Opinion ID: 1645799
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: joint venture generally

Text: There is no difference between a partnership and a joint venture except the latter has limited and circumscribed boundaries. Indeed, the only purpose in distinguishing a joint venture from a partnership is to define a business relationship which is limited to specified undertakings for profit, rather than a general and continuing business of a particular kind. Sample v. Romine, 193 Miss. 706, 8 So.2d 257 (1942); Tansil v. Horlock, 204 So.2d 457 (Miss. 1967); Scott Co. of California v. Enco Construction Co., 264 So.2d 409 (Miss. 1972). [5] The legal principles for determining the existence of each are identical. See Thompson v. Thompson, Tex.Civ.App. 1973, 500 S.W.2d 203; Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. v. Braemoor Associates, 686 F.2d 550 (C.A. 7th Cir.1982). In State ex rel. Crane v. Stokke, 65 S.D. 207, 272 N.W. 811, 110 A.L.R. 761, 770 the South Dakota Supreme Court stated: The concept of joint venture as a legal relationship or association sui generis is purely of American origin dating from about 1890. Just how or why it originated no one seems precisely to know. In Stokke that court also observed that the name joint venture or joint venturer was first used not to describe the relationship between parties, but the use of the relationship, p. 771 A.L.R. In Sample v. Romine , the leading Mississippi case on the subject, this Court first observed no exact definition could be given of a joint venture, the answer in each case depended upon the terms of the agreement, the acts of the parties, the nature of the undertaking and other facts. We broadly defined a joint venture as an association of persons to carry out a single business enterprise for profit, for which purpose they combine their property, money, efforts, skill and knowledge. We said it exists when two or more persons combine in a joint business enterprise for their mutual benefit with an understanding that they are to share in profits or losses and each to have a voice in its management. We noted a condition precedent for its existence was a joint proprietary interest in the enterprise and right of mutual control. The joint purpose of the enterprise distinguishes it from a mere tenancy in common. We further held an agreement, express or implied, for sharing in the profits is essential, but there need be no specific agreement to share in the losses, and if the nature of the undertaking was such that no losses other than those of time and labor in carrying it out was likely to occur, an agreement to share in the profits might stamp it as a joint venture, although nothing was said about the losses. We said a contract between the parties was necessary, but it need not be embodied in a formal agreement, but might be inferred from the facts, circumstances and conduct of the parties. Finally, we said it differed from a general partnership because it related to a single transaction, while a partnership usually related to a general and continuing business, and that a joint venture was of a shorter duration, and the agreement was less formal. Williston on Contracts, 3rd Ed., Vol. 2, p. 550, 554, states: Precise definition of a joint venture is difficult. The cases are of little help since they are generally restricted to their own peculiar facts. ... The joint venture is an association of two or more persons based on contract who combine their money, property, knowledge, skills, experience, time or other resources in the furtherance of a particular project or undertaking, usually agreeing to share the profits and the losses and each having some degree of control over the venture. Stated in somewhat greater detail: It can be said that joint adventure contemplates an enterprise jointly undertaken, that it is an association of such joint undertakers to carry out a single project for profit; that the profits are to be shared, as well as the losses, though the liability of a joint adventurer for a proportionate part of the losses or expenditures of the joint enterprise may be affected by the terms of the contract. There must be a contribution by the parties to a common undertaking to constitute a joint adventure; and a community of interest as well as some control over the subject matter or property right of the contract. Whether the parties to a particular contract have thereby created as between themselves, the relation of joint adventurers or some other relation depends upon their actual intention, and such relationship arises only when they intend to associate themselves as such. This intention is to be determined in accordance with the ordinary rules governing the interpretation and construction of contracts. [Footnotes omitted] See also: County of Riverside v. Loma Linda University, (1981), 118 Cal. App.3d 300 173 Cal. Rptr. 371, 376-377; Hayes v. Killinger, 235 Ore. 465, 385 P.2d 747 (1963); Coastal Plains Development Corp. v. Micrea, 572 S.W.2d 285 (Tex. 1978). A joint venture might be characterized as a single shot partnership. Having broadly defined a joint venture, we turn to the specifics of this case and the law on joint ventures as it has been refined and delineated beyond and since Sample v. Romine .