Ault v. Interstate Saving & Loan Ass'n

Citations

• 15 Wash. 627
• 47 P. 13
• 1896 Wash. LEXIS 266

Syllabus

<p>ACCOUNT STATED — WHAT AMOUNTS TO — EVIDENCE — PRESUMPTIONS.</p> <p>An account made out by one and presented to the person against-whom the charges are made, and not objected to by him within a reasonable time, will be taken to have been consented to so as to become stated, the determination of what is a reasonable time depending upon all the circumstances surrounding the business transactions of the parties.</p> <p>When the facts in regard to the statement of an account are agreed upon, the question of what is a reasonable time within which the account will be presumed to become stated, is one of law; and, when the facts are not agreed upon, it is a mixed question of law and fact.</p> <p>The presumption that an account had been consented to so as to become a stated account is not warranted by proof showing that an attorney had presented his bill for services to a client in another city, and that, some twenty days after the receipt of the letter, the latter had written asking for information in order to determine as to the justness of the account, which the attorney failed to give; and the fact that the client had not denied the bill rendered would not show an agreement thereto, so long as the demand for information had not been complied with.</p> <p>The presumption that a letter duly mailed has reached its destination will have hut little weight against positive testimony to the effect that it was never received.</p>