3 Pa. Super. 442 | Pa. Super. Ct. | 1897
Opinion by
The cause of action set forth in the plaintiff’s statement arose out of a special contract of the defendant to pay him $250 in full for and in consideration of his services as an attorney'at law rendered to the defendant prior to the date of the contract in the matter of the defendant’s application for a retail liquor license and in the matter of the defendant’s remonstrance against another application. The defendant, instead qf deny
A similar question was very fully and ably discussed in the case cited by appellant’s counsel (Western Union Tel. Co. v. Seemes, 73 Md. 9), and the distinction was clearly pointed out between such a contract and a contract to build a house or to do other work which the plaintiff is prevented by the defendant from completing. This then was the condition of affairs at the time the contract alleged in the statement was entered into. The plaintiff had a claim for reasonable compensation for services theretofore rendered for the defendant at the latter’s request. It is argued that a past consideration is, in effect, no consideration at all; that is to say, it confers no benefit on the promisor, and involves no detriment to the promisee in respect of his promise; therefore, as it appears from the plaintiff’s state
While in general it is true that a mere agreement to accept a smaller sum in discharge of a larger, is not binding for want of consideration, yet a contract made in compromise and settlement of a disputed and doubtful claim is binding. It relies for its support not on a past consideration alone, but on a present benefit. The plaintiff, being asked what he would take in settlement of his claim for past services, demanded $50Q. The defendant was unwilling to admit that he was entitled to so much. Here was a dispute, not as to the defendant’s liability, but as to the amount. It could only be settled by agreement or by litigation, and certainly there is no hard and fast rule of
Judgment is reversed and a procedendo awarded-