Longmire v. Hall, 47657

• Decision Date: 10 June 1975
• Docket Number: No. 47657,No. 1,47657,1
• Citation: 541 P.2d 276
• Parties: Carl W. LONGMIRE, Appellant, v. Leta Fern HALL, Appellee
• Court: United States State Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma. Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma

Page 276

541 P.2d 276

Carl W. LONGMIRE, Appellant, v. Leta Fern HALL, Appellee.

No. 47657.

Court of Appeals of Oklahoma, Division No. 1.

June 10, 1975.

Rehearing Denied July 15, 1975.

Released for Publication by Order of Court of Appeals Oct. 9, 1975.

Carl W. Longmire, pro se.

Harris, Gladd & Dyer, Tulsa, for appellee.

ROMANG, Presiding Judge:

This appeal is brought by Carl W. Longmire, attorney at law, who was attorney for the defendant and cross-petitioner, Leta Fern Hall, in a divorce action filed by J. B. Hall on November 19, 1969.

On April 19, 1972, after extended proceedings, Mrs. Hall was granted a divorce from J. B. Hall on the ground of incompatibility. Mrs. Hall was awarded alimony in the amount of $52,500.00, a parcel of improved realty valued at $18,000.00, and 40 acres of land in Wagoner County valued at $20,000.00 for a total award of $90,250.00.

J. B. Hall was ordered to pay Mrs. Hall's attorney, Longmire, an attorney fee of $15,000.00, which was paid. There was no appeal from the divorce judgment.

The employment agreement between Mrs. Hall and Longmire was in the form of a letter dated December 4, 1969, addressed to Longmire, and signed by Leta Hall, which reads as follows:

'This is to acknowledge an agreement whereby you are to represent me in an action that my husband has filed against me in the District Court of Mayes County, State of Oklahoma, in case number JFD--69--159. It is agreed that your fee for representing me will be 25% Of any and all amounts that I may recover or receive as a property settlement and/or alimony or for any other recovery that I may receive in the above entitled cause. This fee shall be in addition to any fee allowed by the Court to be paid by my husband. This 25% Shall not include up and including the first $20,000.00 but shall include any amount either in money or property above $20,000.00.'

On June 29, 1972, Longmire presented Mrs. Hall with a second fee agreement which provided that Longmire would waive all rights granted to him under the letter agreement if Mrs. Hall would convey to him an undivided 1/4th interest in and to her 40 acres of land in Wagoner County. Mrs. Hall refused.

On March 22, 1973, Longmire filed in the land records of Wagoner County, an instrument entitled 'Affidavit and Caveat' in which he alleged that he is the owner of an undivided one-fourth interest in and to the 40 acres of land of Mrs. Hall as a direct result of the letter of December 4, 1969.

On March 29, 1974, Mrs. Hall filed a Motion to Strike wherein she moved the court to set aside the purported contingent fee agreement. Longmire filed an Answer and Cross-Petition wherein he asked for judgment against Mrs. Hall in the amount of $25,800.00 and that his attorney's lien be continued in Wagoner County.

At the hearing in this subsequent proceeding, Longmire testified that he had devoted between 1,250 to 1,500 hours as an attorney representing Mrs. Hall in the divorce action and that his fee should be not less than $40.00 per hour. Longmire also testified that since the divorce he had represented Mrs. Hall in three contempt proceedings against her former husband, for which he should be paid the sum of $1,300.00.

The District Court entered an Order dated June 20, 1974, which reads in part:

'That the motion to strike of the movant herein is overruled; that the agreement signed by the movant, Leta Fern Hall, dated December 4, 1969, is void, but that the respondent, Carl W. Longmire, has rendered some services for the movant subsequent to the granting of the divorce and for which he is entitled to compensation; that there is evidence that the movant agreed to pay the respondent some additional fees in addition to the amount allowed by the Court, which was $15,000.00 and which appears to this Court to be very substantial. However, the Court finds that there was considerable work done in this case by the respondent; the Court further finds that the respondent, Carl W. Longmire, is entitled to recover from the movant, Leta Fern Hall, for services rendered subsequent to the date of the decree of divorce and for any additional amount he may claim is due him over and above the amount allowed by the Court, in the amount of $1,750.00 and should be given judgment against the movant for said amount of $1,750.00.'

Longmire has appealed and presents two propositions. The first is:

'That the trial court erred in finding that the agreement of December 4, 1969, was void.'

Longmire relies heavily upon the case of Krieger v. Bulpitt, 40 Cal.2d 97, 251 P.2d 673 (1953), to uphold his contingent fee agreement. He asserts that the attorneys in Krieger represented the defendant just as he represented the defendant in the instant case. However we note one material difference. In the instant case, the defendant was a cross-petitioner, and the divorce was granted to defendant on her cross-petition.

In Opperud v. Bussey, 172 Okl. 625, 46 P.2d 319 (1935), the Oklahoma Supreme Court held in the syllabus as follows:

'An attorneys' lien contract providing for a contingent fee, dependent on the amount recovered in a divorce case, is against public policy and void and unenforceable.'

In the opinion the court said:

'As to the second assignment of error, that the court erred in...