Bielenberg v. Higgins
| Decision Date | 13 May 1929 |
| Docket Number | 6456. |
| Citation | 277 P. 631,85 Mont. 56 |
| Parties | BIELENBERG v. HIGGINS et al. |
| Court | Montana Supreme Court |
Rehearing Denied June 4, 1929.
Appeal from District Court, Powell County; George B. Winston, Judge.
Action by Claude N. Bielenberg, as special administrator of the estate of Nicholas J. Bielenberg, deceased, against W. I Higgins and another. Judgment for defendants, and plaintiff appeals. Reversed and remanded, with directions.
This is an appeal from a judgment entered in favor of defendants after demurrers to plaintiff's amended complaint were sustained.
The material allegations of the amended complaint are as follows That Nicholas J. Bielenberg and W. I. Higgins each owned an undivided one-half interest in a group of mining claims in Madison county, and during and prior to the year 1917 they were engaged in working the claims under the partnership name of Bielenberg & Higgins; that no mining operations have been conducted by the partnership since 1917, but the partners have been engaged in efforts to sell the property and to liquidate the partnership liabilities; that prior to November 23, 1917, the partnership became indebted to Larabie Bros Bankers, at Deer Lodge, on account of the mining operations, and on that date the partnership, and the individual members thereof, executed a demand note to Larabie Bros., Bankers, in the sum of $111,000; that on May 21, 1918, Nicholas J. Bielenberg executed and delivered his demand note to the same bank for $15,000 to evidence a loan then made for the use of the partnership; that on October 17, 1917, Higgins made and delivered his demand note to the same bank in the sum of $29,000 to evidence an indebtedness then owing by him individually to the bank, and that Nicholas J. Bielenberg signed that note as accommodation maker; that on November 8, 1919, Nicholas J. Bielenberg gave a deed to a certain described lot in Butte, with improvements, to Larabie Bros., Bankers; that the deed was by the parties intended as a mortgage to secure the payment of the notes above mentioned; that on December 15, 1920, Nicholas J. Bielenberg and W. I. Higgins entered into an agreement, as follows:
"This agreement entered into this 15th day of Dec. 1920, between N. J. Bielenberg and W. I. Higgins is to the following effect. That for & in consideration of $1.00 in hand paid and other valuable consideration the receipt of which is hereby acknowledged that the said N. J. Bielenberg & W. I. Higgins do hereby agree to sell & convey the Bear Gulch property for a sum sufficient to pay off the indebtedness of Bielenberg & Higgins & W. I. Higgins, Claude N. Bielenberg, W. B. Rodgers, Bert C. Paige & S. P. Wilson and any and all moneys in excess of an amount sufficient to pay off the aforenamed obligations for which the property is sold is to be divided share & share alike between the said W. I. Higgins & N. J. Bielenberg. Dated this 15th day of Dec. 1920.
Witness: ---------- [Signed] ----------
W. I. Higgins. N. J. Bielenberg.
2. The purpose of this agreement is that the property shall be sold for enough to liquidate the mortgage given by N. J. Bielenberg to Larabie Bros. to secure the indebtedness of Bielenberg & Higgins & W. I. Higgins the approximate amount of said indebtedness being $125,000.00 and also any interest that may accrue on said mortgage from date until date of sale final settlement. The amount of the indebtedness of Claude N. Bielenberg above referred to is $6,000.00 with interest at 8% from date of issuance of his check to Bielenberg & Higgins which was about 1916 to 1918.
Witness Alma M. Higgins
Claude N. Bielenberg."
That the "Bear Gulch property" referred to in the agreement was mining property of the partnership; the indebtedness of Bielenberg and Higgins was that represented by the notes of $111,000 and $15,000, respectively; the indebtedness of W. I. Higgins was that represented by the $29,000 note; the Claude N. Bielenberg indebtedness was the sum of $6,000 advanced by him to the partnership in 1917; and the indebtedness of W. B. Rodgers, Bert G. Paige, and S. P. Wilson has all been paid with the exception of a balance of $500 due to the estate of W. B. Rodgers, deceased; that the mortgage therein referred to was the mortgage upon the Butte property to Larabie Bros., Bankers, in the form of a deed; that the indebtedness above mentioned constituted all the then existing indebtedness of the partnership except sums theretofore advanced to the partnership by N. J. Bielenberg; that the agreement constituted a settlement of the affairs of the partnership as between the partners, and was so acted upon by them; that after the making of the agreement, in order to prevent a foreclosure of the mortgage and the sale of the mining property, N. J. Bielenberg made payments on behalf of the partnership upon the indebtedness by paying the $15,000 note, with $3,776 interest, on February 2, 1921, and by paying on the $111,000 note $56,224 on February 2, 1921, $12,000 on February 17, 1921, $3,938.66 on March 23, 1921, and $1,139 on January 22, 1924; that in 1923 Larabie Bros., Bankers, commenced action against the partnership and N. J. Bielenberg and W. I. Higgins personally, and obtained a judgment for the foreclosure of the mortgage on the Butte property; that, in order to prevent a sale of the property covered by the judgment in that action, N. J. Bielenberg satisfied and extinguished the judgment, by the payment of sums in excess of $75,000; that none of the money paid out by him for the partnership has been repaid; that none of the money due to him from W. I. Higgins on account of the $29,000 note and judgment entered thereon has been repaid; that on July 6, 1927, N. J. Bielenberg died and Claude N. Bielenberg was by order of court appointed, and thereafter qualified as special administrator of his estate and is the holder of said claims for the use and benefit of the estate; that on September 23, 1925, in pursuance of the agreement of December 15, 1920, N. J. Bielenberg and W. I. Higgins and wife executed and delivered to Mohave Mining Company a lease and option upon the partnership mining property, and placed a deed in escrow with the defendant bank conveying the property to the Mohave Mining Company, to be delivered to it upon making the payments in accordance with the lease and option; that under the lease and option the moneys accruing thereunder are required to be paid to the defendant bank; that in violation of the agreement of December 15, 1920, the defendant Higgins has withdrawn from the defendant bank one-half of the moneys paid to it by the Mohave Mining Company; that said sums have not been applied upon the partnership indebtedness, but have been appropriated by Higgins to his own use; that defendant Higgins is insolvent except as to his interest in the mining property here involved; that the mining property referred to constitutes the only property of the partnership known to plaintiff; that the sums advanced by deceased to the mining partnership constitute a lien upon the interest of W. I. Higgins in the mining property; and that this action is necessary to preserve the estate of deceased.
The prayer of the complaint is for judgment for one-half of the sums advanced by deceased for the partnership, together with interest; that the debts of the partnership to third persons be paid out of the proceeds of the sale of the mining property; that plaintiff be decreed to have a lien upon the interest of defendant Higgins in the mining property on account of the one-half of the advances made by N. J. Bielenberg for the partnership; for foreclosure of the lien subject to the rights of the Mohave Mining Company; that defendant bank be directed to apply all moneys received from the lease and option to the payment of the indebtedness; and that defendant Higgins be required to pay plaintiff all sums of money withdrawn by him from the defendant bank on account of moneys paid to the bank by the Mohave Mining Company.
To the amended complaint the defendant bank interposed a general demurrer, and the defendant Higgins interposed a general and special demurrer. Both demurrers were sustained and judgment rendered for defendants. In the brief of plaintiff no argument is presented questioning the correctness of the ruling sustaining the demurrer of the defendant bank, and we have treated this assignment of error as waived. The correctness of the court's order sustaining the demurrer of the defendant Higgins is the only question presented on this appeal.
1. The first ground of the demurrer of the defendant Higgins is that there is another action pending between plaintiff and defendant Higgins for the same cause. Since it does not appear from the amended complaint that there is another action pending between the same parties for the same cause, this ground of the demurrer is without merit. Marcellus v. Wright, 51 Mont. 559, 154 P. 714.
2. The second ground of the demurrer is that the amended complaint does not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action. Defendant contends that, if any cause of action ever existed, it is barred by limitations, and that this appears from the complaint and can be raised by demurrer. With this we do not agree.
Section 9065, Revised Codes 1921, provides that "the objection that the action was not commenced within the time limited can be taken only by answer." That this objection can be raised only by answer has become the settled law of this state (Parchen v. Chessman, 49 Mont. 326, 142 P 631, 146 P. 469, Ann. Cas. 1916A, 681; State ex rel. Kolbow v. District Court, 38 Mont. 415, 100 P. 207; Grogan v. Valley Trading Co., 30 Mont. 229, 76 P. 211), and the defendant must sustain the burden of proving it as alleged (Williams v....
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