Wilson v. Wilson

135 S.W.2d 1069
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 11, 1940
DocketNo. 3896.
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 135 S.W.2d 1069 (Wilson v. Wilson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wilson v. Wilson, 135 S.W.2d 1069 (Tex. Ct. App. 1940).

Opinion

PRICE, Chief Justice.

This suit was instituted in the District Court of El Paso County, Texas, by A. F. Wilson, as plaintiff, against C. B. Wilson, defendant. Plaintiff alleges a partnership *1070 relation existing between plaintiff and defendant from 1912 to the date of the suit; that the parties were doing business under the firm name and style of International Engraving Company. The assets of the partnership were alleged to be $9,000 with no liabilities except current expenses amounting to about $300. Plaintiff sought to establish a one-half interest in certain property, the title to which stood in the name of the defendant, on the ground that partnership money was used to pay for same and to construct the improvements thereon. He further sought to charge defendant with $1,560 on account of defendant’s failure to attend to his duties as a partner, by reason of which it was necessary to expend $1,560 for additional help. Plaintiff further alleged that he had drawn approximately $100 per month from the partnership and the defendant had drawn therefrom $300 to $400 per month; that defendant was accordingly indebted to plaintiff ■ for such excess drawing. Plaintiff sought an accounting of all partnership matters and for judgment against defendant for the amount found due and the judgment be adjudicated a lien on the partnership assets, and that same be sold at public sale for the purpose of satisfying plaintiff’s debt. A dissolution of the partnership was sought.

Defendant answered by general demurrer and general denial and specially pleaded that during the year 1912 the partnership was entered into between plaintiff and defendant and plaintiff and defendant’s mother, Mrs. Minnie Wilson; that she died in the year 1931, and said partnership continued with plaintiff and defendant to this date. Further that from the institution of the business in 1912 to the present time books and accounts had been kept by the partnership company; that the books and accounts kept from 1912 to 1919, inclusive, had been misplaced, lost, burned or otherwise destroyed, and that defendant could not give the exact amounts drawn by plaintiff and defendant during those years; he alleges that during those years their withdrawals were practically equal; that since 1919 to 1937, inclusive, that plaintiff had withdrawn $39,058.97 and defendant had withdrawn $39,606.39; that from 1930 to 1937 he put into the business from proceeds of a loan on his insurance policy $1,022.76, for which he is entitled to credit in any settlement of adjudication; that plaintiff, from about 1936 on devoted a greater portion of his time to other activities, being the owner of a mine in New Mexico; that plaintiff had not devoted exceeding two-thirds of his time to the partnership of plaintiff and defendant; that on account of such neglect of business by the plaintiff it was necessary to hire additional help at a cost of $10 per week during a period of more than ten years and up to about the beginning of the year 1938; that on account of plaintiff’s absence and non-attention to business and the necessity of having to employ additional help it cost the partnership not less than $5,200 for such additional help. Defendant prayed that the plaintiff be charged individually with $2,600 of said sum; further sought $240 as rental from plaintiff for the occupancy of certain space as living quarters, the business property of the partnership.

An auditor was apppointed who in due time filed his report in the case. The. auditor’s report found for the years 1931 to 1937, inclusive, the respective withdrawals of the parties were as follows: A. F. Wilson, $7667.12; C. B. Wilson, $12,910.40; that the respective withdrawals of the partners from 1920 to 1937, inclusive, were t A. F. Wilson, $33,500.01, C. B. Wilson, $39,017.78. Specific findings were made on several of the items included in the report:

1. A check of $102 drawn in favor of the First National Bank was not charged to plaintiff’s drawings.

2. Items dated April 7, 1920, No. 3530, for $90.20, April 8, 1920, No. 3533, $4.00, April 19, 1920, No. 3568, $148.32, were not charged or included in the drawings of. plaintiff.

3. On April 20, 1920, an automobile was. purchased from the Lone Star Motor Company which was charged to a; ledger account as follows: “Cost of car $939.46, insurance $30.10, repairs $22.50, $992.06.” Further, in 1921 the same account was charged with service, gasoline and oil in the amount of $752.10, and in 1922 for $598.65. These respective items were charged as firm expense in the auditor’s report.

4. Involved an item of $1,000 dated in July, 1920, wherein plaintiff received a ■check for $1,000. Same was charged to-plaintiff as a withdrawal.

5. An item of $3,554.61 representing funds paid out for materials and labor on a house erected by defendant. A credit thereon for $2,427.36, the balance being charged to defendant as withdrawals.

*1071 6. Plaintiff was allowed credit for $150 on account' of payment of a firm note.

7. An item of $1,022.76 was disallowed as a credit to defendant against his withdrawals. There was a liability for said amount represented by a note payable to the Kansas City Life Insurance Company. There was $578.25 in cash realized on this note, the balance represents interest on the loan and the extension of the premiums. The collateral used was a policy on the life of defendant C. B. Wilson.

In his comments on disputed items in paragraph nine of this portion of the report, the auditor eliminates the $3,602.32 as a withdrawal charged against the plaintiff and $325 as a withdrawal charged against the defendant, on the ground that these two items had nothing to do with the firm business but represented individual transactions between plaintiff and his mother and defendant and his mother.

Plaintiff filed exceptions to the report of the auditor in substance attacking an item of $2,541.81 allowed by the auditor as a firm expense, claiming that same should be an individual charge against the defendant; exception to a charge made in July, 1920, against plaintiff for the sum of $1,000, plaintiff claiming that the firm had been repaid said $1,000 item; further as to the report of the auditor showing that plaintiff, for the year 1928, drew $2,006.16 from the partnership funds and defendant drew $1,897.33 for said period, and alleges that defendant for that year withdrew $4,000 and should have been charged with said sum instead of $1,897.33. The drawings for the year 1929 are assailed by plaintiff, alleging that defendant drew $1,500 more than plaintiff, and asked that he be allowed for the years 1928 and 1929 $4,000 additional as the amount in excess of the amount drawn by plaintiff.

Defendant’s exceptions attack the disposition by the auditor of a $3,600.32 item .and a $325 item, in that the auditor found that same were not part of the firm business, and alleges that same were part of •the firm business and should be considered in the matter of the accounting — plaintiff to be charged with $3,600.32 and defendant with the sum of $325. The action of the .auditor is attacked as to an item appearing in paragraph six of the auditor’s conclusions allowing plaintiff credit for an item of .$150, and that as to such item plaintiff should only have received credit for $25.

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Bluebook (online)
135 S.W.2d 1069, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wilson-v-wilson-texapp-1940.