Vaughan v. Humphreys
| Decision Date | 10 April 1922 |
| Docket Number | 291 |
| Citation | 239 S.W. 730,153 Ark. 140 |
| Parties | VAUGHAN v. HUMPHREYS |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
Appeal from Prairie Circuit Court, Northern District; George W Clarke, Judge; affirmed.
Judgment affirmed.
Brundidge & Neelly and Emmet Vaughan, for appellant.
Mann & Mann, for appellees.
This appeal involves the construction of a contract for compensation between an attorney and his client.
Appellant entered into a contract in writing with appellees to bring suit on a life insurance policy in the sum of $ 5,000, and the clause of the contract providing for the compensation of the attorney is as follows:
"The parties of the second part (appellees) hereby agree to pay the parties of the first part (appellant) as compensation for legal services, in the event they recover of the Kansas City Life Insurance Company for said policy, the sum of forty per cent. of recovery, the said parties of the first part accepting a fee contingent upon recovery, and agree to pay or advance all costs of the suit that may become necessary to be paid, and the parties of the first part agree that no liability shall attach either to the guardian or to Maggie Ridout on any account whatever."
Suit was brought against the insurance company, and judgment was rendered in favor of appellees in the sum of $ 5,000 and the accrued interest. The attorney's fees were fixed by the court at $ 500. The circuit court allowed the attorney forty per cent. of the whole amount recovered by the plaintiffs in the suit against the insurance company. This included the face of the policy, interest, and the penalty and attorney's fees allowed under the statute.
It was the contention of the attorney that he was entitled to the whole of the attorney's fees allowed in the suit against the insurance company and forty per cent. of the other items. The attorney had collected the judgment against the insurance company and had retained the amount to which he deemed he was entitled under the contract.
From the judgment rendered against him in favor of appellees appellant has duly prosecuted an appeal to this court.
Our statute provides that, upon the failure of the insurance company to pay the loss after demand made such company shall be liable to pay to the holder of the policy, in addition to the amount of loss, twelve per cent damages, together with all reasonable attorney's fees for the prosecution and collection of said...
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...Under the law they belonged to Spiller, not to the attorneys. Cowan and Spiller so testified. Secs. 8-16, Title 49, U.S.C. A; Vaughan v. Humphreys, 22 A. L. R. 1202; In Howell, 215 N.Y. 466; Earley v. Whitney, 94 N.Y.S. 728; In re Tinney, 176 N.Y.S. 102; Ransom v. Ransom, 127 N.Y.S. 1027; B......
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Aetna Life Ins. Co. v. Spencer
...of the case may be allowed; and inasmuch as this pertains to the remedy, it is taxed as part of the costs. Vaughan v. Humphreys, 153 Ark. 140, 239 S. W. 730, 22 A. L. R. 1201. The amount of the judgment rendered in this case was $2,550, and the court allowed the sum of $500 as attorney's fe......
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Boynton v. Tarbell
...354. In other jurisdictions the same decision has been made where attorney fees have been included in costs. Vaughan v. Humphreys, 153 Ark. 140, 239 S. W. 730, 22 A. L. R. 1201;Matter of Howell, 215 N. Y. 466, 474,109 N. E. 572, Ann. Cas. 1917A, 527. While this particular point has not been......