Jeffries v. Mutual Life Ins. Co. of NY

Citations

• 110 U.S. 305
• 4 S. Ct. 8
• 28 L. Ed. 156
• 1884 U.S. LEXIS 1695

Syllabus

<p>Error — Contract—Copartnership-</p> <p>'s.. died in Missouri, in 1871, having a policy oí insurance on his life. J. was appointed there his administrator. L. and T., copartners as attorneys at law, brought a suit on the policy, in which, after'a long litigation, there was a judgment for the plaintiff for $13,495, in 1877, in a Circuit Court of the United States. J. had died in 1873, and C. had been appointed administrator in his place, and substituted as plaintiff. The ease was brought into this court, by the defendant, by a writ of error. Before it was heard here L. compromised the judgment with the defendant, in 1879, receiving in full $9,401.43, and entered satisfaction of the judgment on the record. C. then moved the Circuit Court to vacate the satisfaction, on the grounds that L. had no authority to enter it, and had been notified by C., after the compromise had been made and before the satisfaction had been entered, that he would not ratify the compromise, and that the compromise was unlawful because not authorized by the Probate Court. The Circuit Court heard the motion on affidavits, and found as a fact, that J. while administrator, entered into a contract with L. and T., whereby they agreed to prosecute the claim for a portion of the proceeds, with full power to compromise it as they should please, and that the claim was a doubtful one, and held that the compromise was rightly made, and that the plaintiff was bound by the contract of .1. and denied the motion. On a writ of error by the plaintiff: Held, 1. This court cannot'review such finding of fact, there being evidence on both sides, and the error, if any, not being an error of . law; 3. The contract made was not champertous or unlawful, andJ. had' authority to make it; 3. The contract having given to L. and T. a power coupled with an interest, the death of J. did not impair the authority to compromise, and C. was bound by it; 4. L. having continued to be a co-partner with T. so far as this case was c