G.A. Miller, W. W. Lord, Ralph Smeed, L.H. Staus and Jack Smeed, Trustees of John W. Smeed Estate v. Archie E. Corbari

This is the second time around for this case. On its first appearance here this Court disposed of the appeal by remand to the District Court with instructions to find whether or not appellee Sam Wahyou had sustained the burden of proof placed upon him that his purchase of certain stock of the Diamond-S Ranch Co. was fair, the finding to be made on the basis of the evidence then in the record or any additional evidence the parties might offer. Pursuant to the mandate the trial court heard further evidence and at the conclusion thereof made additional findings.

Appellants appeal from a judgment based on said findings, upon the sole ground that the evidence is not sufficient to support the findings. For an understanding of the issues we incorporate herein the statement of facts as set forth in the original opinion.

The crucial finding with which we are concerned is:

The record on this appeal, as is usual in such cases, presents conflicting evidence and of course it was the province of the trial court to give credit to and act upon that evidence which it deemed most trustworthy. In crediting the evidence it is apparent that it drew its conclusions from the book value of the Ranch…