Meyer v. Reimers

30 Misc. 307, 63 N.Y.S. 681
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 15, 1900
StatusPublished

This text of 30 Misc. 307 (Meyer v. Reimers) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Meyer v. Reimers, 30 Misc. 307, 63 N.Y.S. 681 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1900).

Opinion

Andrews, J.

This is a motion for the appointment of a receiver, pendente lite, of a partnership which has been dissolved by the effluxion of time, and it would be easy to write an extended essay in regard to the rights and duties of partners before and after dissolution, and as to the circumstances under which a receiver will be appointed of a partnership after it has been dissolved. I do not see, however, that any useful purpose can be subserved by so doing, and I will, therefore, state as briefly as I can the reasons why I think the motion for the appointment of a receiver in this case should be denied. The rules of law as to the rights and duties of partners, both before atid after the dissolution of a partnership, and as to the appointment of receivers after a dissolution, have been settled by repeated adjudications, and plaintiff's counsel has undoubtedly correctly stated the same, both in his argument on the hearing of the motion and in the brief which has since been submitted. The difficulty about the matter is that, in my opinion, such rules do not apply to the case at bar. Paragraph II of the articles of partnership which were entered into by the plaintiff and the defendants provides in part as follows: Hpon the expiration of this agreement by effluxion of time, or from any cause except death of both general partners,' the business shall be wound up forthwith. The liquidation shall be conducted by the general partners for the time being jointly, or the survivor of them if one be dead. The general partners or partner so liquidating the business shall be entitled to such remuneration for conducting the liquidation as shall be mutually agreed. But Messrs. Heilbut, Symons & Co. shall have the option of appointing a competent person to conduct the liquidation jointly with the said general partners or partner, the remuneration of such person to be paid out of the assets.” This provision is absolutely inconsistent with the theory of the plaintiff that the affairs of the partnership in question are to be liquidated according to the rules of the common law, above referred to. Heilbut, Symons & Go. are expressly given the option of appointing a competent person to take part in the liquidation of the affairs of the firm, and such person is to conduct the -liquidation jointly with [309]*309the general partners or partner, in case one shall have died. Under this provision Heilbut, Symons & Co. have exercised the option thereby given to them, and have appointed Mr. Richard Delafield as liquidator; and, such appointment having been made, the right which each of the general partners had, severally, to liquidate the affairs of the partnership has been destroyed. If they desire, or either of them desires, to take part in the liquidation of the affairs of the firm, they, or he, must do so jointly with Mr. Delafield. Moreover, the provision of this paragraph that the liquidation shall be conducted by the general partners jointly is, in my opinion, sufficient to take away from each partner the right which he would otherwise have had to severally liquidate the affairs of the partnership. The articles of copartnership in this case are of the most elaborate description, and are very carefully drawn; and if it had been intended by the parties that the affairs of the partnership were to be liquidated by each partner, acting separately, as in the absence of such provision would have been his right, the provision in question would have been unnecessary, and would not have been inserted. The conclusion that I have reached as to the intent and meaning of the above-quoted provision, paragraph 17 in the articles is, I think, fully warranted by the language itself of such provision. But, if confirmation is needed, it is to be found in many facts and circumstances, which appear in the papers submitted in opposition to this motion, some of which are as follows: Heilbut, Symons & Co. is a very old and wealthy English firm, which had been engaged in the purchase and sale of crude rubber and of gums for a great many years prior to the formation of the partnership in question; and, in the course of their business they had established purchasing agencies all over the world, wherever rubber and gums are for sale. One method adopted by them for the transaction of their business was the establishment of purchasing agencies in the city of Hew York. Such purchasing agencies had been established in this city for many years prior to the formation of the partnership between the plaintiff and the defendants, and had usually consisted of firms in which the general partners were young men who had been connected with Heilbut, Symons & Co. in England, and who had been sent over here to act as general partners, Heilbut, Symons & Co. being special partners. Such agencies have existed in the city of Hew York for over thirty years prior to the formation of [310]*310the present firm, and the plaintiff and Reimers were both young -men, who had been in the employ of Heilbut, Symons & Co., and 'who were allowed by that firm to become general partners in the ¡partnership, and were placed in charge of the business, which, as ¡above stated, had been established for many years. These young men put in some capital of their own; but the very large capital required besides in the conduct of the business was furnished entirely by Heilbut, Symons & Co., with the result that when the firm was dissolved by limitation of time on the 31st of December, 1899, Heilbut, Symons & Co. were creditors to the amount of over $1,000,000, and there were practically no other creditors. It also appears that the articles of partnership contain the following provision: “ Hpon the limited partnership being determined in any way, Messrs. Heilbut, Symons & Co. shall (subject to the liquidation of the business transacted up to such dissolution), be entitled to assume sole control of the business, and may -carry on the same either as general partners, or may constitute another limited partnership, as to them shall seem fit.” Hnder the circumstances above set forth, it was entirely natural that Heilbut, Symons & Co. should, as they did by the above-quoted paragraph 17 of the articles, make provision that, upon the dissolution of the partnership between themselves and Reimers and Meyer, the affairs of the old partnership should be liquidated forthwith, and that they should be liquidated by the general partners, and by a liquidator whom they had the option to appoint jointly; and the facts and circumstances above set forth in my judgment confirm the construction which I have placed upon the above-quoted provision of paragraph 17, to the effect that neither the plaintiff mor Reimers had the right to liquidate, the affairs of the concern ¡separately or severally, but, that if they saw fit to act as liquidators 'they must act with one another, and also with the liquidator who lias been appointed by Heilbut, Symons & Go. The learned counsel for the plaintiff claims that a receiver should be appointed on various specific grounds, which he stated upon his argument, and he has set forth in his brief: First. That the plaintiff’s partner, Reimers, and the liquidator appointed by Heilbut, Symons & Co., Delafield, refused to permit the plaintiff to act alone in liquidating the affairs of the company. If the views above set forth are correct, the plaintiff has no right to act alone as such liquidator, and, therefore, such refusal does not constitute [311]*311a ground for the appointment of a receiver. Second. That the defendants Eeimers, Heilbut and Fleischmann have disqualified themselves from acting as liquidating partners.

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Bluebook (online)
30 Misc. 307, 63 N.Y.S. 681, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/meyer-v-reimers-nysupct-1900.