Papineau v. Naumkeag Steam Cotton Co.
| Decision Date | 10 March 1879 |
| Citation | 126 Mass. 372 |
| Parties | Louis J. Papineau v. Naumkeag Steam Cotton Company |
| Court | United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court |
Argued November 6, 1878
Essex. Contract for money had and received. Answer, a general denial. At the trial in the Superior Court, before Brigham C. J., the plaintiff offered to prove the following facts:
On June 9, 1874, Peter Pelletier brought an action by trustee process against Joseph Couillard, who was then in the employ of the defendant corporation. At that time Pelletier was indebted to the plaintiff in this action; and, by an agreement between the parties, it was arranged that Pelletier should discontinue the trustee suit, and Couillard should settle the accounts between himself and Pelletier, and between Pelletier and the plaintiff, by paying the costs of the trustee suit ($ 5) and $ 38 directly to the plaintiff. Couillard, in accordance with this agreement, executed an order addressed to the treasurer of the defendant corporation, requesting him to pay the $ 5 on the first day of July, and the residue to the plaintiff in this action, in specified installments on the first day of each following month.
This order was signed by Couillard in the defendant's office in the presence of the clerk of the defendant corporation who acted as paymaster and usually took charge of all such orders and assignments, and who immediately thereupon paid the first installment of five dollars to the payee. The order was not recorded, but left with the defendant's clerk who kept it, saying he would take charge of it, and if there was no trouble about it he would pay it, or words to that effect; and he then attached it to the copy of the writ in the trustee suit, and filed both away among the defendant's papers. Subsequently, as each pay-day occurred, the plaintiff called at the office of the defendant and made demand of the clerk for the payment of the installments as they fell due, but was refused payment. When the whole sum was due, the plaintiff was told by the clerk that the money had been collected of Couillard out of his wages, according to the terms of the order, and put into a separate envelope marked with the plaintiff's name, and the money and envelope were shown to the plaintiff; but the clerk further said that the money could not be paid over to him. The plaintiff asked if anybody had attached the money, and was told that nothing of that kind had been done. The plaintiff then again demanded the money of the defendant, but was again refused; he then demanded the order, but that also was refused him.
The judge ruled that, upon these facts, the plaintiff could not maintain his action in the present form, if at all,...
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...assent was necessary to give it any validity even as an assignment. Gibson v. Cooke, 20 Pick. 16.” Papineau v. Naumkeag Steam Cotton Co., 126 Mass. 372, was an action of contract, and the court say: “The order of Couillard on the defendant in favor of the plaintiff was not an order for the ......
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