Nation v. Savely

1917 OK 517, 168 P. 805, 66 Okla. 229, 1917 Okla. LEXIS 185
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedNovember 6, 1917
Docket7454
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 1917 OK 517 (Nation v. Savely) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Nation v. Savely, 1917 OK 517, 168 P. 805, 66 Okla. 229, 1917 Okla. LEXIS 185 (Okla. 1917).

Opinion

Opinion by

BLEAKMORE, O.

In November, 1913, Savely filed his bill of particulars in a justice court, alleging that Nation was indebted to him (1) for work and labor; (2) for money expended for services and board of another at the special request of Nation1; (3) the board of Nation, and (4) for certain drugs purchased at the request of Nation aggregating $144, “which sum the defendant agreed to pay therefor-” He also procured the issuance and levy of an order of attachment against the property of Nation. Thereafter Nation filed denial of the grounds for the attachment. The justice. after hearing evidence, refused to discharge the attachment. Nation then filed his bill of particulars in which it is set forth that he and 'Savely had verbally contracted to enter into a written agreement to “conduct a certain farming enterprise,” pursuant to which he furnished the money with which they purchased property and incurred expense to the amount of $2,768.67; that Savely refused to sign the written contract, and that thereafter, in order to reduce their loss to the minimum, they agreed to and did sell such property, etc.; that there was a net, loss of $437.30, for one-half of which (less a credit of $4, and the sum of $16.50 remitted), he prayed judgment against Savely. Upon trial before the justice, Savely recovered judgment, from which Nation appealed to the district -court; and there moved to retax to Savely, independently of the case proper, the costs of the attachment in the justice court, on the ground that the order was wrongfully obtained, asking leave to support the same by evidence. Such motion was overruled. Later he filed a supplemental motion to discharge the attachment, notifying- 'Savely that the same would be presented immediately before the trial on the merits. Thereafter it was agreed -that Nation might take possession of the attached property, without otherwise affecting the rights of the parties. The district court, over the objection of Savely to the consideration of the motion to discharge the attachment, -directed that the evidence relative to the grounds for attachment be heard and the matter determined upon the hearing of the main issue. U-pon trial, at the close of the evidence on behalf of plaintiff, demurrer to that portion thereof adduced in support of the grounds of attachment was sutained. Thereupon defendant demurred to the evidence on the ground that there was such a variance between it and the allegations of the bill of particulars as to amount to failure of proof; that the bill alleged separate causes of action, being partly on an account stated and partly on quantum meruit, and that the testimony disclosed the entire amount to be due on account stated. This demurrer was overruled. Defendant offered evidence, introducing the unexecuted written contract referred to in his pleading, which contained the following clause:

“It is agreed that this contract shall not be considered as a partnership between the parties hereto except and solely in the net profit as aforesaid.”

At the conclusion of all the evidence defendant requested a directed verdict, which was refused. There was verdict for plaintiff, upon which judgment was rendered, the journal entry thereof containing the following recital:

“That the demurrer to the testimony of the plaintiff in support of the attachment be and is hereby sustained, with exceptions allowed the plaintiff, and all costs accrued by reason of attachment be taxed against the plaintiff.”

Later, on motion to vacate a portion thereof, the judgment was modified and journal entry made to read:

*231 “That all orders heretofore made in this action in this court in reference to the attachment branch of this case, be and the same are hereby set aside, vacated and held for naught,”

Defendant has appealed, and here presents the following among other assignments of error: (1) Permitting the introduction of any evidence, overruling demurrer to the •evidence, and denying request for instructed verdict; (2) overruling motion to tas costs of attachment to the plaintiff; (3) granting motion of plaintiff to vacate judgment sustaining demurrer to evidence offered in support of grounds of attachment.

It is urged by defendant that he and plaintiff were partners in a farming enterprise; that there had been no settlement of the partnership affairs, for which reason this action would not lie; while plaintiff insisted that no partnership ever existed between them, hut that he took charge of a certain farm with the understanding that he was to have one-half of the profits derived therefrom for his services; that the written contract submitted for his signature did not embody the terms of the agreement he undertook to enter into, for which reason he declined to execute the same, and that thereafter he and defendant agreed upon a definite amount to be paid to him for the the services rendered, his expenses, etc.

While it is the general doctrine that “one partner cannot maintain an action at law against another to recover an amount claimed by him by reason of the partnership transactions, until there has been a final settlement of the affairs of the concern.” yet “when the question of whether a partnership exists is a matter of doubt, to be decided by inferences to be drawn from all the evidence, it is one of fact for the jury; and the court should not nonsuit or direct the jury to find a verdict for the plaintiff or defendant.” Cobb v. Martin, 32 Okla. 588, 123 Pac. 422. The theory of defendant relative to the existence of a partnership between the parties was submitted to the jury by ins'ruction apparently sufficient for the purpose, to which there was no exception.

It is contended that the district court-erred in holding that an appeal would not lie from the “attachment branch of the action.” and vacating its judgment sustaining defendant’s demurrer to the evidence offered *in support of the grounds of attachment. If an appeal by a defendant from an order of a justice of the peace sustaining an attachment is permissible under the statute, the undertaking in the instant case might, as Insisted by defendant, suffice for that purpose as well as a bond on appeal from the judgment on the merits. The trial court evidently concluded that the only appeal provided by the statute in such case was from the judgment on the merits; that the appeal bond given for that purpose operated to discharge the attachment and authorize the delivery of the attached property to the defendant, and that the interlocutory order of the justice in the attachment proceeding was not properly submitted for review. Such conclusion we regard as correct.

It appears that article 3, c. 61, Rev. Laws 1910. Procedure Before Justice — Attachment and Garnishment (except section 5397, authorizing an appeal by a plaintiff from an order of a justice dissolving an attachment), was adopted from the Kansas Code with the construction placed thereon by the Supreme Court of that state. No provision is found in that article or elsewhere in the statute allowing an appeal from an order of a justice refusing to discharge an attachment.

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Related

McClanahan v. Hughes
1949 OK 261 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1949)
Markley v. Ott
1943 OK 22 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1943)
Nation v. Savely
1927 OK 350 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1927)
Graham v. Schooler
1921 OK 5 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1921)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1917 OK 517, 168 P. 805, 66 Okla. 229, 1917 Okla. LEXIS 185, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nation-v-savely-okla-1917.