Scott v. Tupper
Scott v. Tupper
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
This is an appeal from an order of the chancery court, dissolving the injunction in the cause.
On the 30th April, 1840, Charles J. Searles made an assignment to Tupper & Rollins, in the following words: “ The foregoing claims, amounting to $36,891 66, I, Charles J. Searles, in behalf of myself, and as surviving partner of the late firm of J. Silverberg & Co. and Searles & Yanderherst, and in behalf of the late firm of M. Yanderherst & Co., do hereby transfer to Tupper & Rollins, to be collected, and the first proceeds of which are to be applied in the payment of all their liabilities, by way of acceptances and otherwise, for me, and the late firms of
The bill charges that this assignment is fraudulent and void, and that it was made for the benefit of Searles, and of Burk, Watt & Co. It charges that Tupper & Rollins will collect the said debts, and misapply the proceeds; prays for an injunction to restrain the further collection of the debts so assigned, and for a decree for a delivery of the¡ claims to the complainant.
The bill also charges that there was an agreement at the time of the dissolution of the firm of J. Silverberg & Co., which occurred a few months before the death of Silverberg, that he alone should have authority to settle the partnership affairs; but this is denied by the answer, and is not proven.
The answers deny all fraud in the assignment, or otherwise, land allege that the liabilities of Tupper & Rollins had been incurred by the request of both the partners ; and that the assignment was made to relieve them from those liabilities.
The injunction was dissolved. It is now insisted that this order was erroneous, because some of the debts for which the assignment was made, were the individual debts of Searles, or were altered in their form by him, by renewal or otherwise, after the dissolution. It is no doubt true, that the power of a partner to bind the firm, ceases with the dissolution. It is equally true that the surviving partner cannot transfer the partnership effects to pay a debt of his own; neither can he apiply the effects of one firm, to pay the debts of a different firm. The assignee taking the effects under such circumstances, with notice, would be but a trustee for the benefit of those really entitled. The personal representatives of the deceased partner have a right to insist upon the application of the joint property,
It was in the power of Searles, as surviving partner, to assign the choses in action due to the firms for the payment of the debts due from them respectively, and to assign the debts due to himself, for the payment of his own debts. It would have tended to avoid confusion, if the assignment had more plainly designated the several classes of debts, and the several objects to which they were to be applied. It is for the complainant to show a misapplication of the funds, in order to sustain the injunction. He has not done so, and, in the absence of such showing, we cannot interfere with the order of dissolution. That being the only matter appealed from, the order is affirmed, and the cause remanded.
The counsel for appellant filed a petition for a rehearing in this case. It was not granted.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.