Simpson v. Doggett

• Decision Date: 19 November 1930
• Docket Number: 13032.
• Citation: 156 S.E. 771,159 S.C. 294
• Parties: SIMPSON v. DOGGETT et al.
• Court: South Carolina Supreme Court

156 S.E. 771

159 S.C. 294

SIMPSON v. DOGGETT et al.

No. 13032.

Supreme Court of South Carolina

November 19, 1930

Appeal from Common Pleas Circuit Court of Spartanburg County; Wilton H. Earle, Special Judge.

Action by Gaynelle Simpson, by her guardian ad litem, Edna Lawter against James Doggett and another. From an order refusing to vacate a judgment rendered for plaintiff against the defendants, plaintiff appeals.

Reversed.

Harvey W. Johnson, of Spartanburg, and Joseph E. Hines, of Greenville, for appellant.

Perrin & Tinsley, of Spartanburg, for respondents.

BLEASE J.

The appeal in this case is on the part of the plaintiff, by her guardian ad litem, from an order of his honor, Special Judge Wilton H. Earle, presiding in the court of common pleas for Spartanburg county, refusing to vacate a judgment rendered theretofore in favor of the plaintiff against the defendants.

The pertinent facts, apparently conceded by all the parties, are these: The plaintiff, Gaynelle Simpson, a minor 19 years of age, in January, 1929, while walking along a highway in Spartanburg county, was struck by an automobile owned by the defendant W. F. Doggett, and operated at the time of the accident by the defendant James L. Doggett. Plaintiff immediately after the accident was carried by the driver of the car to the Spartanburg General Hospital, where she was confined some seventeen days, and later on, about March 5 1929, she again entered the hospital for further treatment of her injuries, and was finally discharged on March 14th. The injuries received by the plaintiff were right serious, and perhaps, she was permanently injured; she sustained the loss of six front teeth, her scalp was lacerated so much that eight stitches were required therein, and in all likelihood she suffered from concussion of the brain and a fractured skull.

The owner of the car that struck the plaintiff had his automobile insured in the American Mutual Liability In surance Company, and a representative of that company, upon notice of the accident, took up with the plaintiff and the owner of the car the matter of settlement for the damages received by the plaintiff in the accident. An agreement was reached whereby the hospital expenses, physicians' bills, and dental bills, amounting to $515, were to be paid by the insurance company. The costs of necessary legal expenses were also to be paid by that company, and full discharge was to be given the insurance company and the defendants from all claims growing out of the accident.

The mother of the plaintiff was dead, and for several years she had not lived with her father. At the suggestion of some one, in all likelihood the plaintiff and the agent of the insurance company, J. H. Lawter, the brother-in-law of the plaintiff, was requested, and consented, to act as plaintiff's guardian ad litem in such action as was necessary to carry out the agreement of settlement. The agent of the insurance company had the regular counsel of the company, Messrs. Perrin & Tinsley, to take the conceived legal steps so as to protect the rights of the company and the defendants. At the instance of Messrs. Perrin & Tinsley, J. D. Kerr, Esq., who was closely associated with the attorneys for the defendants, and had some connection in the practice of law with them, was secured to act as attorney for the plaintiff; Messrs. Perrin & Tinsley acting for the defendants and the insurance company. The usual summons and complaint were prepared by Mr. Kerr, the complaint alleging that the injuries to the plaintiff occurred as the result of the negligence and recklessness of the defendant, who was driving the car at the time of the accident. Service of the summons and complaint were accepted by Messrs, Perrin & Tinsley for the defendants.

On March 25, 1929, with consent of Mr. Kerr, as attorney for the plaintiff, on motion of Messrs. Perrin & Tinsley, as attorneys for the defendants, a consent verdict was taken in the court of common pleas for Spartanburg county in favor of the plaintiff for $515, and judgment was accordingly entered on that verdict. On the very date the judgment was taken, the presiding judge, Honorable M. M. Mann, also with the consent of the attorney for the plaintiff, made an order providing that the amount of the verdict was to be paid out by Mr. Kerr, as attorneys for the plaintiff, to the dentist, physicians, nurse, and hospital authorities in settlement of their claims for treatment of the plaintiff.

Mr. Kerr collected from the insurance company the amount of the verdict and the costs of the suit and disbursed the funds coming into his hands strictly in accord with the order of the court. The fees of Mr. Kerr and Messrs. Perrin & Tinsley, for their professional services, were paid by the insurance company.

The plaintiff did not receive, except in the indirect manner hereinbefore referred to, a single cent of money, although as stated above, she had been badly injured, and if the defendants were liable at all, they were liable not only for the expenses necessary to restore the plaintiff as near as possible to her usual normal condition, but they were...