Morton W. Southard and James L. Hansberger, Individually and as Partners Doing Business in the Firm Name of H & L Supply v. United States

The government below obtained a judgment against Morton W. Southard and James L. Hansberger, partners, doing business as H & L Supply, for $3,-459.44 and interest. The total is the sum of two invoices in the respective amounts of $228.13 and $3,231.31 for steel items sold by the War Assets Administration to someone in the Long Beach, California area in 1947.

The date of the formation of the partnership is obscure. H & L Steel Company, Inc., a California corporation, was formed apparently late in 1946. Hans-berger and Southard seem to have been the principal ones in interest, if not the only ones in both concerns. H & L Supply mainly handled oil well supplies and H & L Steel Company, Inc., seems to have dealt in miscellaneous steel. (Hereinafter, for convenience, the former is referred to as the “supply company”, even though it was unincorporated, and the latter is referred to as the “steel company”.) The supply company had a yard at 1300 E. Burnett Avenue, Long Beach, where Hansberger seems to have been the one generally in charge; and the steel company had a yard two miles away on Wardlow Street, where Southard was the general manager and ordinarily operated. By the time of the…