89 Neb. 272 | Neb. | 1911
Plaintiffs are attorneys at law, and brought this action to recover $320 for professional services in procuring for defendant the title to a quarter-section of land in Boyd county. Defendant had settled on the land, and attempted to obtain a patent for it from the federal government under the homestead laws, but was defeated because it was in that part of the Fort Randall Military Reservation selected by the state as school lands in lieu of other school lands of which the state had been deprived by early homesteaders, Defendant’s controversies extended over a series of years, and he eventually acquired title from the state. In the meantime his claims were alternately, presented by plaintiffs to the federal land office, to the interior department at Washington, and to the state legislature, and he was i-n constant litigation in both state and federal courts. In these matters plaintiffs also acted on behalf of other settlers similarly situated. The case was tried to a jury, and from a judgment for the full amount of their claim defendant has appealed.
This suit was commenced originally in the county court of Holt county, and was afterward appealed to the district court. Defendant therefore had ample time for preparation. The proofs show that, before commencing this suit, plaintiffs threatened to sue him in Holt county, if he did not pay them their fees. Having himself been thus threatened, he ought not to have been surprised by like threats to sue other clients similarly situated. With the record in the condition described, it cannot be said on appeal that the trial court abused its discretion in overruling the motion.
No other assignment of .error being urged,' the judgment is
Affirmed.