Layman v. Graybill
| Decision Date | 30 May 1860 |
| Citation | 14 Ind. 135 |
| Parties | Layman v. Graybill |
| Court | Indiana Supreme Court |
From the Montgomery Circuit Court.
The judgment is affirmed with 5 per cent. damages and costs.
J. E McDonald and S. C. Willson, for appellant.
L Wallace, for appellee.
The appellant, who was the plaintiff, sued Graybill upon a promissory note for the payment of 1,165 dollars. The note bears date January 2, 1856, was payable to W. H. Layman & Co., and was by them assigned to the plaintiff.
Defendant, in his answer, sets up these facts: On the 8th of June, 1856, he became a partner of Layman & Co., the payees of the note, in the business of selling groceries. The partnership agreement was in writing. Pursuant to that agreement, they, the defendant and said Layman & Co., established a grocery store at Ladoga, in Montgomery county, which was continued up to January 2, 1857, when W. H. Layman, one of the partners, proposed selling out to the defendant the interest of Layman & Co. in the establishment. At the time this proposal was made, he represented to defendant that Layman & Co. had furnished and put into said grocery store, moneys and goods to the amount of 1,965 dollars, in proof of which he then referred defendant to the ledger belonging to the establishment, and especially to an account which appears as an entry on page 2 of that ledger. Defendant, relying on said representations, agreed to purchase the interest of Layman & Co. in the grocery store, upon the following terms, viz.: He was to pay them for all the moneys and goods which they had put into the establishment; also 200 dollars as their share of the profits. And thereupon the defendant and W. H. Layman struck a balance sheet, as between the partners in said store, upon the basis of the entry on page 2 of said ledger, and the above terms of sale. And upon said balance sheet being struck, it showed a balance in favor of Layman & Co. of 1,165 dollars, for which the defendant, relying upon said representations, as corroborated by the entry in the ledger, executed the note in suit. It is averred that defendant, after the execution of the note, discovered that the above representations of W. H. Layman, and also the entry and account in the ledger, on the second page thereof, were false and fraudulent in this, that said entry and account shows an item designated capital stock, amounting to 760 dollars 65 cents, which purports to be, and is, entered as so much capital stock furnished said grocery establishment by Layman & Co., when, in point of fact they never did furnish the same, or any part thereof, either in cash or merchandise; and hence said item of 760 dollars 65 cents, ought not to have been counted in the balance struck between the parties, under the contract of sale above recited; but the same was so counted, and having been fraudulently included in said note, ought, therefore, to be deducted from it. As to the balance of the note, viz., 454 dollars 75 cents, there was no answer.
Plaintiff replied by a general traverse. Before entering upon the trial, the plaintiff as to the balance of said note not controverted by the answer, moved for an interlocutory judgment, which motion the Court sustained. The cause was then submitted to a jury, who found for the plaintiff 487...
To continue reading
Request your trial