia Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Benedetto v. di Bacco, 99 S.E. 170, 83 W. Va. 620, 1919 W. Va. LEXIS 210 (W. Va. 1919).

Opinion

Ritz, Judge :

These eases involve the settlement of two alleged partnerships. The same parties were interested in each of the businesses involved, and the cases were heard together in the court below. The questions arising are somewhat related, and the testimony in many instances is applicable to both cases, for which reason we will consider them together.

We are met at the threshold Avith a motion to dismiss these appeals for failure to print the record as required by law, and it is also suggested that the brief for appellants, does not comply with our rules in that it does not contain a summary or digest of the evidence in narrative form, for which reason; it is suggested we should not consider the assignments of error made by appellants. The records are voluminous, con[623]*623sisting of many hundred pages of oral testimony and more than a thousand documents introduced in evidence. Only the pleadings and a small part of the oral testimony have been printed. The documents offered consist of contracts, settlements, cancelled checks, vouchers, newspaper articles, books of account, and sundry other papers. These documents, together with the oral evidence, after being thoroughly scrambled, were packed in a box and shipped to this court with the request that they be considered and examined upon the hearing, in addition to that part of the record which, has been printed. It might be said further that .so much of the record as has been printed is not arranged in any logical order, nor is it furnished with an index, as -required by the statute. Not only does the record come to us in this unsatisfactory way, but counsel for the appellants have not given in their brief a statement of the evidence in narrative form as required by our rules. The purpose óf our rule requiring briefs of counsel for the appellant to contain a synopsis or digest of the evidence, was not so much to relieve this court of labor as it was to have such work done by those thoroughly familiar with the case. It "will be appreciated that a lawyer who has grown up with a case and understands it in all its phases, can with very much less labor, and with very much' less liability to error, make a digest of the evidence than a judge who has never heard of the ease before, and it was to overcome in as large a measure as possible the probability that error might creep into the determination of important questions like this, because of the unfamiliarity of judges with the record, and the difficulty of becoming so familiar with it that items of evidence of more or less importance might not be overlooked, or undue importance given to other items of little consequence. We have considered what would be the proper course to pursue in a case where the record comes to us in such unsatisfactory condition as the records in these cases. It occurred to us that it might be well to set aside the' orders of submission and require the unprinted portions of the record to be printed, and require counsel to argue them in accordance with the rule, but such action would result in further delay in the hearing of the causes, which might be [624]*624the thing desired by the appellants next to a favorable decision. It has occurred to ns that perhaps the proper course to pursue would be to simply treat the failure of counsel to file a digest of the evidence with the brief, as a confession that the evidence. offered fully sustained the contentions of his adversary, and to consider the case no further than to determine whether or not the pleadings and contentions of his adversary justify the decree entered. This might result in injustice in some cases, but if it does it will be the fault of counsel engaged for the particular purpose of protecting the interest of litigants. We have determined, however, not to pursue that course in these cases for two reasons, one being that counsel for the appellants rely upon the evidence to support their contentions, and ask the court in the investigation of the cases to consider all of the various documents and the oral evidence of all the witnesses introduced whether printed or not. This reason is not so persuasive, however, as the other, and that is, that counsel appearing in this court have become so habituated to disregard the rules of practice that to some extent they have fallen into disuse. We have thought, therefore, that it might not be entirely right to visit upon the litigants in these cases the result above indicated, but sound this warning with the hope that in the future counsel generally will exercise care to observe the rules made for the orderly conduct of the business of this court, and thus obviate any unpleasant results which must naturally flow from their continued disregard. We have therefore determined in this instance to overrule the motions to dismiss and to hear the cases upon the entire record as it is presented to us.

The parties to these suits are Italians. The plaintiff Bene-detto married a sister of the two defendants, Venanzio Di Bacco and Salvatore Di Bacco. Benedetto is somewhat older than his brothers-in-law, and came to this country prior to their immigration. In 1904 he was established in a small mercantile business in the town of Thomas. His brothers-in-law had been in this country for some little time, and had accumulated from their earnings a small amount of money. It does not appear that this mercantile business was particularly profitable. During this year of 1904 Benedetto admitted his [625]*625two brothers-in-law as partners in the business. It was ascertained that a one-third interest was worth' the sum of $1420.00. It appears that” Salvatore Di Bacco did not have this amount, but he did pay to Benedetto what funds he had, amounting to $700.00, and gave Benedetto an obligation for the balance, $720.00. Yenanzio Di Bacco contends that he paid the whole sum of $1420.00 for his interst in the business, but Benedetto claims that he only paid $900.00, and has never paid the other $520.00. Whatever may be the fact in regard to this, it clearly appears that he wras always treated as a full partner, and it does not appear that Benedetto ever demanded, or ever considered Yenanzio his debtor for the other $520.00. He never claimed it against him in any settlement until after their relations became strained and these suits were brought. After the business had been conducted for about a year under this arrangement, it was ascertained that it had lost a small amount of money, and the parties determined that if their stock could be increased conditions would be improved. Bene-detto’s contention is that the firm had neither funds nor credit with which to make such an addition to the stock, and that he and one of the defendants went to New York and bought such additional stock as was desired, he paying for the same. He contends that upon his return the amounts that he thus paid out were ascertained, and that each of the defendants gave him a note for one-third of' this amount, being $1803.00, and that Salvatore also gave him a note for the sum of $724.50, the balance which he owed him on the original purchase of a one-third interest in the business. These notes, it is admitted, were subsequently paid. The defendants contend that they were given to Benedetto for the pur-, chase of his one-third interest in the business, and that after-this transaction which was had in 1905 Benedetto no longer-had any connection whatever with- this mercantile business.. The evidence in regard to this is sharply conflicting, and we will dispose of it later on in this opinion.

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Bluebook (online)
99 S.E. 170, 83 W. Va. 620, 1919 W. Va. LEXIS 210, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/benedetto-v-di-bacco-wva-1919.