Nadel v. Weber Bros. Shoe Co.
| Decision Date | 26 October 1915 |
| Citation | 70 Fla. 218,70 So. 20 |
| Parties | NADEL et al. v. WEBER BROS. SHOE CO. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Appeal from Circuit Court, Lee County; F. A. Whitney, Judge.
Suit by the Weber Bros. Shoe Company, a corporation, against Rose Nadel and another. Demurrer overruled, and defendants appeal. Reversed.
See also, 70 So. 23.
Syllabus by the Court
A married woman is not personally bound by any contract made by her partner in a mercantile business, nor do the partnership debts incurred by her partner in the transaction of the partnership business become a charge upon her separate property.
A married woman's disability of coverture is removed by section 2, art. 11, of the Constitution of 1885, to the extent that she may assume an obligation for the purchase price of property and such obligation may be enforced out of her separate property.
A married woman who has acquired an interest in a mercantile business may, by her own act, upon her sole credit, purchase merchandise for the business, and for the purchase price of such goods her separate property may be subjected in equity.
If a married woman's separate property is sought to be subjected in equity to the payment of the price of goods purchased through her agent, the agent's authority should be clearly and specifically alleged in the bill.
Upon a demurrer to an original and supplemental bill, the allegations of the two bills will be considered together.
Randell & Lawler, of Ft. Myers, for appellants.
Walter O. Sheppard, of Ft. Myers, for appellee.
Weber Bros. Shoe Company, a corporation, filed its bill in equity against Rose Nadel and her husband, A. G Nadel, for the purpose of subjecting certain real property of Rose Nadel owned by her as her separate statutory property and described in the bill, and certain personal property alleged to be owned by Rose Nadel and C. L. Johnson in a mercantile business conducted by them under the name of the 'Quality Shop,' at Ft. Myers, Fla., to the payment of a debt alleged to be due to the complainant corporation for goods shipped by it to the Quality Shop, which the bill alleges was the 'firm name and style' of a business in which Rose Nadel was jointly interested with 'one C L. Johnson' who was not made a party to the bill.
The bill alleges that, at the time it was filed, the Quality Shop had a stock of goods of the estimated value of $5,000, and that Rose Nadel had an undivided half interest therein, and that such interest was under the control of her husband, A. G. Nadel, who was her agent in fact and in law. It is alleged that in February, 1914, Rose Nadel, through her husband as her agent in fact and in law, contracted with the complainant for the purchase of the goods, which were shipped to her and received and accepted by the Quality Shop, and that the complainant shipped the goods as stated, relying on the promise of Rose Nadel, through her husband A. G. Nadel, to pay for the same. A list of the goods sold by the complainant is attached to the bill of complaint as 'Exhibit A' and made a part of the bill. This list shows that the goods were sold by the 'Weber Bros. Shoe Company' to the 'Quality Shop, Ft. Myers, Fla.' The bill alleges specifically that Rose Nadel is a married woman and interested in the said business, the Quality Shop, together with one C. L. Johnson, and with her husband, A. G. Nadel, as 'agent and manager of said business.'
In another paragraph of the bill it is alleged that:
Such 'goods and chattels were purchased by the said Rose Nadel for the use and sale in the said business known as the Quality Shop, and that such goods were sold to her in a good faith and on her credit and her representation as to the ownership of the said property both real and personal,' and that the 'goods were shipped to the said Rose Nadel operating under the firm name and style of the Quality Shop, located in the city of Ft. Myers, Lee county, Fla., and were received by the said defendants, and they then and there promised' the complainant 'to pay for the same.'
The bill prays for an accounting to ascertain the amount due to complainant by Rose Nadel trading under the name of the Quality Shop; that such amount be paid by Rose Nadel within a short time to be named by the court; and that, in default of the payment of such indebtedness by her, her interest in the personal property of the business as well as her real property be sold or the rents, issues, and profits thereof sequestrated to satisfy the complainant's claim. $About four months after the filing of the original bill, the complainant filed its supplemental bill of complaint against the defendants, in which it was alleged that, since the filing of the original bill, there had been a 'dissolution of the partnership relations existing between the defendant Rose Nadel' and 'C. L. Johnson, and that the partnership property' had been divided between them, and that Rose Nadel had in her possession and control 'by and under and through the management of her husband, A. G. Nadel, a certain stock of shoes, hats, shirts,' etc., and that she held the goods free from any claims of C. L. Johnson, her former partner in the business then known as the Quality Shop. It was further alleged that the partnership was dissolved by mutual consent on the 1st day of January, 1915, and that C. L. Johnson had agreed to settle the indebtedness of the former firm, but the complainant had not agreed to nor accepted such offer, nor released Rose Nadel, nor the property from the payment of the debt. The bill prays that the 'said personal property, consisting of the stock of goods' located in a certain building in Ft. Myers, may be subjected to the payment of the complainant's claim. It is alleged in the original bill that the real estate as well as the interest of Rose Nadel in the mercantile business was her separate statutory property, and in the supplemental bill that the personal property consisting of part of the merchandise stock of the Quality Shop which came to her upon the dissolution of the partnership is her separate statutory property.
The defendants interposed a demurrer to the original and supplemental bills, on the grounds, among others, that the bills were without equity, and set forth no facts which entitled the complainant to the relief sought; that it was not alleged that the credit was given solely to the defendant Rose Nadel upon the faith of her 'separate statutory estate'; that the bills sought to subject a married woman's separate statutory property to the debts of a partnership business; that the supplemental bill was bad because the original bill states no cause that could be sustained in equity; and that the supplemental bill failed to set forth any contract on the part of the married woman and alleged that the...
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Craven v. Hartley
... ... separate property. Nadel v. Weber Bros. Shoe Co., 70 ... Fla. 218, 70 So. 20, L. R. A. 1916D, ... ...
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Kerman's v. Strobhar
...was harmless error here, as the answers and evidence of the defendants supplied this omission. It was held by this court in Nadel v. Weber Bros. Shoe Co., supra, in a well-considered opinion by Mr. Justice Ellis, that married woman's disability of coverture was removed by section 2 of artic......
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Pierson v. Reinhardt
... ... construction to article 11 is the case of Nadel v ... Weber, 70 Fla. 218, 70 So. 20, L. R. A. 1916D, 1230, in ... which ... ...
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