H. B. Claflin & Co. v. Pfeiffer

13 S.W. 483, 76 Tex. 469, 1890 Tex. LEXIS 1291
CourtTexas Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 11, 1890
DocketNo. 2812
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 13 S.W. 483 (H. B. Claflin & Co. v. Pfeiffer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
H. B. Claflin & Co. v. Pfeiffer, 13 S.W. 483, 76 Tex. 469, 1890 Tex. LEXIS 1291 (Tex. 1890).

Opinion

ACKER, Presiding Judge.

Gustave Pfeiffer and Carl Emme were-partners in the business of manufacturing show cases under the firm name- and style of G-ust. Pfeiffer & Co., or the Galveston Show Case Manufactory, each owning a half interest. Gustave Pfeiffer was also a member of a mercantile firm which was insolvent. On the 19th day of September, 1887, Pfeiffer conveyed his half interest in the business of Gust. Pfeiffer & Co. to-his wife Anna for the recited consideration “ of $1500, money belonging-to my wife, being part of her inheritance devised from her father and loaned by her to me.” It was understood and agreed between Emme- and the Pfeiffers that the business would be continued with Mrs. Pfeiffer a member of the firm instead of her husband. On the-27th of September Emme published a notice of dissolution of the partnership of Gust. Pfeiffer & Co., and that he would thereafter “carry on the business under the name and style of the Galveston Show Case Factory, Carl Emme, proprietor.” The mercantile firm of which Pfeiffer was a member was indebted to H. B. Claflin & Co. in the sum of about $6000, upon which an attachment suit was instituted, and on the 6th day of October, 1887, the writ of attachment sued out by Claflin & Co. was levied on the Pfeiffer half interest in the show case factory business. The attachment lien was foreclosed and the half interest in the business purchased by Claflin & Co.

On December 21, 1888, this suit was instituted by Anna Pfeiffer, joined by her husband, against Carl Emme, to recover $2500, the alleged value of an undivided half interest in certain personal property, consisting of' show cases, tools, and material for manufacturing them, office furniture, etc., described in an exhibit attached to the petition. It was alleged that the property was left in the hands of Emme subject to the order of Anna. Pfeiffer, and that Emme converted it to his own use and benefit on the-27th day of September, 1887. Carl Emme answered that H. B. Claflin & Co. claimed the identical interest, or estate, sued for by plaintiffs, and prayed that Claflin & Co. be impleaded. Claflin & Co. filed a plea in intervention, claiming the half interest by virtue of the attachment proceedings and sale and purchase thereunder. The intervenors alleged, that the conveyance from Pfeiffer to his wife on September 19, 1887, was colorable only, and made with intent to hinder, delay, and defraud the creditors of Pfeiffer; that if said conveyance was bona fide, it substituted Anna for Gustave Pfeiffer as a partner in the business by consent and agreement of both Pfeiffers and Emme, and that the business was continued under said agreement from the 19th of September, 1887, up to-time of trial; that the interest sought to be conveyed by the bill of sale from Pfeiffer to his wife Anna, if not the separate property of Gustave Pfeiffer, was the community property of himself and his wife Anna, and liable for his debts.

Plaintiffs replied to the petition in intervention, alleging that the transfer from Gustave to Anna Pfeiffer was bona fide and for a good considera[471]*471tion, and vested the property in Anna as her separate estate; and that the firm of Gustave Pfeiffer & Co. was dissolved on September 27, 1887, and thereupon the said interest of Anna was converted by the defendant Emme.

The trial without a jury resulted in a judgment in favor of plaintiffs against defendant Emme for §749.33, and that interveners take nothing by their petition.

The court filed separate findings of fact and conclusions of law, to which the intervenors excepted and perfected this appeal.

The first assignment of error is: “The court erred in its finding that the sum of §99.20, received by Gustave Pfeiffer from the business of Gust. Pfeiffer & Co., was received within a few days of the transfer by Gust. Pfeiffer to his wife, for that the undisputed evidence shows that all but §16.50 of said sum was received by him on and after October 12, 1887.”

The statement of facts sustains the assignment, but it is not perceived how this erroneous finding could have operated to the prejudice of appellants.

Plaintiffs claimed that the partnership between Mrs. Pfeiffer and Emme was dissolved on the 27th of September, and that Emme on that day converted her interest in the partnership assets to his own use. The fact that Pfeiffer was receiving money from the firm business after that date tended to disprove plaintiffs’ case against the defendant Emme, and he would probably have cause for complaint in this finding of the court against the evidence, but he has not appealed. Appellants acquired no interest in the assets of Pfeiffer & Co. not included in the levy of the writ of attachment under which they purchased.

We understand appellants to have contended in the court below: 1. That the conveyance by Pfeiffer to his wife of the half interest in the partnership assets and business was colorable only and void as to them. 2. If the conveyance was not colorable only, but made in good faith and upon good consideration, the interest conveyed was community property and liable for the husband’s debt. 3. If by the conveyance the half interest became the separate estate of the wife, it devolved on her to clearly show by the evidence that the property levied by the attachment was the identical property conveyed to her.

We understand appellants to here insist upon only the last two of these contentions, and we do not think the fact that Gust. Pfeiffer'received most of the §99.20 after the date when plaintiffs alleged that the partnership was dissolved tended in any degree to prove either of them.

Whether the property, after the conveyance from Pfeiffer to his wife, was community or separate estate of the wife, he was authorized to look after it and receive money due to the business, and it seems to us immaterial, so far as appellants are concerned, when the partnership between [472]*472Mrs. Pfeiffer and Emme was dissolved, or whether it has been dissolved at all.

The second assignment of error is to the effect that the court erred in its findings of fact, in that it assumes that on September 27, 1887, the defendant Emme converted to his own use Anna Pfeiffer’s interest in the assets and business of the firm.

If the court erred in the particular indicated by this assignment, it was not prejudicial to appellants, and Emme does not complain.

The fourth and fifth assignments relate to alleged errors in the findings and conclusions of the court with respect to the formation and dissolution of the partnership between Emme and Mrs. Pfeiffer. We think these matters could not have affected the rights of appellants, and therefore can not afford them any ground for complaint.

It appears from the evidence that Gustave Pfeiffer was insolvent at the time he conveyed to his wife his half interest in the business of Gust. Pfeiffer & Co.; that that business was in debt, but solvent; that it was a manufacturing business, in which materials, such as fine woods, glass, and metals, were converted into show cases and sold for profit; that part of the value of the manufactured articles was the labor that was put into them; that Carl Emme, the defendant, was the other partner in said business; that the transfer to Mrs. Pfeiffer was made with the full knowledge and consent of Emme, and that it was understood between the parties that the business should be carried on as theretofore, Mrs.

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Bluebook (online)
13 S.W. 483, 76 Tex. 469, 1890 Tex. LEXIS 1291, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/h-b-claflin-co-v-pfeiffer-tex-1890.