Luce v. San Diego Land & Town Co.

GAROUTTE, J. This is an action to recover the sum of $4,166.68, alleged to be the balance due on the annual salary of respondents as the attorneys of appellant, from the first day of March, 1892, up to and including the last day of February, 1893, with interest thereon. On the first day of March, 1889, the law firm of Luce, McDonald & Torrance, which up to that time had been acting as the attorneys of appellant, at a salary of $83.33 per month, wrote a letter to the land and" town company, appellant, explaining the condition of the corporation’s legal affairs at that time, and asserting that for some time thereafter an extra amount of labor would devolve upon them as attorneys of the company, by reason of important cases then pending. Among other matters this letter contained the following statement: “We have, as before stated, given the matter very careful consideration, and have concluded that, until these important matters in litigation are disposed of, an annual salary of $5,000 is the least sum for [728]which we ought to take upon ourselves the labor and responsibilities incident to continuing our position as general attorneys for the company in this county and state.” In due course, the plaintiffs, in reply, received from the president of the defendant a letter containing, among other matters, the following: “In view of the coming litigation, and the trial of the causes which are enumerated by Judge McDonald, I think that their statement that their present compensation is not adequate is correct.....I note, however, the suggestion of our attorneys that they shall receive on and after March 1st compensation at the rate of $5,000 per annum; the same, I suppose, to be payable monthly, in conformity to the precedent hitherto. I think this is carrying our legal expenses rather beyond the limit which we ought to incur, especially as many of the cases enumerated may never come to trial. This is not a matter, however, in which we can afford to resort to dickering. You may therefore inform Messrs. Luce, McDonald & Torrance that on and after March 1st, until a change shall be made, their names shall appear on the pay-roll at the rate of $416.66 per month.” Within a few days' subsequent to the receipt by plaintiffs of this letter, William G. Dickinson, general manager of the defendant (appellant), held a conversation with plaintiffs, wherein the following occurred, as appears by the uncontradicted testimony of the plaintiff McDonald: “Colonel Dickinson inquired if we had received his letter in regard to our proposition for salary. I informed him that we had. He then inquired if the proposition was satisfactory. Judge Torrance replied that we didn’t know exactly whether it was satisfactory or not. Colonel Dickinson replied by inquiring wherein it was unsatisfactory. Judge Torrance replied that ‘we had made a proposition for a yearly employment, and that the letter which we had received in reply stated that we would be placed on the pay-roll at the rate of $416.66 per month, ’ and that he (Torrance) ‘didn’t know whether the company meant by that to employ us by the month, or whether it had accepted our proposition for a yearly employment.’ Colonel Dickinson replied: ‘Why, Judge McDonald knows how that is. He has been on the pay-roll before, and knows that we always pay by the month. In his case he has been receiving a thousand dollars a year, divided into twelve monthly payments of $83.33 a month. ’