Paxton & Gallagher Co. v. Starkweather

128 N.W. 479, 26 S.D. 99, 1910 S.D. LEXIS 190
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 4, 1910
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 128 N.W. 479 (Paxton & Gallagher Co. v. Starkweather) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering South Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Paxton & Gallagher Co. v. Starkweather, 128 N.W. 479, 26 S.D. 99, 1910 S.D. LEXIS 190 (S.D. 1910).

Opinion

CORSON, J.

This is an -appeal by the plain-tiff from a judgment entered in favor of the defendants and from the order denying a new trial. The action was instituted by the plaintiff to recover a balance of $63.78 alleged to be due it from the defendants. The answer of Starkweather alleges, in substance, that the firm of Starkweather & Rogers was, before the bringing [101]*101of this action, duly dissolved and no longer has any existence in fact; that, at the time of the dissolution of said partnership, one of the members of said firm continued the business of the said firm and assumed all of its obligations; that plaintiff had due notice thereof, and accepted the said E. E. Rogers therefor, and for many months the said E. E. Rogers continued said business and had dealings from time to time with the plaintiff, and made numerous payments upon said .account, properly applicable to the payment of the same, sufficient in amount to wholly extinguish and pay off and se'tttle any indebtedness existing from the plaintiff herein; and that the same has been paid in full and there is nothing due thereon. The separate answer of E. E. Rogers, in substance, denies each and every allegation contained in plaintiff’s complaint, except such as are particularly admitted or explained. Denies that he is a member of the firm of Starkweather & Rogers, but alleges the truth to' be that the said firm was heretofore dissolved with full knowledge of the plaintiff and with its approval, and that all debts owed by the said firm have been fully paid and liquidated so far as he is advised and believes.

It is disclosed by the evidence that the partnership of Stark-weather & Rogers was entered into in the fall of 1902 and dissolved in September, 1904; that, during the time of its existence, the plaintiff sold and delivered to the said firm various invoices of goods on which there appeared to be a balance amounting to the sum of $369.14, and the payment of which was assumed by Rogers at the time of the dissolution of the firm, and.all of which had been paid except the sum claimed of $63.78. These payments were made from time to time by Rogers after the firm was dissolved and he had assumed the partnership debts. It appears, however, that Rogers continued to purchase goods from the plaintiff after the dissolution of the copartnership and remitted payments from time to time, some of which were credited by the plaintiff upon the copartnership debts, and some of which were credited upon the individual account of Rogers.

It is contended by the defendants that so much of the payments made by Rogers subsequently to the dissolution of the [102]*102copartnership should have been applied by the plaintiff to the payment of the copartnership debts as was required to satisfy the same, and, in law, were so applied in the extinction of the debt-.of the firm. It is contended, however, by the plaintiff that as these payments were made by Rogers by means of drafts and checks, with no direction by him as to the application of the payments, the plaintiff had the right to and did credit his individual account with those payments, leaving the entire balance as due from the firm of Starkweather & Rogers; no direction having been given, as before stated, by Rogers as to the accoiint upon which the payments should be applied. There was a payment of $50 by check and $5 by check, made by Rogers by letter, which was made immediately in answer to a demand by the plaintiff for the payment of the balance due from the firm of Starkweather & Rogers, and it is claimed by the defendants that these payments should have been applied upon the firm account and not upon the individual account of Rogers.

There seems to be no question as to the amount of the balance due, assuming the payments to have been rightfully applied, and that the indebtedness contracted by Rogers individually had been paid in full so far as appears from plaintiff’s account: At the close of the evidence, the plaintiff moved the court to direct a verdict in his favor, presumably for the sum claimed. This motion was denied by the court and the case submitted to the jury. The first error assigned is that the court erred in overruling this motion. In our opinion the court was right in its ruling for the reason that the question as to whether or not the remittances of $50 and $5, made by Rogers soon after the receipt of a letter written by the plaintiff, requesting the payment of the balance due from the firm of Starkweather & Rogers, should have been credited to the firm of Starkweather & Rogers, or to Rogers individually, was in issue and controverted. Clearly the court could not properly direct, a verdict for the full amount of plaintiff’s claim, and it was not requested to direct a verdict for any less sum.

The only other errors assigned are that the court erred in three paragraphs of its charge to the jury. The first paragraph [103]*103objected to is as follows: “Now each of the defendants in this case has hied a separate answer, but under the rules of the court the sole and only question you have to' determine is whether or not this sum claimed to be due by plaintiff has been paid by the firm of Starkweather & Rogers.” Clearly this instruction was correct, as that was the issue presented by the pleading in the case. If the payments made by Rogers 'should have been credited to the firm to the extent of the indebtedness of the firm, then of course the indebtedness of the firm, in law, was paid and satisfied.

The next paragraph of the charge objected to and assigned as error is as folows: “You will remember there was certain testimony introduced in the case in regard to a letter written by * * * Paxton & Gallagher to the defendant Rogers, directing him to pay certain accounts which applied to the firm of Stark-weather & Rogers, and it is testified to that there was a certain check of $50 sent at one time with no direction in the letter directing where this should be applied. * * * If. you believe from the testimony that the $50 and the $5 which followed was paid at the suggestion or was paid with the understanding and immediately followed the letter, and that the payment was made with the suggestion to be applied on the old indebtedness of the firm of Starkweather & Rogers, then it should be so' applied.” This instruction was clearly correct, as section 1147 of the Civil Code provides: “If a creditor, or any one of two or more joint creditors, at any time directs the debtor to perform his obligation in a particular manner, the obligation is extinguished by performance in that manner, even though the' creditor does not receive the benefit of such performance.” And section 1150 provides: "Where a debtor, under several obligations to another, does an act by way of performance in whole or in part, which is equally applicable to two or more of such obligations, such performance must be applied as follows: (1) If, at the time of the performance, the intention or desire of the debtor that such performance, should be applied to the extinction of any particular obligation be manifested to the creditor, it must be so applied.” And subdivision 2 provides: “If no such application be then made, the creditor, within a reasonable time after such performance, may [104]

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Bluebook (online)
128 N.W. 479, 26 S.D. 99, 1910 S.D. LEXIS 190, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/paxton-gallagher-co-v-starkweather-sd-1910.