Hurlburt v. Palmer

57 N.W. 1019, 39 Neb. 158, 1894 Neb. LEXIS 27
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 6, 1894
DocketNo. 4832
StatusPublished
Cited by27 cases

This text of 57 N.W. 1019 (Hurlburt v. Palmer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hurlburt v. Palmer, 57 N.W. 1019, 39 Neb. 158, 1894 Neb. LEXIS 27 (Neb. 1894).

Opinion

Ryan, C.

During all the time within which the transactions referred to in this case took place, the firm of Palmer, Rich-man & Co. was engaged in the live stock commission business in South Omaha. At the same time, George L. Hurlburt, George Liggett, and Clifford G. Hurlburt were doing business at Utica, Nebraska, under the name and style of the Merchants Bank. Alexander C. Virgin was [162]*162also a resident of the town last named. The first named firm sued the aforesaid banking partners and Alexander C. Virgin, in the district court of Douglas county, Nebraska, for the sum of $2,000, with interest from the 1st day of December, 1888, and costs. Upon a verdict found in favor of Palmer, Rich man & Co., judgment was rendered for its amount, being for the sum of $2,023.43. The Hurlburts and Liggett bring the case into this court for review upon petition in error. The petition in the district court, after stating the facts above set forth as to the membership of the above firm, their occupation and location, stated the plaintiffs’ cause of action in the following language:

“3. That about the middle of the month of October, 1888, these plaintiffs arranged with the defendant Alexander C. Virgin that these plaintiffs would furnish the said Virgin money with which to pay for cattle and hogs which the said Virgin might thereafter buy, on condition that the said Virgin should consign the same to these plaintiff-; at South Omaha for sale on the market, and that these plaintiffs would make sale of the stock so consigned to them and apply the proceeds of such sales, less the commission of these plaintiffs, to the payment of the money and interest thereon so as aforesaid advanced to the said Virgin. And the said Virgin, in consideration thereof, did agree to proceed at once to make purchase of the said stock, and that after he had purchased the same he would draw upon these plaintiffs at sight for the amount of the cost thereof, through the defendant the Merchants Bank aforesaid. These plaintiffs then saying, and it being distinctly understood between them and the said Virgin, that the said Virgin was not to make any drafts upon these plaintiffs for such advances until after he had purchased the stock for shipment to the plaintiffs as aforesaid, and that the said drafts should in no case exceed the amount which the said Virgin had actually contracted to pay for the stock actually purchased by him and arranged for their shipment to these plaintiffs.
[163]*163“4. Plaintiffs say that the defendant Virgin immediately thereafter acquainted the defendant the Merchants Bank with the nature of the said agreement with these plaintiffs, and that before any payments were made by these plaintiffs on account of said agreement to the defendant Virgin, the defendant the Merchants Bank fully knew and understood the exact nature and extent of the agreement with regard to the advances so to be made by these plaintiffs, and the exact nature and condition of said agreement.
5. That at that time, that is to say, during the month of October, 1888, the said Virgin was indebted to his co-defendant, the Merchants Bank of Utica, in a large sum of money, the exact amount of which is unknown to these plaintiffs, but the same was more than $2,000, and the said Virgin was then, as these plaintiffs are now informed, insolvent and largely involved, all of which was well known to his co-defendant, the Merchants Bank of Utica; that said Merchants Bank of Utica unlawfully and fraudulently designing to cheat and defraud these plaintiffs out of their money, and fraudulently designing and intending to secure the indebtedness which the said Virgin then ow7ed to the Merchants Bank, by obtaining payment thereof from these plaintiffs, did unlawfully and fraudulently agree and arrange with the said Virgin that said Virgin should draw on these plaintiffs for large sums of money, to-wit, on November 16, 1888, for $1,800, and on November 20, 1888, for $1,000, and that the same should be applied on the indebtedness said Virgin then owed the Merchants Bank as aforesaid, in fraud of the rights of these plaintiffs.
“6. And the plaintiffs say that upon or about the dates aforesaid the defendant Virgin, in pursuance of the arrangements with the defendant the Merchants Bank, as hereinbefore stated, did draw upon these plaintiffs for the said sum of $1,800 and $1,000 through the defendant the Merchants Bank, and the said drafts were, as soon as presented to these plaintiffs, viz., on or about November 19 [164]*164and 24, respectively, paid by these plaintiffs in full, and the proceeds thereof remitted to and received by the defendant the Merchants Bank; that at the time the said drafts were drawn, as aforesaid, the defendant Virgin had not purchased the stock to be paid for with the aforesaid money, except about $800 thereof, and the said Merchants Bank well knew that fact, and well knew the defendant Virgin had no right or authority to draw upon these plaintiffs for any portion of said money, except so much thereof as was necessary to pay for such stock as said Virgin may have purchased for shipment to these plaintiffs, and received the same in full of these drafts and converted the same to its own use by applying the same wrongfully and fraudulently to the indebtedness which the said Virgin owed it as aforesaid ; and that the $800 worth of stock was purchased as aforesaid by the said Virgin, the amount in full thereof was received by the said defendant the Merchants Bank in part discharge of said Virgin’s indebtedness to.it, well knowing at the time that the said, stock and the said money with which the same was paid were the property of these plaintiffs. And plaintiffs say that they have demanded that the defendant should repay the same to these plaintiffs, but they have .failed to pay the same, or any part thereof, and that by reason of their said failure these plaintiffs have been damaged by the defendant in the sum of $2,000, no part of which has been paid.”

These averments of the petition are set out in full that there may be no misapprehension as to the theory upon which plaintiffs based their right of recovery. The evidence discloses the fact that at the time the two drafts of date November 19 and November 24, respectively, were drawn, the defendant Virgin was indebted to-the bank in a sum exceeding the amount of either of said drafts. It is equally clear from the testimony that the title to the property purchased by Virgin for shipment to Palmer, Richman & Co. was not in Palmer, Richman & Co., nor [165]*165did the arrangement between these parties and Virgin contemplate that the title should be held by any other than Virgin himself until "the several shipments were received at South Omaha. There is no testimony whatever to sustain the averment that there was a conspiracy, or anything in the nature of a conspiracy, between the partners composing the Merchants Bank and Virgin, with respect to a contemplated misappropriation of the proceeds of the drafts drawn by Virgin on Palmer, Riehman & Co. in favor of the Merchants Bank.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
57 N.W. 1019, 39 Neb. 158, 1894 Neb. LEXIS 27, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hurlburt-v-palmer-neb-1894.