Parker v. Southern Ruralist Co.
| Decision Date | 20 October 1914 |
| Docket Number | 5699. |
| Citation | 83 S.E. 158,15 Ga.App. 334 |
| Parties | PARKER v. SOUTHERN RURALIST CO. |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
Syllabus by the Court.
Where a promissory note, signed in the trade-name of a partnership by a member and the manager of the firm, is given by him to a creditor, who accepts it in settlement of an account due by the partnership, the members of the firm, notwithstanding there has been a dissolution of the partnership, are bound by the note, if the creditor receives it without notice of the dissolution.
Where the defendant's evidence shows that a letter was written and duly mailed, properly addressed to the plaintiff, a presumption arises that the letter was received; but this presumption is successfully rebutted, when there is uncontradicted evidence of the plaintiff that the letter was never received, unless the presumption is supported by such aliunde evidence that the letter was in fact received as is sufficient to raise an issue as to the credibility of the positive testimony that it was not received by the addressee.
Error from City Court of Macon; Robert Hodges, Judge.
Action by the Southern Ruralist Company against the Champion Manufacturing Company and others. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant T. C. Parker brings error. Affirmed.
J. E Hall and John R. L. Smith, both of Macon, for plaintiff in error.
Hardeman Jones, Park & Johnston, of Macon, for defendant in error.
The Southern Ruralist Company brought a suit against the Champion Manufacturing Company, C. C. Brown, and T. C. Parker, upon two notes, for $112 each, signed, " and dated December 26, 1911. The suit was defended only by T. C. Parker, who filed a plea of "no partnership," alleging that the partnership formerly existing between himself and Brown under the name and style of Champion Manufacturing Company, was dissolved on November 20, 1911, and that the plaintiff, with full knowledge of the dissolution, accepted from C. C. Brown a payment of $112 upon the alleged indebtedness, and accepted the notes sued upon. Parker's plea further alleged that at the time of the execution of the notes all business relations between himself and Brown had been discontinued and that the dissolution of the partnership had been published to the world in accordance with the law. On the trial it appeared, without contradiction, that the Champion Manufacturing Company contracted with the Southern Ruralist Company to pay a stipulated price for a certain advertisement in four issues of the publication printed by the latter company, and there was evidence that an advertisement occupying the amount of space contracted for was inserted in four issues of the paper. It did not appear that the matter published was the same as that contained in the proposed advertisement; but no other inference can be drawn than that the matter published was the same or that exact compliance was waived, for it was not disputed that a statement of account, which included the sum charged for the advertisement, was sent to the Champion Manufacturing Company prior to the alleged dissolution, and that prior to the dissolution Mr. Brown, as manager, wrote a letter to the Southern Ruralist Company, acknowledging the correctness of the account and promising to remit in settlement in a short time.
On December 26, 1911, Brown, as manager of the Champion Manufacturing Company paid $112 in cash upon the account, and gave the two notes, of $112 each, which were the subject-matter of the suit. There can be no question that this was an acknowledgment of liability on the part of the Champion Manufacturing Company and Brown, and the only question to be determined was whether or not the Southern Ruralist Company at that time knew or had received notice of the dissolution, so that its acceptance of the payment and of the notes from Brown operated to release Parker, in accordance with the provisions of sections 3164 and 3188 of the Civil Code. If the plaintiff, at the time it accepted the notes had notice that the partnership had been dissolved, it knew, of course, that the Champion Manufacturing Company, as signer of the notes, did not include Parker. Parker was bound upon the account, because the advertising had been done while he was, without contradiction, a member of the firm; and of course, the agreement between himself and Brown for a dissolution of the firm, in which it was stipulated that Brown...
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