79 Ga. 379 | Ga. | 1888
Paul Jones brought two separate suits in the county court against M. L. Cooper, each being based upon a draft drawn by Jones upon Copper for $250.00 and accepted by the latter. One of these drafts is in the following words:
“$250.00. Office of Paul Jones,
Atlanta, Ga., February 23, 1881.
“On November 1st, after date, pay to the order of myself two hundred and fifty dollars, value received, and charge to account of
Paul Jones.
“To M. L. Cooper, Fort Valley, Ga.
“Accepted, M. L. Cooper.’’
In one of these letters, dated December 20, 1881, defendant states that he is unable to use two barrels of the whiskey Jones had sold him, expresses his willingness tó pay for the balance of the bill, and requests Jones to take back the two barrels he cannot dispose of. This letter also virtually admits the correctness and justice of Jones’s demand against him. The other letter was written January 2, 1882. In it defendant again virtually admits the indebtedness to Jones, but complains that on account of
Without laying down here a rule for determining in every case what does constitute “ a proposition made with a view to a compromise,” evidence of which is forbidden by section 3789 of the code, we are quite clear that nothing contained in these letters amounts to such a proposition. At the time the letters were written, there was no dispute or controversy between Jones and Cooper. The issues made by the defendant’s pleas were not presented till years after the dates of these letters, and are entirely inconsistent therewith. If two contending parties are involved in a controversy, each insisting that the other is wrong, and each claiming his rights to be different from what is asserted by the other, and if, for the sake of reaching a settlement, one make a proposition by which he offers to yield some portion of his alleged rights, and asks his adversary to do the like, this might be an effort to compromise which the law would not allow to be proved against him in case the effort failed. But no such circumstances as these attend the writing of these letters, nor do they contain any proposition of the kind just indicated. In one, Cooper simply asks Jones to take back two barrels of whiskey he had bought, and for which he really admits he ought to pay. In the other, while he uses the word “ compromise,” his offer amounts to no more nor less than a request to Jones to accept one-half of his claim in satisfaction of the whole of it. These are not offers to compromise or adjust a pending dispute with two sides to it. They are simply efforts to modify the terms of an existing contract about which there is then no controversy. If Cooper had insisted he owed Jones less than the latter demanded, asserting reasons why he was entitled to a deduction, and if, in view of their
Judgment affirmed.