McCandless & Co. v. Hadden

48 Ky. 186, 9 B. Mon. 186, 1848 Ky. LEXIS 48
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedJanuary 12, 1848
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 48 Ky. 186 (McCandless & Co. v. Hadden) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McCandless & Co. v. Hadden, 48 Ky. 186, 9 B. Mon. 186, 1848 Ky. LEXIS 48 (Ky. Ct. App. 1848).

Opinion

Judge Simpson

delivered the opinion of tRe Court.

The firm of Wilson & Hadden having, for the accommodation of McCandiess & Co., accepted and paid bills drawn by the latter, for a considerable amount* did, for the purpose of reimbursing themselves, draw thirteen bills on the house of McCandiess & Co., which they accepted but failed to pay at maturity, having hr the meantime, suspended business and disposed of their available assets to other creditors.

Thereupon this suit in chancery was brought by Wilson & Hadden, alleging a balance due them- in said transaction, of about eighteen thousand dollars, the failure and insolvency of the firm-of McCandiess & Co.* the non-residency of McNickle, one of the firm, and' that he owned certain lands in the town of Covington* which they prayed might be subjected to the payment of their demand.

During the pendency of the suit, Wilson, one of the partners, died, and the suit having abated as to him* progressed in the name of Hadden, as surviving partner. But the suit having been commenced, in 1834, and not finally disposed of in the Court below,until the fall term, 1847, Hadden in the meantime, had been declared a bankrupt.

In 1846, the defendants filed an extract from the proceedings in bankruptcy, in the District Court of the United States for Louisiana, showing that Hadden was proceeded against in that Court, as a bankrupt, and moved the Court to dismiss this suit, on the ground that one of the complainants was dead and the other a bank - rupt ; which motion was overruled. ’

Upon the death of 'one partner, all the rights and interests of the firm vest in the survivor, and the personal representatives of the deceased partner is not a necessary party to any suit pending or to be brought. A surviving partner of a firm becoming bankrupt, does not render it proper to dismiss a suit in his name as survivor; and where the survivor had transferred to the deceased partner-in his lifetime all his interest, the pending suit was in no way affected by the bankruptcy of the survivor, as not passed to the assignee of the survivor.

A decree having been subsequently rendered in favor of the complainants, the defendants appealed; and it is now contended, that the Court erred in refusing to sustain the motion to dismiss, or if it did not, that the proper parties were not made; the assignee of Hadden the bankrupt, and the personal representative of Wilson, one or both being necessary parties.

Upon the death of Wilson, Hadden as surviving partner, became invested with the title to all the debts and demands due to the firm. He not only had a right to sue in his own name in a Court of law, but also in chancery. He had an equitable lien upon the partnership assets, for the payment of the debts of the firm. This suit having been carried on for the benefit of the firm, and no claim presented by the survivor inconsistent with, or affecting injuriously the rights of the deceased .partner, it was not necessary that his personal representative should have been made a party.

Nor did the fact of Hadden’s bankruptcy authorize a dismissal of the suit on the motion of the defendants. The interest of the deceased partner, which extended at least to one half of the demand sued for, and to the whole amount, if it were required for the payment of the debts of the partnership, - although vested in Had-den, did not pass to the assignee; and as this interest still remained in him, it was sufficient to enable him to maintain the suit in his ow-n name.

And as the evidence used on the motion to dismiss, proved that Hadden had transferred to Wilson, in his lifetime, all his interest in the demand sued for in this case, and that nothing vested in the assignee in bankruptcy, he was not a necessary party, the suit being, in. reality, in Hadden’s name for the benefit of the estate of the deceased partner, and the creditors of the firm..

Among other matters of defence relied upon by the defendant, McNickle, he alleged in his answer, which he made a cross bill against the complainants, that previous to the institution of the present suit, he had executed deeds for the lands in the town of Covington, mentioned in the complainant’s bill to Thomas D. Carneal, and Robert Buchanan, for the benefit of his cred[188]*188itors. In answer to this cross bill, the complainants denied the deeds were executed before the commence-* ment of the suit, and averred if it were so, that they were fraudulent and void.

An answer or plea suggesting a defect of parties, should point out who the necessary parties are who are not sued, (i Marshall,.112.)'

Carneal having been made a defendant to the original! bill, Buchanan was subsequently made a party, on his-petition filed for that purpose. In his answer he asserted title to-the lands in the town- of Covington, exhibited and relied upon the deeds executed by McNickle to Carneal and himself, and denied that McNickle, the vendor, had any right or title to said lands at the time the complainants instituted their suit. He made no statement in relation to- the trust; nor did McNickle in his answer mention the names of the creditors for whose benefit the deeds'were executed.

It is now contended that the complainants- should have made the beneficiaries under said deeds defendants. We think, however, they were not bound to.do it. The names of the creditors do not appear in any part of the pleadings,-nor in the deeds. It is not shown by the com>plainan-t’s original or amended bills, that any such deeds existed, consequently they do not show any defect of parties, and where the defect appears by the answer, it should- have been urged by the answer or by plea, which has not been done in this case, otherwise the Court will not take notice of it: West, &c. vs Saunders, &c., (1 Marshall, 112.) Besides, the creditors have entrusted the management of the trust fund to the trustees,- and being represented by them-, are bound by any decree which- may be rendered against them in-relation thereto. And if they were dissatisfied with their conduct, or de<sired to be made parties for the purpose of attending to their own interests in the s-uit, they could have effected that object by application to the Court.

The deeds exhibited in the answer of Buchanan, bear date the 27th of January, 1834, were acknowledged on the same day, before the Mayor of the city of Cincinnati, and on the 7th day of the February next ensuing, were lodged for record in the office of the Campbell County Court, the county in- which the lands are situated. One of them purports to have been made in consideration [189]*189of forty five thousand dollars, the other in consideration of ten thousand dollars, paid by Carneal and Buchanan.

Matter of avoidance set tip in an* answer, must be proved by the party setting it up, and may be disproved by the opposite party. Since 1811 no replication to answers in chancery is necessary. But if a deft prove a matter of avoidance set up in his answer ? the plaintiff, to avoid its effect, must so amend Jais pleading as to put in issue thegrounds upon which he expects to destroy the effect of such matter of avoidance.

[189]*189This suit was commenced on the 5th day of February, 1834.

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Bluebook (online)
48 Ky. 186, 9 B. Mon. 186, 1848 Ky. LEXIS 48, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mccandless-co-v-hadden-kyctapp-1848.