Whitehead v. Wells

29 Ark. 99
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedNovember 15, 1874
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 29 Ark. 99 (Whitehead v. Wells) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Whitehead v. Wells, 29 Ark. 99 (Ark. 1874).

Opinion

Williams, Sp. J.

The plaintiff brought suit against defendant in the Drew circuit court, on the 8th of March, 1871. In the complaint he states that about the 6th day of June, 1861, plaintiff, with one James H. May, employed defendant and his law partner, who is not sued, as attorneys and 11 agents ” to collect and receive moneys for him from various persons, to be paid over to plaintiff. That May, on or about the 11th day of May, 1862, assigned and transferred his right in said claims in the schedule exhibited to plaintiff; that the defendant, as such attorney, received money from divers persons, whose names, and the date of the receipt and the amount received are set out in a schedule attached to the complaint, which sums amounted to nine hundred and forty-five dollars and eighty cents. That after deducting all credits, there was due the plaintiff the sum of six hundred and forty-seven dollars and fifty cents; that the plaintiff, from 1861 to the year 1871, was a resident of the state of Missouri, and up to the 29th day of September, 1868, he did not know that the defendant had collected the money claimed, and avers demand of the money on the last named day, and a refusal by defendant to pay.

The defendant answered. In the first paragraph, he states that the money mentioned in the schedule attached to the complaint, as collected on the 28th day of September, A. D, 1863, of N. E. Davis, was Confederate money, and was collected in Drew county, Arkansas, about the 28th of September, 1863; set up at length the existence of the late war, and that the money was received under military coercion ; that Drew county was under the military authority of the Confederate States at that time; that the money was received by defendant’s partner under military orders requiring Confederate money to be received for all debts, and that a refusal would have subjected the recusant to arrest; and May "& Whitehead, being at the time nonresidents of the state, and not present to be counseled by him, or to assume the responsibility of refusing to obey the said order, defendant’s partner accepted from Davis the amount of the note in Confederate money. This, as shown by all the pleadings and evidence, is the real and only matter in dispute.

The same paragraph of the answer contains the further allegation that defendant's partner well knew that he could not enforce payment against Davis, who was about leaving the state; that to secure the matter and prevent the loss of the money, he accepted the amount of Davis’ note in Confederate money, and loaned the same to one Eletcher, who was at the time reported to be, and regarded as a man of wealth and solvency, and .took a note payable to May & Whitehead, drawing ten per cent, interest from date; that Eletcher had since become bankrupt, and the debt, without fault of defendant, has .been lost. This paragraph concludes with an averment that all other sums collected had been duly paid over.

To this paragraph in the answer, plaintiff demurred, and the court sustained the demurrer, as to which no question is before us. The complaint and this part of the answer, however, present, as clearly developed in the proof, the real difference between the parties. The case réally presents a contest as to who shall bear the loss of Fletcher’s insolvency, which seems to have occurred after the loan of the Confederate money to him.

The second defense contained in the answer is the statute of limitations of three years, which presented one of the issues upon which the case was tried.

The third defense of the answer is, that the amount sued for was received in Confederate money; that in the fall of I860, May, who, before that time and afterwards, with the full knowledge of plaintiff, was writing to said defendant and acting as one of the owners of said claims, and equally interested with plaintiff in the same, fully ratified and agreed to what had been done in collecting and loaning the Confederate money. This paragraph formed the second issue that was tried.

There was a fourth paragraph, stating in a shorter and different form the allegations of the second, and concluding with a general denial of having received money. To this fourth paragraph a demurrer was sustained, and, on leave, defendant filed an amendment containing a general denial of having received money for plaintaiff. This formed the third and last issue.

The case was tried by jury, which rendered a general verdiet for defendant. The plaintiff filed his motion for a new trial, stating therein as grounds for the same:

1. The verdict is not sustained by sufficient evidence.

2. The verdict is contrary to the evidence on the trial.

8. The verdict is contrary to the law and instructions of the ■court.

4. Irregularity in the jury; that one of the jurors named Ralph had not been in the state six months, and was not a qualified elector, and this fact was unknown to plaintiff at the time and during the trial. That Ralph had erroneously responded in the affirmative, when asked as to his qualifications ■on being impaneled, not knowing that it required six months residence to become a qualified elector. . The motion is sworn to by the attorney of plaintiff and by plaintiff, at least both signatures are attached to the motion, and the clerk places below the usual jurat, “ sworn to and subscribed,” etc. It is not presumed, however, that the counsel intended to swear to all the grounds of his motion. Although very informal, we will treat it as an affidavit to the facts set up in the fourth clause of the motion. Plaintiff excepted and filed his bill of exceptions, which contains all the evidence.

The first cause for new trial is that the verdict is not sustained by sufficient evidence. Let us first see what the verdict is responsive to. Plaintiff avers that defendant collected money; that, defendant denies. Whether proof that confederate money was collected by defendant will sustain an allegation of money in the complaint, becomes a question, which in the view we take of this case, it will be unnecessary to decide.

The two remaining issues, to which the verdict responds favorably to defendant, either of which concludes the case, are, first, Did plaintiff ratify the collection and loan of the confederate money to Eletcher; second, Had three years elapsed since the cause of action accrued ?

In order to correctly determine this, lot us examine the testimony.

Plaintiff, as a witness, stated that he delivered the claims to-defendant and his law partner for collection; that May transferred his interest to plaintiff by indorsement on the schedule-of the claims. May knew as much or more about the business than plaintiff did and he got him to come to Drew county as plaintiff’s agent. He came back without any money; plaintiff did not remember his saying anything about Harrison, and Wells, the defendant, loaning any money. Schedule-A, in the complaint, is the receipt Harrison and Wells gave plaintiff; came to Monticello the fall before the trial (which was the fall of 1870) and saw defendant; he gave him receipt, on Yan Gilder, Jones, and Bell & Carlton; plaintiff demanded a statement -of accounts between them; defendant, gave it. He then exhibits the statement, in which, among-other matters, plaintiff is credited with cash from W. R.

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29 Ark. 99, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/whitehead-v-wells-ark-1874.