103 Wash. 126 | Wash. | 1918
— In 1911, plaintiff and one Vevelstad, while prospecting, discovered a mining claim known as the Sea Level claim, in Sitka Mining District, Alaska. Vevelstad not being a citizen, plaintiff located and filed on it for their mutual benefit. They did the assessment work for 1912; plaintiff did it for 1913; Vevelstad promised that he would have it. done for 1914, and plaintiff, relying on this promise,- went to Seattle. The work for 1914 was not done as promised, and the claim
Plaintiff contends that the trial court erred in refusing to award him a judgment in a larger amount, while Vevelstad contends that the court erred in awarding plaintiff a judgment.
The evidence as to the 1914 assessment work and Vevelstad’s promise to plaintiff to do it for that year is conflicting; but we are convinced that such promise was made, and under such circumstances as to lead
“Good faith not only requires that every partner should not make any false representation to his partners, but also that he should abstain from all concealments which may be injurious to the partnership business. If, therefore, any partner is guilty of any such concealment, and derives a private benefit therefrom, he will be compelled in equity to account therefor to the partnership.”
Parsons, Partnership (4th ed.), §158, and note 2, lays down the rule as follows:
“If fiduciary relation means anything, I cannot conceive a stronger case of fiduciary relation than that which exists between partners. Their mutual confidence is the'life blood of the concern. It is because they trust one another that they are partners in,the first instance; it is because they continue to trust one another that the business goes on. These properties of partnership render it eminently a relation of trust. All its effects are held in trust, and each partner is,' in one sense, a trustee; a trustee for the newly created entity, the partnership, and for each member of the firm, who thus becomes a beneficiary under the trust.”
These principles are sustained and applied by this court in Finn v. Young, 46 Wash. 74, 89 Pac. 400; Id., 50 Wash. 543, 97 Pac. 741; Causten v. Barnette, 49 Wash. 659, 96 Pac. 225; Salhinger v. Salhinger, supra, and Galbraith v. Devlin, 85 Wash. 482, 148 Pac. 589.
The requirement of the utmost good faith forbids, that a partner benefit his private interest by deceiving' his copartner by misrepresentations or concealments of the confidential relation. This is a suit for the proceeds of the sale of the partnership property; in other words, for a division of the partnership funds, and not for a division of the mining claims. Equity requires, therefore, that Vevelstad pay to the plaintiff one-half of the $10,000, or $5,000, with costs. Appellant Morris will not be disturbed in his title, but he will recover no costs.
Main, O. J., Chadwick, Fullerton, Mount, Tolman, Mitchell, and Mackintosh, JJ., concur.