Title: Jebeles v. Costellos

State: alabama

Issuer: Alabama Supreme Court

Document:

391 So. 2d 1024 (1980)
Gus N. JEBELES
v.
Gus V. COSTELLOS.
Gus V. COSTELLOS.
v.
Gus N. JEBELES.
79-552, 79-589.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
December 19, 1980.
Douglas Corretti and Samuel Maples of Corretti, Newsom & Rogers, Birmingham, for appellant Gus N. Jebeles-79-552 and for appellee Gus N. Jebeles-79-589.
Tommy Yearout of Lorant, Harris & Yearout, Birmingham, for appellee Gus V. Costellos-79-552 and for appellant Gus V. Costellos-79-589.
SHORES, Justice.
This is an appeal and a cross-appeal by two business partners from a final decree *1025 rendered in a case brought by one of the partners seeking an accounting and dissolution of the partnership. The court ordered an accounting, but refused to dissolve the partnership. The court made the following findings of fact:
On November 19, 1979, Jebeles filed his complaint seeking a dissolution of the partnership and a full and complete accounting by Costellos for all profits received since December 3, 1978. Costellos counterclaimed that there was no partnership agreement, but that, if there was one, Jebeles breached it.
The court did not dissolve the partnership. Instead, in order to retain the business's future profits and the valuable lease, the court continued the partnership "with Defendant as the sole active partner and the Plaintiff as a silent partner." The court deemed it "just and fair that in this partnership the work hours of the respective parties should be entirely, or very nearly, identical," but found that under the circumstances
Both parties appealed from the court's decree. We hold that the court erred by refusing to dissolve the partnership and order a termination and accounting. We reverse the decree and remand the cause for proceedings consistent with this decision.
The court here has exceeded its discretion by fashioning a remedy which is at odds with the Alabama law of partnerships, as codified in Ala. Code 1975, § 10-8-1 et seq., and the express will of the parties. An equity court cannot ignore established law in shaping its remedy, 27 Am.Jur.2d Equity § 123 (1966).
As no definite term was specified in the oral partnership agreement, the partnership may be dissolved at the will of either party. Ala. Code 1975, § 10-8-91(1)b:
Dissolution is caused:
(1) ...
On application by either party, the court is required to order a dissolution under the provisions of § 10-8-92. Several of the grounds set out in that section are applicable to this situation in view of the court's findings.
A partner's right to an accounting of his interest accrues at the date of dissolution, Ala. Code 1975, § 10-8-98. There can be no partnership settlement or accounting until there is a dissolution. See Hunter v. *1027 Parkman, 259 Ala. 596, 67 So. 2d 797 (1953); Tanner v. Easter, 290 Ala. 208, 275 So. 2d 640 (1973). The court erred to reversal in ordering an accounting without dissolving the partnership and in establishing and imposing a new partnership agreement on the parties.
On remand the court should follow the procedure for dissolution of the partnership as set out in § 10-8-97.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
TORBERT, C. J., and MADDOX, JONES and BEATTY, JJ., concur.