Renfro v. Prior

• Court: Kansas Court of Appeals
• Writing for the Court: ELLISON, J.
• Citation: Renfro v. Prior, 25 Mo. App. 402 (Kan. App. 1887)
• Decision Date: 11 April 1887
• Parties: PETER RENFRO, Defendant in Error, v. GEORGE W. PRIOR, Plaintiff in Error.

25 Mo.App. 402

PETER RENFRO, Defendant in Error, v. GEORGE W. PRIOR, Plaintiff in Error.

Court of Appeals of Missouri, Kansas City.

April 11, 1887

ERROR to Gasconade Circuit Court, HON. A. J. SEAY, Judge.

Reversed.

The case is stated in the opinion.

I. W BOULWARE, for the plaintiff in error.

I. Plaintiff, by his admissions and testimony, had no claim against defendant and no interest in the result of the suit. He had contracted and agreed with his attorney Pope, that he was to prosecute the suit, and to receive whatever he should recover as his fee--Renfro was not liable for the prosecution. This contract between Renfro and Pope was champertous. Duke v. Harper, 66 Mo. 51, and authorities cited; S. C., 2 Mo.App. 1; Crow v Harman, 25 Mo. 471.

II. Defendant having, on the trial, repudiated and disclaimed and interest in the cause and in the result of the suit, he is not aided by the law, as set forth in Revised Statutes, 1879, page 625, section 3671.

III. The suit is not prosecuted in the name of the real party in interest. Rev. Stat., 1879, p. 592, sect. 3432. Pope had no legal or equitable right or claim to the demand after the judgment he claims to have bought was reversed and set aside. Rev. Stat., 1879, p. 592, sects. 3462, 3463.

IV. The cause of action did not arise out of contract--it was for unliquidated damages, and would not survive to a personal representative of Renfro.

V. The court should have determined who was the real party in interest, and not have left this question to the jury. Williams & Yeatman v. Whitlock, 14 Mo. 552; Gardner v. Armstrong, 31 Mo. 535; Boogher v. Neece, 75 Mo. 383.

W. S. POPE, for the defendant in error.

I. The court committed no error in overruling the various motions in regard to the assignment of the reversed judgment to W. S. Pope to secure fees due himself and co-counsel; nor was any arrangement, as to who was to receive the judgment that might be rendered, in anywise champertous. There was no evidence tending to show, nor is it true, that Pope was to furnish money to prosecute the suit, pay costs, or that any contract was made at the time of the commencement of the suit. It was only an arrangement made to secure fees in a long and costly litigation, after suit was commenced and the resources of plaintiff exhausted.

II. Section 3671, Revised Statutes, cited by plaintiff in error, does not sustain his position. It sustains the position of defendant in error. 22 Mo.App. 403; Sharp v. Johnstone, 50 Mo. 13; S. C., 59 Mo. 557; Hill v. Palm, 38 Mo. 13; Field on Damages, sects. 689 and 681.

III. This case was tried in conformity to the opinion heretofore rendered, except the side issues injected into it. The champertous contract, of which the defendant complains, comes with bad grace from one who has exhausted his poor tenant, by much aggravating litigation and many changes of venue, to such an extent that he is unable to pay counsel fees; and, for services rendered, assigns a judgment which had been reversed, and who honestly intended to give them any judgment he might recover for their services. The attorney would have been derelict in duty had he abandoned his client's cause because he became exhausted financially, and would have justly deserved censure. The defendant is unable to pay for printing a brief or argument, and, with the authorities cited, the cause is submitted.

ELLISON J.

This cause was heretofore before us and is found reported in 22 Mo.App. 403. On re-trial, plaintiff recovered judgment, and defendant brings the case here.

Defendant filed the following motion to dismiss the cause:

" Now comes the defendant, George W. Prior, who states and makes known to the court that said plaintiff heretofore (to-wit: at the May term, 1885, of this court), had and recovered judgment against defendant herein for the sum of five hundred dollars; that the plaintiff sold, assigned and transferred said judgment to one W. S. Pope; that said Pope, by virtue of said assignment, transfer and sale, became, and was, and now is, the absolute owner of said judgment; that said judgment was obtained upon the cause of action stated in the petition herein, and that said judgment was, by the Kansas City Court of Appeals, reversed; that said Peter Renfro is not the real party in interest herein; that he has no interest or claim against the defendant, as in the petition stated; that said Pope is the party interested--all of which defendant is ready to verify and make proof, wherefore defendant moves that this suit be dismissed."

The facts and allegations in this motion were admitted to be true. The motion was overruled and defendant excepted. Defendant then filed the following motion to have Mr. Pope substituted as a party plaintiff:

" Now, at this day, comes the defendant, and says that one W. S. Pope is the legal and equitable owner of the claim (if any), which plaintiff has against the defendant, and set forth in plaintiff's petition; that the plaintiff has no interest or claim whatever in the said cause of action; that all interest and claim of plaintiff therein was, by plaintiff, for value, assigned and transferred to said W. S. Pope; that a judgment was obtained in said cause, in behalf of the

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