Wolf v. Wolf & Oakes

66 N.W. 170, 97 Iowa 279
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedFebruary 10, 1896
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 66 N.W. 170 (Wolf v. Wolf & Oakes) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wolf v. Wolf & Oakes, 66 N.W. 170, 97 Iowa 279 (iowa 1896).

Opinion

Robinson, J.-

— The defendants are Wolf & Oakes, a co-partnership, and Louis R. Wolf, and John Oakes, the partners who compose it. The petition alleges, that in the year 1881, the plaintiff was indebted in various sums, which aggregated not less than eight thousand, one hundred dollars. That the defendants became sureties for the plaintiff, on a promissory note, to the Johnson County Savings Bank, for the sum of four thousand dollars, a note to the Iowa County Bank (or Holbrook Bank) for one thousand, three hundred, and seventeen dollars, a second note to the Johnson County Savings Bank, amounting to seven hundred dollars, and a note, to John Hall, for [280]*280two thousand, seven hundred dollars; that, to secure the defendants for the liabilities they thus incurred, and for payments they should make, on account of the plaintiff, he caused to be turned over to the defendants, money and other property, and furnished' pasturage for stock, to the amount of eleven thousand, three hundred and eleven dollars and one cent; that the defendants have paid on account of the plaintiff, sums of money, to about the amount of-eight thousand, one hundred dollars, and owe him a balance of three thousand, two hundred and eleven dollars and one cent. The petition further alleges, that in September, 1882, the plaintiff suffered a stroke of paralysis, which rendered him unfit to attend to, or transact business; that, he had great confidence in the defendants, Louis R. Wolf being his brother; that he did not discover that the defendants had received the sum last stated, in excess of the amount they had paid for him, and that he had been defrauded, until the twentieth day of January, 1891. He asks that the defendants be compelled to answer the petition fully, and to account for the property received by them. The defendants admit that they received money and other property, from and on account of the plaintiff, but claim to have accounted for all of it, and to have paid for and in his behalf, one thousand dollars, in addition to the amount they have received; and for that they ask judgment. They further allege that they had a full and complete settlement with the plaintiff in October, 1885, and that the action on his part is barred by the statute of limitations. The district court dismissed the petition, at the cost of the plaintiff.

There are many errors in the printed record, which appear to be clerical, but are nevertheless confusing. They relate mainly to dates, amounts and designations of parties. We have endeavored to [281]*281separate them from matters in regard to which there is actual controversy, and thiijk wé have succeeded as to everything that is material.

The items with which the plaintiff charges the defendants, and which the latter admit, in substance, are as follows: September 3, 1881, cash, eight hundred and fifty dollars; December 26, 1881, cattle, four thousand, one hundred and eighty dollars and eleven cents; March 8,1882, stock, two thousand and twenty-six dollars, and ninety-nine cents; November, 1882, proceeds of hogs, three1 hundred dollars; March 7, 1883, cattle, one thousand, one hundred and ten dollars, and eighty-four cents; February 20,1885, proceeds of cattle, nine hundred and seventeen dollars, and eighty-seven cents; November, 1885, notes from cattle sale, nine hundred and twenty-six dollars. In addition, the defendants admit three hundred and fifty dollars of a charge of four hundred and seventy-five dollars for pasturing stock in the year 1882, one hundred and seventy-five dollars of a charge of three hundred and fifty dollars for sale notes, and one hundred and seventy dollars of a charge of one hundred and seventy-five dollars for hogs. They also claim credits to the amount of forty-five dollars on some of the charges which are admitted. In other words, the defendants are charged by the plaintiff with items to the amount of eleven thousand, three hundred and eleven dollars and eighty-one cents, of which they admit ten thousand, nine hundred and sixty-one dollars and eighty-one cents to be correct. The items charged by the defendants against the plaintiff, are as follows: June 21, 1881, cash loaned, four thousand dollars; July 9, 1881, cash paid Marengo Savings Bank, one thousand, three hundred and seventeen dollars and thirty-five cents; December 10, 1891, cash loaned, seven hundred dollars; January 1,1883, cash paid N. B. Holbrook, or bank at Marengo, four hundred [282]*282and sixty-four dollars and twenty-six cents; January 8, 1882, cash paid John Hall on mortgage, two thousand, seven hundred and eighty-eight dollars and eighteen cents; cash paid Mrs. Wolf, sixty dollars; and cash paid on a note of son of plaintiff, one hundred and ten dollars. In regard to all of these items, excepting the first one and last two, it is enough to say that they are admitted, or clearly proven. We think the item of sixty dollars is shown to be correct, but that there is some doubt about the one for one hundred and ten dollars. The sums proven, exclusive of the item, “cash loaned, four thousand dollars,” aggregate, five thousand, three hundred and twenty-nine dollars and seventy-nine cents. In addition, the defendants claim seven hundred and eighteen dollars and twenty-six cents, as commissions for shipping and selling stock for the plaintiff, and a considerable amount for interest. If the claims of the defendants be correct, the plaintiff owed them in November, 1885, after the notes from the cattle sale, to the amount of nine hundred and twenty-six dollars, were received, something more than two hundred dollars.

The chief contention between the parties is in regard to the cash item of four thousand dollars claimed by the defendants. It appears that on the twenty-first day of June, 1881, the plaintiff gave to the defendants, his note for four thousand dollars, payable on the first day of the next January. The defendants claim that this was for a loan of money to the amount of the note, made at that time, and paid directly to the plaintiff; while he insists that it was for payments on his account to be made thereafter to his creditors by the defendants, and that the payment of two thousand, seven hundred and eighty-eight dollars and eighteen cents to Hall, and one thousand, three hundred and seventeen dollars and thirty-five cents to the Marengo Savings Bank, were made on account of that [283]*283loan. It is admitted that the Hall claim was paid by means of a draft sent to Hall, by Thomas C. Oarson, president of the Johnson County Savings Bank, at the request of the defendants. Carson’s letter of transmittal is dated June 8, 1881, and it is finally conceded in the record that it was of that date. The draft itself is dated “Jan. 8, 1881.” But no'one claims that it was sent on that date, nor on the third day of June. It was marked, “Paid Jan. 10, 1882,” and we are well satisfied that the other dates are due to clerical or typographical errors; that the draft, and letter transmitting it were dated “Jan. 8,-1881,” by mistake; that they were in fact written and sent on the third day of January, 1882. We understand, from the testimony .of the plaintiff, that the Plall note was not due for six months after his note for four thousand dollars was given to the defendants; and it appears to have been paid from the proceeds of cattle which are charged to the defendants under the date of Decembor 26, 1881. At the time the plaintiff made his note for four thousand dollars he gave a mortgage on certain live stock and crops, to secure its payment. That mortgage was subject to another given to secure the Plall claim.

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66 N.W. 170, 97 Iowa 279, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wolf-v-wolf-oakes-iowa-1896.