40 Mo. App. 189 | Mo. Ct. App. | 1890
Plaintiff sued defendant on an account for goods sold and delivered. He recovered below and defendant appealed. It appears that plaintiff was a grocery merchant, and' that one Gibbs was a boardinghouse keeper, who boarded section hands in the employ of defendant, and that one Kelly was section foreman. It was “admitted by defendant that section foreman Kelly had authority from defendant to make necessary arrangements and contracts with merchants, on defendant’s account, for provisions for the men working under said foreman’s control on defendant’s road.” Plaintiff furnished goods to Gibbs and received one payment through a check from defendant sent to plaintiff, and which included the amount of both plaintiff’s and Gibbs’ account up to the date of payment, both the accounts having been made out and sent to defendant in plaintiff’s name. This action seeks to charge defendant on an original promise to pay for the goods. The statements of the agreement containing the promise as testified to by plaintiff are the following :
R. E. Price: “lam plaintiff. I was in business at Mosby at the time this account was made. Defendant at that time had a section foreman named Tom
Neither of these statements show a promise by defendant to pay for the goods furnished Gibbs, The agreement was that plaintiff and Gibbs’ accounts were to be made out in plaintiff’s name and sent in to
In order to hold one for the price of goods delivered to another, in the absence of a writing, it is not only necessary to show a promise on his part, but it is requisite to show that the credit was given solely to the party making the promise. The relation of suretyship should not exist. And if the party receiving the goods, or for whose benefit the promise is made be himself liable at all (except it be a joint promise) the case falls within the statute of frauds. In other words, the person for whose benefit the promise is made must not be credited, and must not be regarded by the plaintiff as a debtor. His position must be such that he could not be held liable were an action brought against him for the debt. Browne Stat. Frauds, 197; Swift v. Pierce, 13 Allen, 136; Bugbee v. Kendricken, 130 Mass. 437; Walker v. Richards, 39 N. H. 259; Rottman v. Fix, 25 Mo. App. 571.
Applying this statement of the law to the facts in evidence as stated by plaintiff, we find that plaintiff
We will, therefore, reverse the judgment.