Bonney v. Stoughton

Citations

• 122 Ill. 536
• 13 N.E. 833

Syllabus

<p>1. Limitation—as to the matter of accownting. An action of account at law, and a bill in equity for an account, must be brought within five years from the time the right of action accrues, which, in the case of a partnership, is upon the dissolution of the same.</p> <p>2. On May 21, 1879, a partnership between A and B was by mutual consent dissolved, and there was an attempt to settle the partnership account which A believed was settled, showing a balance due him. B died December 18, 1881, and A filed his claim for the sum he insisted was found due him on the alleged settlement. On March 1, 1883, the claim was rejected, on the ground there had not been any adjustment of the partnership account, and this judgment was affirmed by the circuit court on November 2, 1884, —about a year and nine months after A’s appeal. On January 20, 1885, he filed his bill against B’s personal representative for an accounting, to which the Statute of Limitations was pleaded. No fraud of any kind was practiced on A: Held, that the statute was a bar to the relief sought by the bill.</p> <p>3. Same—of intervening disability. When the Statute of Limitations begins to run it will not be arrested by any subsequent disability, unless expressly so provided in the statute. The death of a debtor will not stop the running of the statute.</p> <p>4. Same—non-suit—as a suspension of the statute. The clause of the Limitation law which provides that when, during the pendency of a suit, the statutory period of limitation passes, and the plaintiff is afterward non-suited, he may sue again in one year from the time of such non-suit, has no application to a case where judgment is rendered in bar of the plaintiff’s suit, even though he had not pursued his proper remedy in the action.</p> <p>5. Mistake—proper diligence required. In the absence of fraud or concealment, before a court of equity will interfere because of the mistake of a party, even as to a matter of fact, the mistake must be such as the exer