Vinall v. Hendricks
Vinall v. Hendricks
Opinion of the Court
The appellant, who was the holder of two promissory notes which, with a number of others, were executed by the appellee William G. Hendricks, all being secured by the maker’s chattel mortgage on certain property purchased by him from the payee and mortgagee,
The interest of the appellant, except as against the appellee William G. Hendricks, the maker of the notes in suit, was an interest in the property in controversy, and was a separate interest, and not one held or claimed by him jointly with any of the appellees. It was proper to make parties to the appeal any of them whose interests would be affected by the judgment on appeal, but none of them were so joined in interest with the appellant in the decree as to require him to unite them with himself as appellants. By making them appellees they were placed in
The second reason assigned in the motion to dismiss the appeal relates to alleged insufficiency of the marginal notes upon certain pages of a bill of exceptions, where the testimony of two of the witnesses upon the trial is set out. Mo objection is suggested to the marginal notes upon other portions of the record, upon which a specification in the assignment of errors is based, for the consideration of which no reference to the evidence is necessary or proper. Whatever effect should be given to a partial inadequacy of marginal notes in a bill containing the evidence, in the consideration of an assignment of error requiring an examination of the evidence as a whole, or the testimony of particular witnesses, we can not regard it as sufficient ground for the dismissal of the appeal where there are assignments of error to be considered which do not involve an examination of any of the evidence. The motion to dismiss can not be sustained.
The court rendered a special finding, with four separately numbered conclusions of law, to each of which the appellant excepted. He has assigned hero that the court erred in its conclusions of law; thereby attacking the conclusions jointly and not separately.
The first conclusion, relating to the right of the appellant to recover on the two notes sued on by him, was wholly in his favor, and no objection to it has been suggested. Such an assignment of error can not avail unless all the conclusions of law be wrong. Saunders v. Montgomery, 143 Ind. 185; Jones v. Mayne, 154 Ind. 400; Chicago, etc., R. Co. v. State, ex rel., 158 Ind. 189.
The motion of the appellant for a new trial was overruled, and it is contended on his behalf that the decision,
The appellant is satisfied with those portions of the decree whereby his mortgage lien and that of the bank were foreclosed, and the latter was adjudged to be the superior
The somewhat desultory brief for the appellant seems to proceed upon the theory that the property, other than that embraced in the mortgages, which had been introduced and used in the printing establishment, should have been subjected to the mortgages; but, as we have seen, such additions were owned by strangers to the mortgages. They seem to have been sufficient for the purposes of a newspaper office, and with them Mary A. Hendricks had commenced the publication of two newspapers, her husband acting therein as her agent. The tangible mortgaged property still owned by him subject to the-mortgages had been separated and placed in another building. The owners of the property with which the new newspapers were printed, one of whom (Frank Hendricks) was not a party to the suit, could not be deprived of their title to their thus ascertained property by sale under this proceeding; nor could Mary A. Hendricks be enjoined from prosecuting a lawful business, using therein none of the mortgaged property. In view of the fact that the new newspapers were published by another than the mortgagor, and that property other than the
The court found that the good-will of the business was embraced in both of the mortgages. The appellant contends that the mortgage to the bank did not embrace the good-will, which was by that name embraced in the second mortgage; and, if we have rightly understood counsel for the appellant, they seem to contemplate the propriety of selling the tangible property separate from the good-will of the business, under the older mortgage, and then selling the good-will separately under the second mortgage. It is to be observed that in the mortgage of William G. Hendricks there was no agreement or stipulation that, upon the foreclosure and sale of the property mortgaged, he would not engage in the same business in the same city; and, furthermore, the new business, and the tangible property with which it was carried on, were not owned by the mortgagor, who occupied therein the relation of an employe of the owner. The complaint of the appellant proceeded upon the theory that the property of others introduced into the printing office was inseparable from the mortgaged property, and also upon the theory that William G. Hendricks transferred or pretended to transfer all of tire mortgaged property to Hendricks & Co., who still held it, neither of which theories was sustained by the facts.
In Seighman v. Marshall, 17 Md. 550, 569, it was held that the subscription list and good-will of a printing office were of inappreciable value, and of too uncertain and contingent a nature to be the subject of appraisement and estimation.
In Holden v. M’Makin, 1 Pars. Eq. Cas. (Pa.) 270, 301,
In Williams v. Farrand, 88 Mich. 473, 50 N. W. 446, 14 L. R. A. 161, it was said to be established by the clear weight of authority that though a retiring partner may have assigned his interest in the partnership business, including the good-will thereof, to his copartner, he may, in the absence of an express agreement to the contrary, éngage in the same line of business in the same locality, and in his own name. In the same case it was said: “Good-will may be said to be those intangible advantages or incidents which are impersonal, so far as the grantor is concerned, and attach to the thing conveyed. Where it consists of the advantages of location, it follows an assignment of a lease of that location. Again, it may not depend at all upon location, as in the case of a newspaper, and it would follow an assignment of all interest in the plant, property, effects, and business.” It was also said that the doctrine that a retiring partner, who has conveyed his interest in an established business, whether the good-will be included or not, can not personally solicit the customers of the old firm, has no support in principle; that he does not agree that the benefit derived from his connection with the old business shall continue, or that the old business shall continue to have the benefit of his name, reputation, or services, nor does he guarantee the continuance of that patronage which
In Cottrell v. Babcock, etc., Mfg. Co., 54 Conn. 122, 6 Atl. 791, it was held that the sale by one partner of a manufacturing firm to the other of the interest of the former in the property of the firm and the good-will of the business, does not preclude the seller from setting up a similar business in any place he chooses, and, by advertising, letters, and personal application, soliciting the custom of old customers of the firm, so long as he does not represent himself as the successor of the old firm, or represent the purchasing partner as not carrying on the business. It was held that, to warrant a court of equity in decreeing a restraint of trade, there must be a clear contract for such restraint.
In Marcus Ward & Co. v. Ward, 40 N. Y. St. Rep. 792, 15 N. Y. Supp. 913, it was held that a person who has sold his business and the good-will thereof to another, in the absence of an express agreement to the contrary, may lawfully apply to any of the customers of the old business and ask them to continue their custom with him.
It was held in Close v. Flesher, 8 Misc. (N. Y.) 299, 28 N. Y. Supp. 737, that upon the sale of a business and its good-will, without an agreement to refrain from establishing a similar business, there is no obligation to abstain from a rival business or.from soliciting the vendee’s customers and diverting his trade.
In Wiley v. Baumgardner, 97 Ind. 66, 49 Am. Rep. 427, it was said that where a person carrying on any business, sells his stock in trade or his business and the goodwill, and, in the transaction, agrees not to carry on the same business, with a limitation upon the restraint as to time, but none as to space, the agreement as to such restraint is wholly void.
In the mortgage given to the bank, no values were as
It appears that the mortgagor Hendricks was wholly insolvent, and was carrying on an unprofitable business. With property owned by his wife and brother, his wife commenced the publication of newspapers having names different from those of the old papers, the publication of which was ended by the mortgagor who thereupon placed all the mortgaged materials in storage, and offered to surrender the same to the holder of the senior mortgage. It does not appear but that the purchaser under the foreclosure might have continued the publication of the old newspapers with such materials, except that the press and engine, which had been sold with the consent of the mortgagees, were lacking, and substitutes therefor would be needed. Hendricks, the mortgagor, being insolvent, seems, to have desired to give up all of the mortgaged property which he held, and was in the employment of the proprietor of the new newspaper establishment; and she or her husband could not properly be restrained from carrying on her business, or from soliciting patronage from the patrons of the old office and newspapers. Therefore; upon the matters as to which the appellant regards the finding as not supported by the evidence, we are unable to find any reason for interference.
Judgment affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.