Chowning v. Graham

1918 OK 744, 178 P. 676, 74 Okla. 232, 1918 Okla. LEXIS 219
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedDecember 31, 1918
Docket9398
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 1918 OK 744 (Chowning v. Graham) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Chowning v. Graham, 1918 OK 744, 178 P. 676, 74 Okla. 232, 1918 Okla. LEXIS 219 (Okla. 1918).

Opinion

Opinion by

SPRINGER, C.

The parties will be referred to as they appeared in the court below. This was an action by the plaintiff for the purpose of establishing his interest in an alleged partnership and to decree to him that interest.

The answer denied the allegations of the petition filed by the plaintiff. The case- was tried to the court below and resulted in a judgment in favor of the' plaintiff, and it is now claimed that there is error in the judgment, in that the petition did not state a cause of action, and the court was without power to render the'judgment upon the petition -and the evidence.

It is the contention of the defendant that no partnership was.pleaded or proven in this case, because of the absence in the petition of a specific allegation that there was an agreement between the plaintiff and defendant as to sharing the losses in the alleged partnership venture. In support of his contention the defendant refers us to the ease by this court of Municipal Paving Co. v. Herring, 50 Okla. 470, 150 Pac. 1067. But a careful examination of that case convinces us that the court was merely stating the elements necessary to a partnership.

The petition in this case does not specifically allege that there was an agreement with respect to a division of the losses which might occur in the alleged partnership .venture, nor do we believe any was necessary. An agreement by one party with another to share losses would not establish a' partnership; but, if thére iwas a specific' agreement Of partnership entered into between' the parties, it would follow as a necessary implication that the' partners wefe to share in the profits and losses.

In the case cited by the defendant is found this language:

“In . partnership agreements, if the contract is silent on that point, there is always an" implied agreement that the partners share in the losses.”

In that case there was no specific agreement between the parties as to sharing the losses, but the.court held, that, if the facts disclosed the existence of a partnership, such an agreement would be implied.

The case of Avery v. Llano Cotton Seed Oil Mill Association, 196 S. W. 351, the Court of Civil Appeals of the state of Texas said:

“Even though it could be said that, under the testimony offered by appellants themselves, they and Latting were -to share in the profits of the venture alone, a partnership between them and Latting was clearly established; for, as said in Cochran v. Marmaduke, 60 Tex. 370: ‘It is not essential to constitute a partnership that the parties were by agreement to share in the losses, but it is sufficient if they are to have a community of interest in the profits as such.’
“In that case the following is quoted from Story on Partnership, par. 58: ‘That he who is to take a part of the profits shall by operation of law be made liable to losses as to third persons, because by taking a part of the profits he takes,from the creditors a part of that fund which -is the security for the payment' of -their debts.’ ”

In Pasche v. South St. Jos. Townsite Co. (Mo. App.) 190 S. W. 31, it was held in the syllabus:

“Where parties agreed to share the profits of a business without mentioning losses, the fact did not destroy the effect in creating a partnership of what was expressly said as to profits.”

And in the Colorado case of Richardson v. Keely, 58 Colo. 47, 142 Pac. 167, it was held;

“it is also urged that a division of profits does not constitute a partnership, and Le Fevre v. Castagino, 5 Colo. 564, and Baldwin v. Patrick, 39 Colo. 347, 84 Pac. 828, are cited. This court has uniformly held that the sharing of profits does not . of "itself necessarily constitute a partnership. ,But it is the rule in all jurisdictions that 'the fact that a person shares the profits of a business tends to show that he. is a partner therein. 30 Cyc. 386. * * * While, the sharing of losses Is an incident of partnership, it has been held that- the right’-to participate in profits implies a corresponding liability for losses, and '-that, though there is no clause in the' contract saying that either party was to bear the losses, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, the law presumes -that losses were to be borne by them in the same proportion in which they shared the profits. Lee v. Cravens, 9 Colo. App. 273, 48 Pac. 159; Ramsay v. Meade, 37 Colo. 465, 86 Pac. 1018.”

It is true the petition in this case did not allege that there was an agreement between the parties to share the losses that might occur in the venture, nevertheless the petition did allege the facts of the transaction by alleging that the parties had agreed to -buy the tract of land in controversy and share jointly in the profits that *234 might arise from its sale.- - And the petition alleging these facts ' and being silent on the question of sharing the losses, we hold that there was an implied agreement that the parties should. share -in the losses, and that the petition .was sufficient to state a cause of action.

It is next contended that admitting the evidence of the plaintiff to he true, it is not sufficient to- prove a consideration for the alleged partnership agreement. On the trial of the ease the plaintiff testified that he h¡ad at great expense, the expenditure of something • like $100 to $150, learned the location of the land, the name of the dllottee, and where he lived, and that in the consideration of the .expenditure thus made ánd the information., thus obtained it was. agreed between himself and the defendant that the latter should furnish the money necessary to buy- -the allotment and they should divide the profits arising therefrom, after the defendant had deducted all expenses together with the purchase price thereof. "We are unable to agree with the defendant that there was no consideration shown. It is 'a sufficient consideration where one party puts his services or labor or. .skill or learning against the money or property of the other, or that each put money into the venture. The plaintiff in this action put into the agreement the money that he had expended in an effort to locate the land, the name of the allottee, and’ his location, and after he had learned these things he furnished them to the defendant.

It l,s strenuously urged' by the defendant in his brief that these were - matters of public record, and were open to the defendant, for his discovery as well as the plaintiff. But it is a sufficient answer to this contention that ' the defendant never expended any money in an effort to locate the land and investigate its condition, nor the oivner of it, nor his location, and knew nothing about these things until informed of them by the plaintiff.

In the case of Winemiller v. Page, 75 Okla. 278, 183 Pac. 501, it is said:

“The contribution of labor and services by one of the parties is a good and sufficient consideration to entitle him to his interest in such joint enterprise. (Bridge Co. v. Clinton County, 157 Pa. 379) 27 Atl. 726; Seymour v. Freer, 75 U. S. ( 8 Wall.) 202, 19 L. Ed. 306.

In Botsford v. Van Riper, 33 Nev. 156, 110 Pac. 705, the rule is stated as follows:

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Bluebook (online)
1918 OK 744, 178 P. 676, 74 Okla. 232, 1918 Okla. LEXIS 219, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chowning-v-graham-okla-1918.