Lynch v. Keystone Consol. Mining Co.

Contract for Payment of Money—Payment to be Made Only from Money Derived from Specified Source.—A party to a contract may absolutely limit his right to receive a sum of money to be paid him thereunder to money derived from the other party from a certain source, and in such a case, where the other party continues diligently to endeavor to derive such money from the specified source, he can recover only as it is so derived.

Id.—Acknowledgment of Indebtedness—Payment from Proceeds of Sale of Mine or from Net Profits of Working—Construction of Contract.—An agreement between a mining company and its attorney, after reciting certain services of the latter and that it was entered into in order to satisfy and adjust his compensation therefor, contained an acknowledgment by the company of an indebtedness due to the attorney in a specified sum, a statement of its intention to sell its mining property, or its capital stock, as soon as possible, its desire and intent to pay the indebtedness out of the proceeds of such sale, or otherwise, as provided therein, and a promise by it to pay the indebtedness out of such proceeds. The agreement further provided that such sale might not be effective as soon as anticipated, and in the event it was not made by a specified date, then payment of the indebtedness should be made out of the monthly proceeds of the mine, not to exceed ten per cent of the net profits thereof. Held, that the acknowledgment of the indebtedness cannot be taken by itself, detached from all other provisions of the -agreement, as showing an absolute acknowledgment of so much money due the attorney in any event, but should be construed in connection with the other provisions of the contract, and that, so construed, it was the intention of the parties that nothing should be due and payable on account of the indebtedness until the date specified, in the event that no sale was effected prior to that time, and that after that date nothing in excess of ten per cent of the net profits should be due and payable on account thereof.

Id.—Absence of Default of Promissor—Payment not Due upon Expiration of Eeasonable Time.—So long as there is no default or lack of reasonable diligence on the part of the company in the matter of endeavoring to obtain the fund from which alone the payment is to be made, the attorney is bound by the terms of the contract as to the event upon which he is to receive payment thereunder, and cannot maintain an action to recover the indebtedness upon the mere expiration of a reasonable time.

Id.—Action to Recover Indebtedness—Insufficient Findings to Support Judgment.—In an action to recover the whole amount of the acknowledged indebtedness, commenced prior to such a sale being effected, a finding that the company had unreasonably delayed the payment thereof, is held not to be warranted by the evidence, and not to support a judgment for the plaintiff, in the absence of any findings showing that the net profits of the mine had aggregated ten times the amount of such indebtedness, or other facts warranting the judgment in the absence of such net profits.