Dupuy v. Dawson

147 S.W. 698, 1912 Tex. App. LEXIS 504
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 6, 1912
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 147 S.W. 698 (Dupuy v. Dawson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dupuy v. Dawson, 147 S.W. 698, 1912 Tex. App. LEXIS 504 (Tex. Ct. App. 1912).

Opinion

GRAHAM, C. J.

This suit originated in the county court of Hardeman county, by appellee suing appellant for the sum of $829.-81, alleged to be one-half of the amount of loss sustained on certain cotton and one-half expense incurred in handling the same; ap-pellee's allegations being in effect that appellant and appellee were partners in the handling of said cotton, and that appellee had furnished the money for the firm to purchase the same and had furnished the expense incurred in handling same. There is also an alternative plea by appellee that, if the facts alleged did not constitute a co-partnership, the cotton had in fact been purchased and handled under an express agreement between appellee and appellant that the same should be purchased, handled, and •sold, and the profits or losses divided equally between them, and that, relying on said contract, appellee had advanced the money to ■purchase said cotton and handled same, and -that a loss had been sustained in the aggregate sum of $1,659.62, and appellee sued to recover one-half of said amount. Appellant .answered, denying copartnership under oath, ■and denying that he had agreed to sustain .any part of the loss or share in any part of the profits in the handling of the cotton, except as to 60 bales thereof, as to which he admitted that he had agreed to handle same on a basis of dividing profit and losses with appellee, and admitted that ■ appellee had ■advanced the money to purchase said 60 bales of cotton, as well as to take care of the expense in handling same, and prayed for an accounting as to said 60 bales. At the instance of both appellant and appellee, the court appointed an auditor, with specific instructions to ascertain the condition of the transactions alleged in appellee’s petition, as to each of the several purchases of cotton, showing the profit or losses and amount as to each, and requiring said auditor to make his report show the amount of profit or loss as to the entire 268 bales of cotton involved in appellee’s pleading in one item and the entire amount of profit or loss involved in the 60 bales of cotton mentioned in appellant’s pleading. The record shows that the auditor’s report was filed in court and showed that there was a total loss ■on the handling of the 268 bales of cotton ■ of $1,453.17, and that there was a total loss -in the handling of the 60 bales of cotton (which was a part of the 268 bales) in the ■sum of $261.22. The record fails to show that any exceptions or objections were filed to the auditor’s report, either for form or .because of any supposed error therein. The case was tried before a jury, which returned a verdict in favor of appellee and against appellant in the sum of $829.81, upon which judgment was entered; that thereafter ap-pellee filed a remittitur to be credited on said judgment in the sum of $303.23. The record shows, also, that during the progress of the trial below, appellee and appellant introduced testimony without objection bearing upon the question of the amount of loss sustained on the 268 bales of cotton, and the verdict of the jury, unquestionably, was rendered in accordance with their view of this testimony introduced. The record also shows that the auditor’s report was introduced as evidence, and an inspection of the record shows that the remittitur entered by appel-lee makes the judgment comply with the amount that would be due appellee by appellant if the auditor’s report be correct and appellant owed one-half of the loss. Appellant’s motion fqr a new trial having been overruled, the case is before us on the assignments of error discussed below.

[1] Under appellant’s first assignment, con-' tention is made that the trial court erred in permitting the depositions of one N. D. Jones to be read in evidence to the jury; the question propounded to said witness being as follows: “This is a suit for an accounting of certain partnership, alleged by plaintiff to have existed between him and defendant during the fall and winter of 1909 and 1910, for the purpose of buying and selling cotton. Please state whether or not you had any conversation or conversations with the defendant, W. R. Dupuy, in which the facts as to whether Dupuy and Dawson were or were not partners in the cotton bought for either or both of them during the cotton season of 1910, or during any part of said season, and if you had any such conversations, please detail all that was said in any and all such conversations, giving the time, place, and names of the parties present at each and all of said conversations. If you cannot remember the exact words used, in such conversations, then give the substance of what was said as fully as you can remember it.” To which question the witness answered: “Yes, I had a conversation with Mr. Dupuy in the early part of the fall of 1909, on Saturday night, over the ’phone, relative to a lot of cotton I had on hand. He offered 12.95 per hundred for the cotton. I stated that I wanted 13 cents. He did not offer me this, but called me up in about 20 minutes and offered me 13 cents. I told him I had promised Bob Dawson not to sell the cotton until I had given him another chance, as Dawson had made me an offer. Subsequent conversations with Mr. Dupuy led' me to believe that Dupuy and Dawson would handle the cotton together, so much so in fact that I sold the cotton to Dupuy without calling up Dawson again.' This is the substance of *700 the conversation. I cannot recall the exact words.” Appellant objected to the latter part of said answer, wherein the witness states as follows: “Subsequent conversations with Mr. Dupuy led me to believe that Dupuy and Dawson would handle the cotton together, so much so that I sold the cotton to Dupuy without calling up Dawson again” —and moved the court to exclude the same from the jury, on the ground that that part of said answer is purely a conclusion of the witness, and the witness does not anywhere in said answer give .said language or the substance of said conversation of said defendant from which he deduced the conclusion testified to. In support of appellant’s contention, we are cited to the case of Hammond v. Hough, 52 Tex. 73, and others, which we have examined; but we think neither of which are in point in this case. The record in this ease shows that appellee made several different purchases, each of which were included in the 268 bales of cotton in controversy; the one made from N. L. Jones being one of the lots of cotton in controversy. It will be observed that the witness Jones states that he is unable to give the language used, and we think his answer amounts to nothing more than the substance of the conversation had by him with Dupuy, and that this answer was admissible as throwing light upon the controversy between appellant and' appellee — at least as to the purchase and handling of the Jones cotton. Had the testimony of this witness tended to show that no partnership relation existed between Dupuy and Dawson, the same would not have been admissible as against Dawson, for the reason that it would have been hearsay as to him, in so far as the same bore upon the question of whether or not there was a partnership relation existing as to that cotton between Dawson and Dupuy. Because we think the testimony objected to admissible, the assignment will be overruled.

[2]

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Stapper v. Van Valkenburgh & Vogel
128 S.W.2d 466 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1939)
Johnson v. McMahan
40 S.W.2d 920 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1931)
Sublett v. Buttrill
250 S.W. 1054 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1923)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
147 S.W. 698, 1912 Tex. App. LEXIS 504, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dupuy-v-dawson-texapp-1912.