McDougall v. McDonald

Citations

• 86 Wash. 334
• 150 P. 628
• 1915 Wash. LEXIS 1203

Syllabus

<p>Pleadings — Amendments—Variance — Discretion. In an action for an accounting and to recover profits under an agreement to obtain and prosecute certain railroad construction work, in which the complaint pleaded the profits obtained from only one contract for such work, it is discretionary to allow the complaint to be amended to include the profits under another contract secured and completed under the original agreement of the parties, where no surprise was claimed by defendant and no continuance asked.</p> <p>Contracts — Certainty — Executed Contracts — Actions — Defenses. Uncertainty and indefiniteness in a contract for a joint venture as to the financial aid and assistance which plaintiffs were to furnish the defendants in securing and prosecuting certain railroad construction work cannot be pleaded by defendants as a defense to an action to recover plaintiffs’ share of the profits, where the contract had been fully executed and defendants had accepted the benefits, and nothing remained to be done except to make the final division of the profits.</p> <p>Joint Adventures — Profits—Evidence—Admissibility. In an action to recover a share of the profits of a joint venture, evidence of the value of defendants’ services is properly excluded where the court found, on sufficient evidence, that they were not to receive compensation for personal services.</p> <p>Partnership — Contracts — Authority to Make — Ratification. Ratification of a contract made by one partner for financing railroad construction work to be prosecuted by the firm is sufficiently established where it appears that the other partner knowingly participated in the use of the funds secured by the agreement, which he never questioned until the completion of the construction contract.</p>