Groom

Appelloant prosecutes this appeal from an adverse decision in which the court found any debt of respondents owing to appellant to be barred by the statute of limitations and held respondents not to be indebted to appellant within the last four years upon an “account stated in writing,” upon a “mutual, open and current account stated in writing,” or upon an “open book account stated in writing.” The court declared that within the four years prior to the filing of the complaint appellant had not demanded of respondents any sum upon an open, current and mutual account in writing.

The major issue in this appeal turns on whether or not appellant proved a mutual, open and current account. Appellant urges as his sole contention that “the course of dealings between the parties gave rise to a mutual open and current account”; hence, we do not discuss the pleadings which differently state the claim. A subsidiary issue involves the effect of testimony that appellant agreed to haul respondents’ timber for less than the established Public Utilities Commission rates.

The facts fall into three categories: the nature of the oral agreement for hauling charges entered into by the parties ; the…