Taylor v. Brown

92 Ohio St. (N.S.) 287
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedJune 17, 1915
DocketNo. 14700
StatusPublished

This text of 92 Ohio St. (N.S.) 287 (Taylor v. Brown) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Taylor v. Brown, 92 Ohio St. (N.S.) 287 (Ohio 1915).

Opinion

Jones, J.

The chief reliance of plaintiff in error is that, under the pleadings as recast, he was entitled to a jury trial, and furthermore that each plaintiff should be relegated to a separate action. The record discloses uncertainty upon the part of the court as to the first contention, but it finally held that the action was not triable by jury, evidently on the theory that the relief sought would require the rescission of a partnership agreement and dissolution of the trusts cast upon Taylor as the holder of the legal title.

The mere fact that the defendant occupies the relation of trustee does not in itself invoke the jurisdiction of the equitable side of the court. This relation must be such in each particular case as may require the application of those principles and relief cognizable only in equity, and such as disclose not only the fiduciary and confidential relation reposed, but which go to show that an accounting is [293]*293necessary for a full relief. If such an accounting is unnecessary, if the issues involved, as here, relate to definite and specific sums paid and received, and where the entire controversy rests upon the issue whether such were paid under representations that were false and fraudulent, then, under our statute, such actions are triable by jury unless otherwise controlled by those principles which permit the ascertainment of damages by the court, where the principal relief sought is equitable. Such are cases where the recovery may depend upon correction for fraud or mistake tainting the transaction, where damages follow cancellation or reformation, or where rescission is sought as the principal relief, as distinguished from those cases where damages are asked on the law side of the court after rescission by the plaintiff.

Applying those well-known principles to the case presented by the pleadings and journal entry, was the defendant entitled to have his case submitted to a jury by virtue of Section 11379, General Code, which gives him a jury trial if the action was one for money only ? Froni an inspection of the decree made, it appears the trial court conceived that the principal relief was equitable and ordered a dissolution of the partnership and the rescission of the agreement, and decreed that the legal title of Taylor be relieved of the trusts imposed. In other respects it gave judgment, substantially as asked, for the definite, specific amounts asked by each plaintiff. Prior to the trial the court required the causes of action to be separated, but this was not done; but on the eve of trial the court permitted the prayer to [294]*294be amended so as to embrace “a single cause of action for the return of payments made.” This is shown by the entry permitting the plaintiffs to amend their petition.

Counsel for defendants in error now admit that no accounting was necessary and that none was prayed for, and the pleadings disclose that such is the case. The plaintiffs sought only to recover the payments made to the defendant on account of fraudulent representations made by him. The action, therefore, is one for money only, unless the plaintiffs have invoked other equitable relief which a court of equity might and should grant.

It is insisted that equitable jurisdiction becomes necessary for the reason that a partnership relation subsisted between the parties which should be dissolved, and that the contract between them should be rescinded and the legal title of Taylor decreed to be free of any equities plaintiffs might have in the land.

The principle that plaintiff may not seek his relief in equity if he has a full and adequate remedy at law, is well established in Ohio and elsewhere. Why relief could not have been both full and adequate on the law side of the court in this case is not easily discernible. The plaintiffs sought to recover their entire damages for definite and ascertained amounts paid by each to the defendant. These payments were not denied by the defendant. The only controlling issue between them was whether each paid the purchase money for the land sold them under the circumstances of fraud alleged in the petition. There was no equitable relief neces[295]*295sary as a predicate to the recovery. Since Taylor held the legal title to the property there was no necessity for a decree holding it free from any equities, for the decision in the law action foreclosed any equities plaintiffs might have thereto and also terminated their contractual obligations. Furthermore, the plaintiffs disclaimed all interest therein by bringing the action and by tendering back to Taylor the deeds for their respective interests which he had theretofore tendered to them.

The claim is made here, on the one hand, that the transaction was merely a joint venture whereby the interests acquired were those of tenants in common, and, on the other hand, that the transaction disclosed a partnership contract, and as such required some form of equitable relief. There is considerable confusion in the various jurisdictions whether a purchase of land, by moieties, with a view to sale and profit, is sufficient to constitute a partnership, and especially where the purchase only has been accomplished and where there are no further acts done thereunder.. The cases of Yeoman v. Lasley, 40 Ohio St., 190, and Hulett v. Fairbanks, 40 Ohio St., 233, decided by the commission at the same term, apparently hold that a partnership exists. But this view is not sustained by other courts. See Clark v. Sidway, 142 U. S., 682, 690, and Gottschalk v. Smith, 156 Ill., 377. But it is immaterial in this form of action whether the transaction was a partnership or a joint venture. Even if it be conceded that there was a partnership the gravamen of the action did not arise out of the partnership relation. It arose not subsequent to the [296]*296partnership contract, if such there was, but arose in the formation of the contract, at a time when no fiduciary relation existed. It was based on deceit in obtaining the purchase money to pay for the partnership corpus. The suit was not based on a partnership relationship, but sought to avoid the contract, in its incipiency, because of fraud. This is clearly an exception to the rule that suits between partners must be brought in equity. This, in addition to the fact stated that no accounting was demanded or needed from the defendant in any fiduciary capacity, stamped the case as an action at law. Cook v. Canny, 96 Mich., 398; Gottschalk v. Smith, supra; Clark v. Sidway, supra; Hurley v. Walton, 63 Ill., 260. This view is also supported, in principle, by Neil v. Greenleaf, 26 Ohio St., 567.

The defendant in error relies upon the case of Winstanley v. Gleyre, 146 Ill., 27, a case very similar to the one at bar. But in that case the partnership relation was recognized as subsisting, and the jurisdiction in equity was acquired by a bill which sought to sell the balance of the partnership lands and to cancel a deed which one of the partners had fraudulently made. An accounting was also sought. The later Illinois case of Gottschalk v. Smith, supra, is more applicable here and is clearly distinguishable from the former.

' It is said in the brief of counsel for defendants in error that the trial court relied upon Heckscher v. Edenborn, 203 N. Y., 210, and American Shipbuilding Co. v. Commonwealth Steamship Co., 215 Fed.

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Related

Clark v. Sidway
142 U.S. 682 (Supreme Court, 1892)
Cook v. Canny
55 N.W. 987 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1893)
Gould v. . Cayuga County National Bank
86 N.Y. 75 (New York Court of Appeals, 1881)
Heckscher v. . Edenborn
96 N.E. 441 (New York Court of Appeals, 1911)
Getty v. . Devlin
54 N.Y. 403 (New York Court of Appeals, 1873)
Baker v. Jewell
6 Mass. 460 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1810)
Richards v. Todd
127 Mass. 167 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1879)
Perry v. Hale
10 N.E. 174 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1887)
Bartges v. O'Neil
13 Ohio St. 72 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1861)
Hurley v. Walton
63 Ill. 260 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1872)
Winstanley v. Gleyre
34 N.E. 628 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1893)
Gottschalk v. Smith
40 N.E. 937 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1895)

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Bluebook (online)
92 Ohio St. (N.S.) 287, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/taylor-v-brown-ohio-1915.