Chase v. Chase
Cases that cite this one
13 later published cases cite this decision.
- Housman v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue (2d Cir. 1939)
- Tommy Royal and Bernadette Costa, Individually and on Behalf of Similarly Situated Individuals v. Andrew Metcalf, Judgment Acquisitions Unlimited Inc., and Michael Zola (Massachusetts Superior Court 2025)
- CSX Transportation, Inc. v. Recovery Express, Inc. (District Court, D. Massachusetts 2006)
- Block v. D. W. Nicholson Corp. (Cal. Ct. App. 1947)
- Berwin v. Levenson (Mass. 1942)
- Stimson Mill Co. v. Hughes Manufacturing Co. (Cal. Ct. App. 1908)
- General Electric Capital Corp. v. MHPG, Inc. (Massachusetts Superior Court 2006)
- Bucklin v. National Shawmut Bank of Boston (Mass. 1969)
- George H. Gilbert Manufacturing Co. v. Goldfine (Mass. 1945)
- Davis v. Arnold (Mass. 1929)
- Cavanaugh Bros. Horse Co. v. Gaston (Mass. 1926)
- Tucker v. Columbian National Life Insurance (Mass. 1919)
- Kent v. Wilson (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1912)
This list shows which later cases cite this one. It does not say how they treated it, and no review of that has been done. Not a substitute for Shepard’s or KeyCite — verify before relying.
Opinion of the Court
We are of opinion in this case that an action at law cannot be maintained on an account stated. An account stated must be founded on previous transactions of a monetary character creating the relation of debtor and creditor. Lubbock v. Tribe, 3 M. & W. 607. Mellon v. Campbell, 11 Penn. St. 415. It cannot be made the instrument to create a liability where none before existed, but only determines the amount of a debt where liability exists. Austin v. Wilson, 33 N. Y. St. Rep. 503.
On the facts found by the auditor, there was no legal liability existing on the part of the defendant’s testator towards the plaintiff, on May 31, 1895, after the death of the mother; and the alleged promise of the defendant’s testator to share equally with the plaintiff the proceeds of the mother’s estate was without consideration and void.
If the property left by the will of the mother to the defendant’s testator absolutely can be shown by oral evidence to have been intended one half for the plaintiff, his remedy is in equity and not at law. Olliffe v. Wells, 130 Mass. 221. Dowd v. Tucker, 41 Conn. 197. Hooker v. Axford, 33 Mich. 453. Gilpatrick v. Glidden, 81 Maine, 137.
_Exceptions overruled.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.