Burns v. Nottingham

Citations

• 60 Ill. 531

Syllabus

<p>1. PARTNERSHIP — suit T>y one partner against another — when it will lie. One partner can not sue another at law until there has been a dissolution of the partnership, a final settlement of the affairs of the firm, a balance struck and a promise to pay. Balances struck only preparatory to a settlement are not sufficient. Until the final settlement is had, the remedy is in equity. A statement of accounts between two of three partners, showing the amount of profits that had been made, but which failed to state in whose hands they were, the amount each partner was entitled to receive, or whether the partners had received their capital stock put in, or had accounted for funds, if any, drawn out by them, is not such an accounting and settlement as authorizes one partner to sue another at law.</p> <p>2. Settlement — evidence. Where one partner testifies a settlement was had with one or two other partners, and he understood that a certain sum wits due him, but does not say it was found to be due on the settlement, or that the other admitted such sum to be due, and testifies that the other agreed to give his notes for what he owed, but the latter, in his testimony, denies that any sum was found to be due, and that he was willing to give his notes for what was due when it could be ascertained: Held, this evidence fails to prove a final settlement and a balance struck. In such a case, the remedy is in a court of equity.</p>