Haines v. Lewis
| Decision Date | 21 September 1880 |
| Citation | 6 N.W. 495,54 Iowa 301 |
| Parties | HAINES & LYMAN v. LEWIS |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
Appeal from Poweshiek Circuit Court.
ACTION to recover the value of a certain promissory note executed by one Danforth and made payable to the order of the plaintiffs and placed by Danforth in the hands of the defendant, under an agreement, as is alleged, that it should be delivered to plaintiffs; also to recover certain money paid to defendant by Danforth upon a certain other note of a similar character placed in defendant's hands, as is alleged, under a similar agreement. The defendant admits that he holds said note and money, but denies the alleged agreement. He avers that the note was deposited with him, and the money paid to him, by Danforth, to be delivered to the plaintiffs only in case one Ellen Patterson, a client of the plaintiffs, should sign a petition to the governor asking for the pardon of Danforth for an offense for which he had been convicted and sentenced to the penitentiary, and in case such pardon should be refused, and the action should be appealed, and the judgment reversed, the said Ellen Patterson would forbear to prosecute, and said Danforth should be discharged.
There was a trial without a jury, and finding of facts which are in substance: that Danforth, the principal maker of the notes, had, at the time the notes were made, been convicted of having sexual intercourse with one Ellen Patterson against her will, and by administering drugged whiskey, and had been sentenced to the penitentiary for ten years; that a civil action had also been commenced by Ellen Patterson for the recovery of damages; that the plaintiffs acted as her attorneys; that the defendant acted as the attorney of Danforth; that soon after Danforth was convicted and sentenced steps were taken to procure his pardon; that at the same time negotiations were entered into between Danforth and the prosecutrix to secure her signature to the petition for a pardon; that these negotiations embraced also the compromise and settlement of the civil action; that they resulted in an agreement that Danforth should execute nine promissory notes with sureties, amounting in the aggregate to $ 750, and that the prosecutrix should sign a statement to the governor to the effect that Danforth had settled with her for the wrongs done to her as fully as he was able to under the circumstances, and that, taking into consideration the condition of his family, she was willing and desired that he should be pardoned; that the notes were executed, but two of them, amounting to $ 150, were executed payable to the plaintiffs instead of to the prosecutrix, and were designed to cover the fees due from her to the plaintiffs as her attorneys; that all the notes, both those made payable to the prosecutrix and those made payable to the plaintiffs, were deposited with the defendant under an agreement made by all the parties concerned that the defendant should hold them until it should be determined whether Danforth would be sent to the penitentiary; that in case he was pardoned the two notes made payable to the...
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