Partridge v. Pidgeon
Partridge v. Pidgeon
Opinion of the Court
In the declaratory judgment causes, appellant Joseph A. Pidgeon assigns as error the affirmance by the Court of Appeals of the trial court’s holding that the surviving partners have a right and obligation to purchase shares of the deceased partner’s interest in amounts disproportionate to percentages of interests already owned by such surviving partners; and the affirmance by the Court of Appeals of the trial court’s holding that, in the event the executors elect that the interest of the deceased partner should remain in the business, such executors shall have all the voting rights that the father had during his lifetime.
The executors, having filed cross-appeals in this court, assign as error the affirmance by the Court of Appeals of the
We are of the opinion that the assignments of error of appellant Joseph A. Pidgeon are well taken.
Prom the time they came into the business, the sons gave all their time and attention to it. They received no salaries but were only rewarded by the distributive share of the profits. It is true that their share of the profits was out of proportion to their share of the ownership of the business, but that was the reward for their continuous efforts. On the other hand, the daughter had only a two per cent interest. Her share of the profits was limited to the two per cent, and, as between the partners, she was liable for only two per cent of the losses. She had little to do with the business, except for a few months as an employee on a salary.
Although no mention is made in the partnership agreement as to the proportionate amounts of a decedent’s interest the surviving partners may purchase, it seems inconceivable that it could have been the intention in the agreement to give the daughter a right to purchase an equal amount with the sons, in the light of the fact that her interest came to her by inheritance from her mother, with a trifle added to make it an even two per cent, whereas the sons acquired most of their interests by purchase and by their lifetime efforts contributed so greatly to making the business a success.
It is true that under the partnership agreement the daughter had an equal vote with each of the other partners in the important affairs of the company, but it seems to us that such fact would not outweigh the greatly superior equities in the sons to have the privilege of keeping all the remaining interests in the partnership in the same proportion as they had been prior to the father’s death.
With reference to the voting rights of the executors, there is nothing in the partnership agreement concerning them, and, in our opinion, without express authority the executors do not have such rights.
The agreement provides that upon the death of a partner
As to the assignment of error of the executors in their cross-appeals, it is their claim that under the partnership agreement they have an option to remain in the partnership or not to remain, and that they have a right to exercise the option not to remain, in which event the surviving partners have no right to purchase the decedent’s interest, and such interest passes under the will of the father.
We do not so interpret the partnership agreement.
Where it says that the decedent’s interest may, at the option of his executors, remain in the partnership for the five-year period, but upon the request of the executors, or at the end of five years, the interest must be taken over by the surviving partners, it conveys the meaning that the interest is in the partnership at the decedent’s death, that it stays there for five years unless the executors exercise their option to require the surviving partners to purchase the interest under the terms of the contract, which must be purchased, in any event, after the expiration of the five years if the executors have not exercised the option to require the purchase prior to that time. The interest is already in the business. It remains there for five years if nothing is done, and the option refers to the right of the executors to require a purchase of the interest prior to the end of the five-year period.
In the will construction cause, the appellant Joseph A. Pidgeon claims that the Court of Appeals erred in affirming the trial court’s holding that the accrued distributive earnings from the interest owned by the father from July 1, 1953, to his death on February 2, 1954, less his withdrawals, are a part of the
The executors, in their cross-appeals, claim that the Court of Appeals erred in affirming the holding of the Probate Court that the bequest of the father’s interest in the partnership is subject to the rights and duties in the father’s surviving partners, as evidenced by the partnership agreement, as such rights and duties were determined in the declaratory judgment causes.
The daughter filed assignments of error to the effect that the court erred in holding that the sons have the right to receive and retain the purchase price or consideration to be given for the father’s partnership interest.
Motions were filed to strike such assignments of error, for the reason that the daughter had not filed a notice of appeal.
In view of the conclusion at which we have arrived, it is not necessary to discuss those motions, and, therefore, for the purposes herein, the motions are overruled.
With reference to the assignments of error of appellant
We have already discussed the assignment of errors relied upon by the executors and have found it to be not well taken.
With reference to the assignment of error of the daughter, namely, that the court below erred in holding that the sons have the right to receive and retain the purchase price or consideration to be given for the father’s interest, the daughter’s claim is that under item VI of the will the sons are bequeathed a specific thing, that is, all the right, title and interest in the assets of the partnership, that is to say, the father’s percentage ownership thereof, and that this bequest could not be transferred tó the sons because it was controlled by the partnership contract.
With this proposition we are in accord.
The daughter then contends that, since the bequest can not pass to the sons under the will and since the bequest is a specific thing, when the specific thing is sold under the terms of the contract, the proceeds can not go to the sons for the reason that they are not the property bequeathed. As a matter of fact, the daughter really claims that the bequest to the sons has been adeemed.
We are of the opinion that the courts below were correct in holding that there was no such ademption. An ademption takes place where a thing bequeathed is not in existence at the time of the decease of the testator, or where a testator in his
It follows that tbe lower courts were correct in following tbe rule that where property which is tbe subject of a specific bequest is in existence at testator’s death, but subject to an agreement to purchase, which option is exercised, no ademption results, and tbe legatee is entitled to receive the proceeds of tbe sale of tbe property in lieu of tbe specific property.
Accordingly, we affirm tbe judgments of tbe Court of Appeals so far as they bold that tbe will of tbe father is subject to tbe partnership agreement, and that the proceeds of any sale of tbe father’s interest to tbe surviving partners pass to tbe sons under tbe father’s will.
However, we reverse tbe judgments of tbe court so far as they bold that tbe sons and daughter each has a right under tbe partnership agreement to purchase equal shares of tbe lather’s partnership interest, but bold that their purchases must be in proportion to their present interests in the partnership.
We further reverse tbe judgments of tbe court below so far as they bold that tbe executors must make a specific election to remain in tbe partnership, that they have tbe right to vote as long as they do remain therein, or that tbe earnings of tbe partnership interest of tbe deceased father pass under tbe residual clause of tbe father’s will.
Further, tbe causes are remanded to tbe Probate Court for further proceedings in accordance with tbis opinion.
Judgments accordingly.
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting. My inability to agree with the majority herein results from a difference of opinion in tbe interpretation of tbe rights of tbe executors under tbe partnership agreements.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.