Kohan

*918 Opinion

In an action for dissolution of partnership, an accounting and other relief, defendants appeal from an order granting plaintiffs’ motion for new trial and plaintiffs cross-appeal from the judgment vacated pursuant to the order for new trial.

Factual and Procedural Background

Plaintiffs, Khanbaba Kohan and Morteza Kohan, and defendant Nedjatollah Cohan are brothers and natives of Iran. In Iran the brothers transacted business together accumulating real and personal property held in the names of all three. In 1961 the brothers executed an agreement which recited that, in the past, the wealth accumulated by them had “been registered to everyone’s name in a non-proportional ratio.” In order “to clarify their financial situation,” the agreement declared that all of the brothers’ assets, in Iran or abroad, registered in the name of any one brother, or which any of them subsequently acquired, were to be divided among them in the following proportions: Nedjatollah, 35 percent; Khanbaba, 35 percent; Morteza, 30 percent. The agreement further provided that any asset acquired by one brother through his individual activities became part of the joint account of all of them. The…