Shriver v. McCloud

20 Neb. 474
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 15, 1886
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 20 Neb. 474 (Shriver v. McCloud) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Shriver v. McCloud, 20 Neb. 474 (Neb. 1886).

Opinion

Cobb, J.

The petition in the court below alleged “ That in the-month of March, 1883, the plaintiff entered into an agreement with the defendant to form a partnership with him in the business of buying cattle, in York county, in this state and vicinity, and shipping the same. The terms of said agreement being, in substance, as follows: The plaintiff to furnish the capital and devote so much of his time to said business as might be necessary, and the defendant to devote his time to said business and furnish a horse and buggy to be used in said business, and the plaintiff and [475]*475defendant to share in the profits and losses of said business equally, the said partnership to continue during the spring of the year 1883.

“ 2. And the plaintiff and defendant then entered upon and carried on said co-partnership business under said agreement until the same was terminated on or about July,. 1883, and said co-partnership was terminated prior to the 1st day of May, 1883.

“3. And during the continuance of said-co-partnership-this plaintiff was compelled to and did advance and pay on account of said co-partnership business the sum of $8,502.-53, and has received from said co-partnership business the-sum of $7,064.50 and no more.

4. That said defendant has not paid or advanced on account of said co-partnership business any sum whatever in excess of the amount that said defendant has received from the said business of the co-partnership,” with an allegation of a demand upon said defendant for an accounting and payment of the amount due him, and a prayer for an accounting and judgment and general relief.

The defendant answered with a general denial.

There was a trial to the court, with a finding and judgment for the plaintiff. The defendant brings the cause to-this court by appeal.

There is no assignment of errors.

It apjiears from the bill of exceptions that there was: evidence tending to prove that in the month of'March, 1883, the defendant, a resident of York county in this-state, wrote to one Wade, of Chicago, a salesman of live stock, with whom he had been acquainted for about fifteen-years, to the effect that there was a number of cattle being-fed in his, McCloud’s, county, and that he thought that the cattle could be bought right, and that he wanted Wade-to come out there, or send some good man there, to go in with him and buy the cattle, that he felt a little rusty in regard to cattle, as he had not been shipping much lately-[476]*476Wade shortly afterwards wrote to Shriver, the plaintiff, at Harvard, Iowa (whom he had also known for about fifteen years), the contents of McCloud’s letter. A few days thereafter Shriver went into Chicago with cattle, and Wade talked with him as to what McCloud had written. Shriver enquired about McCloud, and said he would go out (to Nebraska), and Wade gave him a letter of introduction to McCloud. The evidence also tends to prove that soon after the above occurrence Shriver came to Waco ■(the residence of McCloud), met McC., and delivered to him the letter of introduction from Wade. That this letter contained a statement that Shriver came out there for the purpose of going into partnership with him to buy some cattle. That upon receiving the letter of introduction, McCloud took Shriver to his house with him, and as to what took place between the parties on that evening at the house of McCloud, while the evidence is conflicting, it tends to prove that they then and there entered into a co-partnership for the purpose of buying and shipping cattle. The terms of this partnership, though not very definite, were, I think, sufficient for 'the purpose in view. ■ By its terms Shriver was to furnish the cash capital to pay for the stock to be purchased. Part of this money he claimed to have with him, and had, so far as appears, and part he professed to be able to obtain from Wade or the firm of which he ■was a member or employe, and McCloud was to furnish teams for the purpose of local travel and pay the local expenses of the business, and the two partners would share the profits and losses. The evidence tends to prove that the next day after entering into the said agreement of partnership, Shriver and McCloud together entered upon the business of looking up and buying cattle, that at the suggestion and request of McCloud the contracts of purchase were made in the name of Shriver alone, and nothing was said about McCloud being interested in such purchases, but that he nevertheless was a full partner therein. [477]*477In this manner the firm purchased and shipped three shipments of cattle, and made an advancement to. Harvey Pickrel on a bunch of cattle of $400, which they forfeited. In these operations they lost, as found by the court, the sum of $1,425.08. All of which was made good and paid by the plaintiff.

It cannot be denied that there is conflicting evidence upon the most material point in the case — the formation of the partnership between the parties. The agreement of partnership, as found by the court, took place between them without the presence of any third person, and is evidenced by no writing then executed. It is sworn to by one party and denied by the other. • In such cases the disagreeable duty devolves upon the trial court or jury to decide which to believe and which to charge with the infirmity of a bad memory, or that obliquity of perception into facts unfavorable to their own side, which sometimes exists in parties to law suits. This duty is often imposed upon courts and juries, when there are no outside or collateral facts in the case to point out the party whose witnesses are most reliable; but in the case at bar, the trial court} to whom the facts were submitted, found much to aid-him in the contemporaneous and antecedent acts of the defendant. The letters of the defendant to Mr. Wade, as deposed to by the latter, show clearly that shortly before the first visit of Shriver to Waco, McCloud desired and solicited Wade. “ to come out there, or send some good man there, to go in with him and buy the cattle,” referring to cattle which he had already informed Wade were being fed in York county for the Chicago market. Now this independent circumstance was an important aid to the court in determining between the conflicting statements of Shriver and McCloud, whether, upon the former, a few days thereafter, calling upon the latter at his- home with a letter of introduction from Wade, their talking over the matter of the cattle being fed in the neighborhood during [478]*478the evening, and in the morning going out among the cattle feeders and buying quantities of cattle on that and succeeding days, the cattle were purchased in pursuance of ■a contract of partnership for that purpose, formed on the ■evening of the first meeting and conversation, at the house of McCloud, or that McCloud was not interested in such purchases but was only conveying Shriver around through ■the cattle feeding region of York county, with a view of picking up a few stock cattle to feed himself. Upon the •other hand, the fact that the written contracts of purchase •of the cattle purchased were made in Shriver’s individual name, was a circumstance against him to be considered by the trial court. Whether that circumstance is sufficiently explained by the statement of Shriver in his testimony, that when they first started out to buy cattle, as they were riding along, he (McCloud) said, “Shriver, I would prefer to be a silént partner in the business for a while.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Schneider v. Patterson, Murphy & Co.
57 N.W. 398 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 1894)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
20 Neb. 474, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/shriver-v-mccloud-neb-1886.