Jennemann v. Bucher

171 S.W. 613, 186 Mo. App. 179, 1914 Mo. App. LEXIS 638
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 8, 1914
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 171 S.W. 613 (Jennemann v. Bucher) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jennemann v. Bucher, 171 S.W. 613, 186 Mo. App. 179, 1914 Mo. App. LEXIS 638 (Mo. Ct. App. 1914).

Opinion

-REYNOLDS, P. J.

— The petition in this case charges that defendant, at a day named, was the owner of fifteen shares of the capital stock of the Jenneman-Bucher Retail Liquor Company; that on that date, defendant entered into a contract with plaintiff whereby he agreed to sell to plaintiff the fifteen shares of capital stock, “at and for its book value, which was then and there ascertained and agreed between the plaintiff and defendant to amount to the sum of three thousand, three hundred and sixty-one dollars and thirty-one cents.” Averring that defendant duly delivered and assigned these shares of stock to plaintiff, it is averred that on the day mentioned [184]*184plaintiff paid to defendant “through a mistake and error upon his part, the sum of four thousand three hundred and thirty-four dollars and eighty-one cents as payment in full for said shares, instead of the said agreed sum of three thousand three hundred and sixty-on e dollars and thirty-one cents, whereby plaintiff, by reason of said error and mistake, paid to said defendant the sum of nine hundred and seventy three dollars and fifty cents in excess of the sum agreed to be paid for said shares of stock.” Averring demand for repayment of this sum as soon as plaintiff discovered this error and mistake, and refusal of defendant to refund, plaintiff demands judgment for this amount with interest and costs.

The amended answer upon which the case was tried admits that, prior to the date named, defendant was the owner of fifteen shares of the stock of the company, and that on or about that date defendant delivered and assigned these shares to plaintiff and plaintiff paid defendant therefor the sum of $4334.80. Every other allegation in the petition is denied generally.

The trial was before the court, a jury having been waived. At its conclusion the court found for plaintiff, rendering judgment for the amount claimed and interest. Filing motions for new trial and in arrest as well as amended motions, all however filed within due time, and excepting to the action .of the court in overruling them, defendant has duly appealed.

There is evidence in the case tending to prove that plaintiff and defendant were doing business under the name of Jenneman-Bucher Retail Liquor Company, which was a corporation with a paid up capital of $3000, each of the parties, plaintiff and defendant,, owning fifteen shares of the total capital stock, although one share actually owned by Jenneman appears to have been in the name of his son. The defendant was the president of the concern, having [185]*185charge of its sales. Plaintiff was the secretary and treasurer and attended to the buying for the concern and apparently kept its books, looked after its accounts, was its financial manager. Difficulty having arisen between these two parties, Jenneman proposed that one or the other draw out, selling his stock, fifteen shares, to the other. For the purpose of arriving at the value of the assets of the concern, Jenneman employed a gauger to measure up the liquors in stock. He also appears to have been the active party in arriving at the value of the other articles and in stating the financial condition of the concern, hut there is evidence tending to show that his figures were all submitted to defendant and gone over by both of them. The result of this was that Bucher’s share, that is, the value of his fifteen shares, as evidenced by the stock on hand, was figured at $2387.81. In addition to stock on hand it appears that there belonged to the concern evidences of debt or accounts for monies loaned out by the concern to different parties, amounting to $1947. In arriving at the value of the interest of Bucher this whole amount of $1947 was added to Bucher’s one-half interest in the stock, etc., that is to say, added to the $2387.81. According to this, Bucher’s interest was figured at $4334.81. It appears that Jenneman was the party who made this mistake, hut it is very clear from the evidence that both parties acceded to the trade on the basis of this mistake. Having thus arrived at the value of Bucher’s interest, and Bucher saying he was unable to buy out Jenneman and was willing to sell on that valuation and for that sum, Jenneman agreed to buy at those figures, that is, $4334.81, and gave Bucher his check for that amount, which Bucher accepted and apparently cashed. Sometime afterwards plaintiff Jenneman discovered the mistake that had been made in giving Bucher credit for the whole of the money loaned out, that is, for the $1947, instead of for only one-half of this amount, that [186]*186is tó say $973.50. It is to recover this amount as an overpayment that this action was brought.

It is earnestly insisted by counsel for appellant that the burthen of proof being upon plaintiff, it was incumbent.upon him to sustain the allegations of his petition by the preponderance of the evidence, and that this, it is submitted, he has absolutely failed to do. Inasmuch as the learned trial judge, acting as trier of fact, found for plaintiff, we must assume that his finding is correct, if sustained by substantial evidence. The weight or preponderance of the evidence is for his sole determination. This disposes of the ■first point made by counsel for appellant.

The second point made by those counsel is on the rulings of the trial court on the evidence. The principal error upon which this rests is that the court al lowed leading questions to be ashed. That is so much a matter within the discretion of the trial court that, unless there is a flagrant violation of the rule against asking leading questions, and that to the injury of the party objecting we will not interfere with the exercise of that discretion. We find no such abuse of the discretion here.

Complaint is also made of the action of the trial court in excluding from evidence a certified copy from the office of the Secretary of State of the report of the Jenneman-Bucher Betail Liquor Company for the year 3 908, made by plaintiff, it being stated that it was offered for the purpose of impeaching the witness in his testimony as to the value of the stock of that company. This was objected to on the ground that it was neither competent , nor relevant to the issues in the cause, and the objection sustained. We might dispose of this by remarking that the certificate is not in the abstract of the record. That absent we cannot pass upon either its materiality or competency. This on the settled rule that if error is assigned to the exclusion of evidence offered, that evidence or its sub[187]*187stance must be included in tbe record. All that appears as to this certificate is that it is tbe report of the Jenneman-Bucher Retail Liquor Company for tbe year 1908, made by Theodore Jenneman and was offered for tbe purpose of impeaching bis testimony as to tbe value of tbe stock. Whether it did that, or even tended to, do it, in the absence of tbe certificate, is a matter impossible for us to determine. Tbe presumption always is in favor of correct action on tbe part of tbe trial judge, absent a showing to tbe contrary. Apart from that, under tbe issues made by tbe pleadings, we are unable to see tbe relevancy of the certificate as showing tbe value placed upon tbe stock by Jenneman at tbe time be made it.

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Bluebook (online)
171 S.W. 613, 186 Mo. App. 179, 1914 Mo. App. LEXIS 638, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jennemann-v-bucher-moctapp-1914.