Court Opinion

ID: 9724522
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 11:00:17.24145+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:25:02.055959
License: Public Domain

*880Boslaugh, J.,
concurring.
I concur in the result which the court has reached in this case, but I respectfully submit that the decision should be based upon a different ground.
The trial court found that the alleged loan agreements were in truth and in fact a settlement by the plaintiffs of their claim and the assigned claim of the Robinettes with the Natural Gas Distributing Company. The evidence sustains this finding and is sufficient to sustain a further finding that the settlement was received by the plaintiffs as full compensation for all damages sustained. Such a settlement effects a release of the defendants from any liability to the plaintiffs in this action. Fitzgerald v. Union Stock Yards Co., 89 Neb. 393, 131 N. W. 612, 33 L. R. A. N. S. 983. It would seem to me that this is the proper ground upon which to base the dismissal of the action.
If the Natural Gas Distributing Company has no right to contribution or indemnity from the defendants in this action, then the assignment of the plaintiffs’ rights to the Natural Gas Distributing Company was ineffective and the plaintiffs remain as the real parties in interest. If their cause of action against the defendants has not been satisfied by the settlement which the plaintiffs made with the Natural Gas Distributing Company, the action should be allowed to proceed. In the event of a recovery by the plaintiffs in this action, the defendants would be entitled to the benefit of the partial satisfaction which the plaintiffs have received from the Natural Gas Distributing Company.