Turner v. Donovan

HAHN, J.,

pro

tem.

Defendant appeals from a money judgment rendered against him in an action brought to recover- a portion of the money paid him by one Emma G. Latshaw for legal services rendered on her behalf. The complaint is east in three counts. Count one is in form of money had and received. Count two alleges that in the state of Texas, which was then the domicile of plaintiffs and Emma G. Latshaw, the said Emma G. Latshaw employed plaintiffs as attorneys to represent her in any legal proceeding that might be deemed necessary in connection with a proposed contest to the will of her deceased sister Mary B. Merriam Beagan, which was then in process of probate in the Superior Court of the County of Los Angeles, California. That pursuant to such employment, and at the request of the said Emma G. Latshaw, plaintiffs employed defendant to assist plaintiffs in representing the interests of the said Emma G. Latshaw in connection with the estate of her sister, and particularly to attend to such matters as were deemed necessary in California. The count further alleges that it was agreed between plaintiffs and defendant that all moneys received in connection with said services were to be divided equally between plaintiffs and defendant. Count three repeats the allegations of plaintiff’s employment by the said Emma G. Latshaw, and alleges that thereafter, with her consent, they forwarded to defendant, who was and is an attorney at law at Los Angeles, California, the matter of representing the said Emma G. Latshaw in her proposed contest to the will of her deceased sister, with instructions to take such steps as he deemed wise in filing such contest on behalf of the said Emma G. Latshaw, or in arranging a compromise of her claim. That a compromise was effected and defendant received as compensation for the legal services rendered in connection with said matter the sum of $7,250. That at the time plaintiffs forwarded to “defendant the legal business of the said Emma G. Latshaw, it was the established

[487]

and universally recognized usage and custom in the state of Texas, as also in the State of California, among attorneys, that the attorney forwarding any legal business to another attorney would be entitled to one-third of the fee or compensation received by the attorney to whom the business was forwarded. That plaintiffs and defendant were well aware of such usage and custom, and that said business was forwarded by plaintiffs and received and accepted by defendant with such knowledge, and that it was mutually agreed that the compensation received would be divided in accordance with said custom and usage.