Spencer v. Curtis

57 Ind. 221
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedMay 15, 1877
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 57 Ind. 221 (Spencer v. Curtis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Spencer v. Curtis, 57 Ind. 221 (Ind. 1877).

Opinion

IIowk, J.

At the March term, 1875, ot the court below, three separate actions were there pending and undetermined, in each of which the parties to this appeal were' either plaintiff or defendant. The several actions were entitled as follows:

1. Samuel A. Spencer v. James B. Curtis and Charles B. Curtis;

2. James B. Curtis v. Samuel A. Spencer and Charles B. Curtis; and,

8. Charles B. Curtis v. Samuel A. Spencer.

In the first of these three actions, the plaintiff, Samuel A. Spencer, alleged, in substance, in his complaint, that he and the' defendants, James B. and Charles B. Curtis, had been copartners in the business of trading in, buying and selling live-stock, cattle, hogs and sheep ; and, after' averring the amount of business done by said copartnership, the plaintiff, Spencer, demanded judgment for an adjustment of their partnership accounts, and for the sum of three thousand dollars, which he claimed was due him from said defendants, on their said partnership transactions.

In the second of said three actions, plaintiff’s complaint was in two paragraphs : The first paragraph was a suit on an account, for work done by the plaintiff for the defendants, for money had and received from plaintiff by the defendants for their use, and for property sold and delivered by plaintiff to defendants, and amounting in all [223]*223to three hundred and fifteen dollars and sixty cents, which was then due and wholly unpaid. Wherefore, etc. The second paragraph of said complaint was also a suit on an account for cattle and hogs sold and delivered hy plaintiff to said defendants, amounting with interest to four thousand nine hundred and sixty-six dollars and eighty-seven cents, which was then due and unpaid. Wherefore, etc.

And, in the third of said three actions, the plaintiff", Charles B. Curtis, alleged, in substance, in his complaint,, that on the — day of March, 1873, he and the defendant,. Spencer, formed a partnership to buy, feed and sell stock, and on the — day of February, 1874, they dissolved said partnership hy mutual consent; and after averring their partnership transactions, etc., plaintiff" demanded judgment for a settlement of their accounts, and for three thousand and seven hundred dollars balance due him, etc. And, in a second paragraph, plaintiff", Charles B. Curtis, alleged, in substance, that the defendant, Samuel A. Spencer, was indebted to the plaintiff in the sum of six hundred and eighty-two dollars on an account for money had and received hy defendant for plaintiff’s use, and for money laid out and expended hy plaintiff" for defendant, at his request, a copy of which account was filed with and made part of said paragraph, and was then due and wholly unpaid; and judgment was demanded for seven hundred dollars and all proper relief.

Before the issues were joined in said three actions, all the parties thereto appeared in the court below, at its; March term, 1875, and on the 12th day of March, 1875,. the following order was made therein, to wit:

“ Come now all the parties and agree that the above entitled causes shall he consolidated, and it is so ordered ;■ and now come Smith Vawter, Thomas T. Walker and James W. Hill, arbitrators between said Charles B. Curtis; and Samuel A. Spencer, determining differences identical with the subject-matter of said causes, and are duly sworn to faithfully and fairly hear and examine the matters in. [224]*224controversy between said Charles B. Curtis and Samuel A. Spencer, and make a just award, according to the best of their understanding. Said arbitrators are hereby ordered to proceed to arbitrate said matter on the 13th day of March, 18Í5, at eight o’clock a. m., at the office of William B. Hagins, attorney at law and justice of the peace, in the town of Vernon, in said county, and to return their award into open court, at the March term thereof, 1875.”

On the same day the agreement of submission to arbitration, between the said parties, was filed in the court below and entered of record; whereby they agreed to submit to the persons named in the above recited order, as arbitrators, all matters in controversy between them, pertaining to all of their business transactions, and that the award of said arbitrators should be a rule and order of the court below, at its March term, 1875, and be made payable without relief from valuation or appraisement laws. And said agreement provided for the time and place of the meeting of said arbitrators, as in said order ■of the court, and afterward upon their own adjournments and until their labors were completed. This agreement was dated March 10th, 1875, and signed “ S. A. Spencer,” And “ C. B. Curtis.”

Afterward, at the May term, 1875, of the court below, the parties appeared, and the arbitrators also appeared and filed their report. We will set out so much of this report or award as we think necessary to the proper understanding, and the correct decision, of the consolidated cause. After reciting the said order of the court below, under which the arbitrators acted, said report proceeded as follows:

“And whereas said arbitrators did, on the 13th day of March, 1875, at the office ofWm. B. Hagins as aforesaid, proceed to arbitrate and hear evidence on the subject-matter in controversy between said parties in said causes, And continued so to do, adjourning irom day to day for [225]*225that purpose, until the term of court was about to expire before said arbitrators had half completed the taking' and hearing the evidence of said parties in regard to the subject-matter of controversy between said parties, in said causes of action. 'Whereupon said parties agreed that said arbitrators should proceed and continue the taking and hearing of the evidence, to be given by said parties, in regard to the subject-matter in controversy, in said causes submitted to them, and upon which it was ordered by said court they should arbitrate, and that they adjourn from day to day to meet on their own adjournments, until they had completed their labor in said arbitration, and, when completed, said arbitrators, or any two of them, should make and seal up their award, and, on the first day of the next term of said court thereafter, should file said award in court so sealed up; and said parties to said controversy made bonds and agreements in writing to that effect. And said arbitrators, after- continuing from, day to day to hear and receive the evidence of said parties, in regard to the subject-matter in controversy in said causes, and having duly considered the same; Therefore .Smith Yawter and James W. Hill, two and a majority of said arbitrators, do make and publish the following as their award between said parties, in regard to the subject-matter in controversy in said causes .between said parties, to wit: That said Samuel A Spencer pay to the said Charles B. Curtis the sum of six hundred and fifty dollars, without relief from valuation or appraisement laws, and that the costs of this arbitration * * * he paid equally by said parties.”

This award was signed by said two arbitrators, Yawter and Hill, on the 24th day of May, 1878, and was attested by two subscribing witnesses.

To this report or award, the appellant excepted in writing; and these exceptions were overruled by the court below, and to this decision appellant excepted. On ap[226]*226pellee’s motion, judgment was rendered by tbe court below, in favor of appellee and against tbe appellant, in accordance with the terms of said report or award.

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

Related

Koerner v. Leathe
51 S.W. 96 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1899)
Wallace v. Ransdell
90 Ind. 173 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1883)
Coulter v. Coulter
81 Ind. 542 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1882)
Beeber v. Bevan
80 Ind. 31 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1881)
Healy v. Isaacs
73 Ind. 226 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1881)
Marsh v. Curtis
71 Ind. 377 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1880)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
57 Ind. 221, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/spencer-v-curtis-ind-1877.