1. Summary Judgment.
Summary judgment is proper when the pleadings and evidence
admitted at the hearing disclose no genuine issue regarding
any material fact or the ultimate inferences that may be
drawn from those facts and that the moving party is entitled
to judgment as a matter of law.
2. Summary Judgment: Appeal and Error. In
reviewing a summary judgment, an appellate court views the
evidence in the light most favorable to the party against
whom the judgment is granted and gives such party the benefit
of all reasonable inferences deducible from the evidence.
3. Debtors and Creditors: Words and Phrases.
An "account stated" is an agreement between persons
who have had previous dealings determining the amount due by
reason of such transactions.
4. Debtors and Creditors. When parties have
accounts against each other, and a statement of the account
is made out by one party and presented to the other, and the
latter expressly assents to its correctness, the law will
regard it as a stated or settled account, and it will be
binding on both parties.
5. Debtors and Creditors: Proof. The failure
to object to an account rendered is admissible in evidence as
tending to prove an acknowledgment of its correctness. Proof
of an express promise to pay is not required.
6. Debtors and Creditors: Time. A
party's retention without objection for an unreasonably
long time of a statement of account rendered by the other
party is a manifestation of assent. What constitutes an
unreasonably long time is a question of fact to be answered
in the light of all the circumstances.
[25 Neb.App. 850] 7. Appeal and Error. An
appellate court is not obligated to engage in an analysis
that is not necessary to adjudicate the case and controversy
before it.
Appeal
from the District Court for Douglas County, Shelly R.
Stratman, Judge, on appeal thereto from the County Court for
Douglas County, Darryl R. Lowe, Judge. Judgment of District
Court reversed and remanded for further proceedings.
Benjamin M. Belmont and Wm. Oliver Jenkins, of Brodkey,
Peebles, Belmont & Line, L.L.R, for appellant.
Donald
C. Hosford, Jr., of Crossman & Hosford, for appellee.
Riedmann and Bishop, Judges, and Inbody, Judge, Retired.
RlEDMANN, Judge.
Crossman
& Hosford sought recovery for legal services performed
under an account stated theory. The county court for Douglas
County granted summary judgment in its favor, and the
judgment was affirmed by the district court. Finding a
genuine issue of material ...