Court Opinion

ID: 9827680
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-01 17:45:59.174969+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:42:34.436220
License: Public Domain

On Rehearing and Motion for Leave to Amend Brief.
In the exercise of the discretion vested in such cases (rule 40, 111 Tex. xxix, 230 S. W. viii), and in keeping with the practice of this court of considering upon their merits all questions presented, when it may properly be done, appellants’ motion for leave to amend brief has heretofore been granted. The defect in the brief having been corrected, the appeal now will be considered upon its merits.
The suit is by Heid Bros., Inc., to recover a balance of $579, alleged to be due by appellants upon open account for goods, wares, and merchandise sold and delivered and cash advanced during the years 1925-1926. Verdict was returned, and judgment rendered in favor of the plaintiff for the amount sued for.
In support of the account appellee offered in evidence four original pages of its ledger, showing a balance due as alleged. No other books were offered. The first item upon the ledger sheets so offered is as follows: “July 1 Balance O L 2379.38.” Appellee’s witness Cates, a public accountant, testified that in 1925 he audited appellee’s books and opened up a new set of books, and that the above was the balance which he transferred from the old ledger. The bookkeeper -who kept the books prior to the audit did not testify, nor was it otherwise shown that the new or the old set of books were correctly kept.
*747Over objection the ledger sheets' were admitted in evidence, and error is here assigned to such action. The ledger sheets were not taken from a book of original entry, and do not meet any of the requirements laid down by Judge Brown in Stark v. Burkitt, 103 Tex. 437, 129 S. W. 343, as a prerequisite to admissibility. See, also, Radford Grocery Co. v. Porter (Tex. Civ. App.) 17 S.W.(2d) 147; Warren v. American Car Co. (Tex. Civ. App.) 294 S. W. 301.
Particularly objectionable is the above item of $2,379.38. The admission of the ledger' sheets is the only error assigned. This is well taken, and necessitates reversal.
In appellee’s brief it is argued there is evidence to show assent by appellants to the correctness of the balance sued for. However, the plaintiff’s suit is not based upon an account stated. It is simply upon open account, and the burden rests upon appellee to show by competent evidence the correctness of the account and balance sued for.
The motion for rehearing is granted. The judgment is reversed, and cause remanded for retrial.