Jones v. Anheuser-Busch Brewing Ass'n

• Decision Date: 03 July 1916
• Docket Number: No. 17372.,17372.
• Citation: 188 S.W. 82
• Parties: JONES v. ANHEUSER-BUSCH BREWING ASS'N et al.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

188 S.W. 82

JONES v. ANHEUSER-BUSCH BREWING ASS'N et al.

No. 17372.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 1.

July 3, 1916.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Jasper County.

Action by A. S. Jones against the Anheuser-Busch Brewing Association and others. From a judgment for plaintiff, the named defendant appeals. On transfer from the Springfield Court of Appeals. Cause transferred to the Springfield Court of Appeals.

Clay & Davis, of Joplin, for appellant. J. B. Cole, of Joplin, for respondent.

BLAIR, J.

The Springfield Court of Appeals transferred this cause to this court on the ground that a constitutional question was involved. This was done on motion to transfer after an opinion had been filed. The suit was begun in the Jasper circuit court.

The petition alleges that: Respondent and four others formed a partnership under the name of the Joplin Liquor Company, each paying $1,500 into the partnership fund. One of the partners, Edelstein, was unable to pay, and respondent paid for him. This sum has not been repaid. Edelstein has collected and retained about $400 of the firm's money. The firm owes $900. All members of the partnership, except respondent, are nonresidents of Missouri, and, except Edelstein, have no property in Missouri. The partners, except respondent, have abandoned the business of the firm and left respondent to meet its obligations and expenses. Edelstein is insolvent, and "heretofore caused to be shipped to Joplin, Mo., in care of said firm" a carload of beer. The beer was shipped by the Anheuser-Busch Brewing Company over the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway, and delivered to respondent, who was the only member of the firm authorized to receive the same. Said consignor (appellant) and carrier "make some claim to said shipment and to the proceeds thereof, the exact character of which claim is to this plaintiff unknown, and severally threaten plaintiff with suit and litigation for the value thereof." Plaintiff resides in Jasper county, Mo. An accounting should be ordered between the partners, and Edelstein, appellant, and the railway company should be "summoned or ordered to show what interest, if any, they have in the item, in such accounting, to such shipment or the proceeds thereof." Respondent is embarrassed and harassed by the conflicting claims of defendants, is unable to determine their respective rights without a multiplicity of suits, and has no adequate remedy at law. The prayer is for an adjudication of the rights of appellant and the railway and an accounting of the partnership and its dissolution. This is a sufficient statement of the allegations of the petition for the purposes of the decision. Edelstein and the other nonresident partners were personally served with process in Oklahoma, the state of their residence. In due time the railway company filed an answer disclaiming interest. Appellant moved to quash the writ and return on the ground the disclaimer of the railway, and Edelstein's nonresidence deprived the court of jurisdiction to proceed against it. This was overruled, and appellant then demurred, setting up: (1) Misjoinder of defendants; (2) misjoinder of causes of action; (3) failure of the petition to state a cause of action. The demurrer was overruled, and appellant...