Funk v. Young
Funk v. Young
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
This was an action of assumpsit by Emil Funk against Mahlon A. Young, who was a copartner with Frederick G. Emmott, trading as Emmott Tea & Coffee Company. In his statement of claim plaintiff averred that, between May 31, and November 16., 1907, at the request of Emmott, he loaned to the firm various sums of money aggregating |2,145, which had not been repaid to him, and for which he brought this suit. Defendant in his affidavit of defense denied that between the dates mentioned in the statement any partnership existed between himself and Emmott, and also denied that the money was loaned to the firm, or used in the firm business. He further alleged that the claim was res adjudicata. On the trial, it appeared from the evidence that the money was advanced by plaintiff upon the dates set forth in the statement. Both plaintiff and Emmott testified that the loans were made to the partnership and were intended
On July 28, 1910, judgment was entered on the two judgment notes, against both partners, but the court struck off the judgment against the present defendant. Plaintiff then brought an action of assumpsit against him to recover the amount of the two judgment notes, and obtained judgment against him. On appeal to this court, the judgment was reversed, as reported in Funk v. Young, 241 Pa. 72, on the ground that a partner has no implied power to bind his copartner personally by a note under seal, with power of attorney to confess judgment. On May 29,1913, the present suit was brought to recover the amount of the original loans. The trial judge held that the judgment in the former case was not a bar to this suit, and refused a request for binding instructions in favor of defendant. He submitted the case to the jury to determine whether the loan had been made to the partnership or to Emmott individually, and whether plaintiff had any knowledge or reason to believe that Emmott intended to appropriate the money to other than partnership purposes. The jury determined both of these questions in favor of plaintiff and returned a verdict for the full amount of his claim, with interest. A motion for judgment n. o. v. was dismissed by the court in banc, and judgment was entered on the verdict. Defendant has appealed, and his counsel argue that the judgment in the former suit between these same parties, was an adjudication of the question here raised. That contention is answered by the opinion of this court in that case, Funk v. Young, 241 Pa. 72. Our Brother Mestrezat there said (p. 75): “The action was assump
Counsel for appellant further contends that the former judgment is a bar to the present suit, because, even if plaintiff did not include in his first suit his claim for money loaned, he might have done so, and is -therefore concluded by the judgment. We cannot accept this suggestion as sound. Had there been any cause of action upon the notes, it would have been separate and distinct from, and subsequent to, that upon the claim for money loaned. The two causes would not have existed at the same time, as the claim for money loaned would have passed into the claim upon the notes. If defendant had been liable on the judgment notes, he would not have been liable upon account of the loans. But if, as was the case, he never became liable upon the judgment notes, then his liability upon the loans remained, and was unaffected. Counsel relies on the decision in Roney v. Westlake, 216 Pa. 374, 378, from which he quotes a paragraph which concludes: “A party cannot try his action in parts. The judgment is conclusive, not only of the matters contested, but as to every other thing within the knowledge of the complainant which might have been set up as a ground for relief in the first suit.” This language is, however, part of a quotation from 1 Freeman on Judgments, Section 272, p. 494, which quotation contains also the following sentence: “If the claim is specifically embraced in the pleadings, the presumption is, that it was presented at the trial, and considered in the rendition of the judgment.” Our rule in Pennsylvania was stated by Mr. Chief Justice Woodward in Converse v. Colton, 49 Pa. 346, 352, and repeated by Mr. Justice Green in Haviland v. Fidelity Ins. Trust & Safe Dep. Co., 108 Pa. 236, 244, as follows:
The assignments of error are overruled, and the judgment is affirmed.
Reference
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- Partnerships — PaHnership loan — Judgment note by one partner —Suit on note — Subsequent action against other partner — Defenses —Bes adjudicata — Case for jury. 1. It is only when the merits have been passed upon, or from the course of pleadings and trial they might have been passed upon, that a judgment sustains a plea of former recovery and bars a subsequent suit. 2. A partner has no implied power to bind his copartner personally by a note under seal with power of attorney to confess judgment, and, in a suit on such note, although given for a loan to the partnership, recovery can be had only against the partner who executed it; but §uch judgment is not a bar to a subsequent action, not on the note, against the other partner for the amount of the loan. 3. In an action against a member of a partnership for money loaned to another member of the partnership for the use of the firm, it appeared that such other partner had given judgment notes under seal as security for the loan, and that in an action on the notes judgment was entered in favor of the member who did not sign them. Defendant contended that the former, action on the notes was a bar to the subsequent action for the money loaned the firm. Held, that as defendant in the subsequent action could never have been held liable in the former action, the decision in the former action was not res adjudicata and the ease was properly submitted to the jury.