Ex parte Shepherd
Ex parte Shepherd
Opinion of the Court
This is an agreed case, submitted
The respective interests of the partners in the profit and loss of the business, it was agreed, should be as follows: F. A. Shepherd, 28 per cent; H. V. Hooper, 28 per cent -r W. H. Mitchell, 24 per cent; J. B. Richardson, 20 per cent.
At the termination of the partnership, on January 1, 1876, the books show the following condensed statement:
ASSETS.
*191 LIABILITIES.
“ The matter in dispute and for the decision of the chancellor,” says the agreed statement, “ is, What would be a proper disposition of the assets, as collected, after the-debts of the firm (not including the stock accounts) are all paid? Shall the amount withdrawn by each member of the firm be paid out of his stock account or his share of the-profits?”
The closing query is a little obscure, but, I presume, was-intended to direct the attention to the point of difficulty between the debtor and creditor partners. The meaning, I take it, is, Shall each partner be reimbursed his stock advanced, leaving his debt' to be paid out of the apparent profits; or shall the dividends, as made on the stock, be-applied to the payment of the debt of the partner who is-entitled to it? Thus put, it is difficult to see how there can be any other than one answer. For, the debt of one of the-partners, who has withdrawn more than he advanced, is-$9,882.47, to pay which, after reimbursing the stock account, would require the collection of the whole of the-(apparent) profit of $42,769.77 ; and if any fair proportion of it — say one-third, one-fourth, or even one-fifth — were-lost or not realized, the share of the debtor partner in the-profits would not pay his debt.
But the effect of a dissolution of a partnership is to-entitle each partner to have the business wound up as speedily as possible, and the assets appropriated in a certain settled order. In the first place, each partner has a lien.
A general partnership account in this case, upon the facts agreed, as of January 1, 1876, would show an apparent profit, in bills, notes, accounts, etc., not realizable in full for years, of $42,769.77, to be eventually divided between the partners, in the proportion agreed upon in the partnership contract. An individual account with each of the partners would show that two of them were indebted to the firm, and that the firm was largely indebted to the other two. The individual debts and credits, each carrying interest, as per agreement, at the rate of eight per cent per annum, the one may be set off against the other, as of that date. In this view, the real status of the firm and its members is this:
ASSETS.
*193 LIABILITIES.
The law would settle the rights of the parties upon this basis, under the facts agreed upon. And on this form of stating the accounts, the answer to the point submitted is clear. The assets as collected, after paying debts due to third persons, would be applied to returning to the partners in whose favor balances are found such balances, with interest. Subsequent collections would be profits, to be divided between all the partners, in the proportion fixed by the terms of the partnership. See Woods v. Scoles, L. R. 1 Ch. App. 369.
I am of opinion, therefore, stating the conclusions in the general terms of the submission, that a proper distribution of the firm assets as collected, after the payment of debts to third persons, would be to apply them in equalizing the partners in their stock accounts, and that the amounts withdrawn by each member of the firm should be paid out of his stock account, not out of his share of profits. Stated more specifically, I am of opinion that a partner who has drawn out more than he put in is not entitled to receive any thing until his copartners who have drawn less than they put in shall be fully reimbursed their advances, with interest, the stock account of each of the partners being set off as extinguished pro tanto by his indebtedness.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.