158 Mass. 590 | Mass. | 1893
The single question raised by the plaintiffs is whether, upon the evidence, a compromise settlement made by the parties on October 29, 1890, was final and absolute, or conditional. One of the plaintiffs and the defendant were the only witnesses examined, and their testimony was contradictory. But they both testified that, at the time of the settlement, the plaintiffs gave the defendant a negotiable promissory note with collateral security for the amount agreed upon; that when the note became due a portion of it was paid and the balance was renewed ; and that payments of different amounts were subsequently made from time to time. The exhibits show no trace of any condition annexed to the settlement, although they indicate that both parties afterwards claimed that some items had not been considered in arriving at the compromise. Upon the whole, the documentary evidence bears strongly in favor of the defendant, who, at the time of the settlement, dismissed an action previously brought to recover the claims which he compromised. In addition, the plaintiff, who testified in this case that the settlement was conditional, admitted, upon cross-examination, that he had, on the day after it was made, testified in another case that he had paid the defendant in full all that he owed him by a payment equivalent to cash, giving him the bonds which the
So ordered.