delivered the opinion of the court:
Plaintiff-appellee, Greenbaum & Browne, Ltd., an Illinois professional corporation whose shareholders are licensed to practice law in the State of Illinois, brought an action to recover the sum of $14,192.64 allegedly due from defendant-appellant, Richard L. Braun, for legal services rendered. The circuit court of Cook County entered judgment upon a jury verdict in favor of plaintiff in the amount of $14,192.64. Defendant appeals contending that the trial court erred in denying his post-trial motion to reduce the amount of the judgment.
For the reasons hereinafter set forth we reverse in part and affirm in part.
During a meeting at plaintiff’s office in December 1974, attorneys Greenbaum and Browne discussed with defendant an outstanding balance of $8,264.61 for legal services rendered by plaintiff to Kaplan & Braun, Inc., a corporation with which defendant is allegedly associated.
1
At this meeting attorney Greenbaum advised defendant that because Kaplan & Braun, Inc., had encountered serious financial difficultiés,
2
plaintiff would be
Subsequent to the December 1974 meeting plaintiff rendered legal services to defendant individually, to Kaplan & Braun, Inc., and to an entity referred to as “Bralen.” Plaintiff periodically sent statements to defendant requesting payment for these services, for the services rendered to Kaplan & Braun, Inc., prior to December 1974 ($8,264.61), and for services rendered to an entity referred to as Lake Zurich Associates.
Defendant testified that during a meeting at plaintiff’s office in either May or June 1976 he again informed attorneys Greenbaum and Browne that he did not feel personally obligated for the fees for services rendered to Kaplan & Braun, Inc. Defendant further testified that attorney Browne threatened to file a lawsuit against defendant and “attach” his house.
The jury, after hearing the evidence and arguments of counsel, found in favor of plaintiff and against defendant in the amount of $14,192.64. The trial court entered judgment on the jury’s verdict and denied defendant’s post-trial motion to reduce the amount of the judgment.
I.
The law in Illinois, at least since 1893, when our supreme court decided Rolfe v. Rich (1893),
“While the law is, that dealings between attorney and client, resulting in advantage to the former, will be closely scrutinized, and the attorney be required to show the utmost good faith and fairness, and that the client dealt with full knowledge of his rights, it does not prohibit all dealings between them, or declare all contracts made by the attorney with the client ipso facto void, or voidable at the instance of the client.”
See also In re Kutner (1979),
Novation may be broadly defined as a substitution of a new contract or obligation for an existing one which is thereby extinguished. More specifically, it is the substitution by mutual agreement of one debtor or of one creditor for another, whereby the existing debt is extinguished. (Faith v. Martoccio (1974),
If an attorney renders professional services, he has the right to be compensated for such services. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1977, ch. 13, par. 1; Neville v. Davinroy (1976),
In the case at bar, the only evidence presented by plaintiff concerning the existence of a valid previous obligation, i.e., the fees due from Kaplan & Braun, Inc., was a copy of the statement of account.
As between an attorney and client, mere allegations of a stated account, when strictly construed, are not sufficient to allege a liability of the client to the attorney on account of fees. (Woods v. First National Bank
Nor can we conclude that plaintiff proved the existence of a valid, previous obligation of Kaplan & Braun, Inc. pursuant to a theory of quantum meruit. Quantum meruit literally means “as much as he deserved.” An attorney recovering thereunder is entitled to receive the reasonable worth or value of his services as shown by the evidence. (People’s Casualty Claim Adjustment Co. v. Darrow (1898),
II.
Defendant contends that the trial court erred in refusing to reduce the judgment by an amount of $3,662.13, that is, the “Lake Zurich Associates” fee. In support of his contention, defendant argues that there was no evidence adduced concerning the fairness and reasonableness of the fee, nor any evidence adduced to prove that plaintiff performed services which would form the basis for the fee. Plaintiff maintains that the sum of $3,662.13 was a cash advance made by plaintiff on behalf of defendant, and as such there was no necessity to prove the fairness or reasonableness of the amount.
Exhibit 1 3 reveals that on January 9, 1976, a statement was sent to defendant, a portion of which read as follows:
“As per many previous statements rendered
Re: Lake Zurich Associates....................$3,662.13”
This exhibit contains five statements of account sent to defendant prior to the January 9, 1976 statement: December 4, 1975; October 7, 1975; September 8, 1975; July 10, 1975; and February 13, 1975. None of these
“The $3662.00 charged to Lake Zurich as a fee was paid. We paid it ourselves. The fee was paid. I paid it myself and that’s cash advanced that he owed me $3600.00.”
Exhibit 3, consisting of 21 time cards of plaintiff, reveals that only four of those cards refer to Lake Zurich Associates and document a total of IJ2 hours expended. During closing argument plaintiff’s attorney agreed with defendant’s counsel that the $3,662.13 was not a loan. Instead, plaintiff’s attorney argued that it was cash advanced. Defendant’s counsel argued in response:
“My position is that they testified that the fee was paid. He says a cash advance, and, of course, as I said, the only person to whom they could pay it is themselves. There is no one else they could pay it to.”
We cannot conclude from the foregoing that plaintiff proved by a preponderance of the evidence that the $3,662.13 was'“cash advanced.” In so concluding we note plaintiff’s complaint alleges, inter alia, that “defendant engaged the plaintiff to perform legal services for the defendant for which defendant agreed to pay the sum of Fourteen Thousand Six Hundred Ninety-two and 64/100 Dollars ($14,692.64),” and that “[t]he fair and reasonable value of services rendered by the plaintiff to the defendant was Fourteen Thousand Six Hundred Ninety-two and 64/100 Dollars ($14,692.64).” Conspicuously absent from plaintiff’s complaint is any allegation of “cash advanced.” Additionally we observe that if the $3,662.13 in fact represents compensation for legal services rendered, plaintiff has failed to demonstrate the fairness and reasonableness of the fees. It is, therefore, our opinion that the trial court should have reduced the judgment by the additional amount of $3,662.13.
III.
Defendant also contends that the trial court erred in not reducing the judgment by the further sum of $342.50, that is, the amount of fees for services rendered to Bralen, Ltd., subsequent to December 1974. In support of his contention, defendant argues that “there is no showing of the obligation of defendant to pay a fee charged to ‘Bralen’.” 4 Attorneys Browne and Greenbaum testified that during their meeting with defendant in December 1974, defendant had agreed to undertake personal liability for all future services rendered on behalf of the various entities with which defendant was associated. Attorney Greenbaum further testified, without dispute from defendant, that defendant had an “ownership interest” in Bralen, Ltd.
IV.
Defendant finally contends that the court erred in not reducing the amount of the judgment by the further sum of $742.44, that is, the amount of fees for services rendered by plaintiff to Kaplan & Braun, Inc., subsequent to December 1, 1974. In support of this contention defendant argues that even if he agreed to be personally liable for these fees, such agreement was invalid as a result of the “great pressure applied” to him by plaintiff. 5 The evidence adduced at trial indicates that attorneys Greenbaum and Browne advised defendant that plaintiff could not continue to represent defendant or any other entities with which he was associated unless he agreed to be personally liable for such representation. Defendant testified that he was “financially and emotionally down.” We cannot conclude that this evidence alone establishes “undue influence” or “impermissible pressure.” Thus, it is our opinion that the trial court did not err in refusing to reduce the judgment by $742.44.
Reversed in part and affirmed in part.
DOWNING and HARTMAN, JJ., concur.
Notes
Plaintiff’s brief represents that defendant is die majority shareholder in Kaplan & Braun, Inc. However, no evidence was adduced at trial in support of this representation.
Prior to this meeting, defendant, attorneys Greenbaum and Brown, a bankruptcy attorney and the creditors of Kaplan & Braun, Inc., had assembled to discuss the financial difficulties of Kaplan & Braun, Inc.
Exhibit 1 consists of nine statements periodically sent to defendant commencing on February 13, 1975, and terminating on June 22, 1975.
Defendant does not argue that plaintiff failed to prove the fairness and reasonableness of these fees.
Defendant does not argue that plaintiff failed to prove the fairness and reasonableness of these fees.