Drew v. Beard

107 Mass. 64
CourtMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
DecidedMarch 15, 1871
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 107 Mass. 64 (Drew v. Beard) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Drew v. Beard, 107 Mass. 64 (Mass. 1871).

Opinion

Mobtost, J.

The bill in this case alleges, that the parties entered into copartnership by written articles of agreement; that [72]*72under and by virtue of said articles business was commenced and carried on by the parties; that a large amount of profits was made and realized in said business, which was received and retained by the defendant; that the copartnership has been dissolved ; and that the defendant refuses to account with the plaintiff and to pay him the amount justly due and belonging to him.

Referring to the articles of agreement, we find that the partnership was established “ for the purpose of trade, especially for the sale of goods and merchandise from Boston and New York at Port Royal, S. C.,' Savannah, Ga., and Charleston, S. C.” They provide that goods and merchandise are to be bought and shipped from Boston and New York by the said Drew, and the business at that end to be managed mainly by him, and that the sale of the goods and the general management of the business at Port Royal, Savannah and Charleston is to be assumed by the said Beard. They contain no stipulation that each partner is to devote his whole time to the business of the firm, and no provision prohibiting either partner from entering into dealings or adventures on his own account.

It appeared, at the hearing before the master, that the parties, under their agreement, opened two stores in Savannah- for the sale of goods and merchandise, and carried on business there for about ten months, when the stores were closed, and that the said business resulted in a loss. It also appeared that, during that period, the defendant entered into certain speculations or adventures in cotton, lead and iron, the details of which are set out in the master’s report, from which he realized a large profit. The plaintiff claimed that the defendant should account to him for one half of the profits thus realized, and offered evidence in regard to said transactions in cotton, lead and iron, which the master, against the defendant’s objection, admitted. The question now presented to us is, whether, upon his bill, as it is framed, the plaintiff can maintain this claim; and we are of opinion that he cannot.

The contract between the defendant and the United States treasury agent was clearly not within the scope of the partnership business. It was not a purchase of cotton, but a personal [73]*73contract to collect, rebale and forward to a shipping port, cotton in the interior of the state of Georgia, owned or claimed by the United States government, for doing which the defendant was to receive, as compensation, one quarter part of the cotton thus forwarded. The undertaking involved great personal and pecuniary risk. It is obvious that, if this adventure had resulted in a loss, the plaintiff would not have been liable to the United States government. Nor could the defendant charge him with one half of the loss, under and by virtue of the partnership articles. It was a separate and independent transaction, not within the scope of the business of the firm, and therefore one in which the plaintiff had no interest by virtue of the partnership articles. The same is true of the dealings of the defendant in lead and iron. They were not such dealings as he was authorized to engage in by the partnership articles, and were not within the scope of the business of the firm. Story on Part. § 193. Wheeler v. Sage, 1 Wallace, 518.

It follows, that, if the plaintiff is entitled to a share of the profits upon these transactions, it must be either upon the ground that they were undertaken by the defendant in fraud of the firm, or upon the ground that the parties made an agreement independent of the partnership articles, that they should be entered into and prosecuted upon joint account. And to entitle him to a decree upon either of these grounds it is necessary that the plaintiff should allege it in his bill. It is an elementary rule of equity pleading, that the bill must contain a clear and exact statement óf all the material facts upon which the plaintiff’s right to the relief sought depends, and that he can only introduce evidence of such facts as are thus stated. Story Eq. PL §§ 23, 251, 251 a. 1 Dan. Ch. Pract. (3d Am. ed.) 334, 364 and note. Wright v. Dame, 22 Pick. 55. The bill in this case only alleges that the partnership articles were executed, that business was conducted under and by virtue of them, and that a profit was realized from said business. It does not allege that there was an agreement that the cotton, lead and iron transactions were to be on joint account; nor that the defendant practised any fraud or misconduct which would make him liable to account for the profits of [74]*74these transactions. Upon the bill as it stands, the defendant cannot be held liable upon transactions not within the scope of the business of the firm, or the contemplation of the articles of copartnership. To do so would be to permit the plaintiff to recover upon a case not stated in Ms bill, and of which the defendant was not informed by the pleadings so as to be prepared to meet it.

For these reasons, we are of opinion that the master erred in requiring the defendant to go into a hearing in regard to the cotton, lead and iron transactions, and that the defendant’s exceptions to his report must be sustained.

Exceptions sustained.

On May 21, 1870, after this decision, the plaintiff moved to amend Ms bill by adding allegations substantially as follows:

1. That, after the parties signed their written articles of partnership, they agreed to engage in procuring lead, iron, cotton and other products and articles, on joint account, by purchase or exchange of commodities, in the southern portion of the United States; that they procured such articles and products by use of their money, goods and credit, and of the time and services of the defendant and a large number of persons paid by Mm and the plaintiff jointly, and realized therefrom large profits; and that now the defendant falsely pretended that these transactions were his individual transactions, and that the plaintiff was not entitled to an account of or share in them, whereas the plaintiff was entitled to such an account and to an equal share with the defendant.

2. That, during the existence of their partnership under the written articles, the defendant, by representing to the plaintiff that iron, lead and cotton could be advantageously procured by using the money, goods and credit of the firm, and the time and labor of the defendant himself and of persons employed and paid by the firm, induced the plaintiff to tacitly consent to such a use of them, and the use was made, and large profits were thereby realized in the enterprises and ventures; but that, after the dissolution of the firm, and after these enterprises and ventures had resulted in profit, the defendant falsely pretended that he never understood or agreed that the plaintiff was to share therein; 'and ff in fact the defendant never did so understand or agree, and was [75]*75not liable to account to and share with the plaintiff on that ground, then that the conduct of the defendant was intentionally fraudulent, in inducing the plaintiff to consent to such a use of money, goods and credit of the firm, and time and labor of the defendant and employees of the firm, and injured the business of the firm, and so the defendant was bound to account to and share with the plaintiff.

Romney Converse, for the plaintiff. Abbott Browne,

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Bluebook (online)
107 Mass. 64, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/drew-v-beard-mass-1871.