4 Ga. App. 176 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1908
Meinhard, Schaul & Company (the plaintiffs in error) brought a suit against the defendants in error, on an account for goods furnished. The action was brought against the defendants as a partnership, composed of H. B. Bedingñeld, A. B. Daniel, and M. L. Clance. The jury rendered a verdict in favor of the plaintiffs; and, upon motion for new trial, the judge set aside the verdict and granted a new trial.
“Diligence in ascertaining and contradicting the report is not required of one who is held out as a member of a partnership, without his knowledge” (Campbell v. Hastings, 29 Ark. 512); but where a person, with his knowledge and consent, has been held out to third parties as a partner, liability as a partner is fastened on him; and a secret and unauthorized holding out will have this effect as the result of a subsequent ratification. See Butler v. Hinkley, 7 Colo. 523 (30 Pac. 250). In Slade v. Paschal, 67 Ga. 541, it was held that if A told B that he was a partner of C, and B informed C of the statement, to which C made no reply, C would be liable as a partner. The conduct of the parties in this case in carrying on business jointly, with no other reservation or better protection than the agreement that they would be considered a corporation and do business as such, if it did not amount to an actual holding out of themselves as partners, at least can not affect the rights of those who observed their course of business and dealt with them accordingly. “Persons not partners inter se may render themselves liable as such to third persons by holding themselves out to be partners. And on the principle of estoppel this may be by word spoken or written, or by conduct leading to the belief that they are partners.” Cirkel v.