106 Ga. 217 | Ga. | 1898
In 1891 Kaiser & Brother, through their attorney,. J. T. Neeson, brought suit, in Montgomery superior court, Against W. H. Hancock, on an open account for $449.22. The-case was tried at the April term, 1898, when the defendant-filed an amended plea in which he set up that, “on the 10th day of March, 1894, he paid to J. T. Neeson, the attorney of' record for the plaintiff, . . the sum of $350.00 as a full settlement of the account, the subject-matter of the suit.” On the trial, both members of the firm of Kaiser & Brother and one of the firm’s employees testified, that the goods represented by the account were sold and delivered by the plaintiffs to the defendant, and that the account was correct and true; and one of' these witnesses testified that the defendant had admitted the-account sued on to be correct. So that, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, the plaintiffs would have been entitled to recover the full amount of their claim. In support of his-plea the defendant testified, that he had paid the account sued.
A copy of the order directing a verdict is contained in the record, from which it appears that the court was of opinion ■ that, under sections 4417 and 4423 of the Civil Code, upon the proof submitted by the defendant, the presumption arose that ■ the attorney of record for the plaintiffs had special authority from them to accept from the defendant, as a full settlement of • their claim, the amount which the defendant paid to him, and which he accepted, for this purpose, and that this presumption became conclusive in the absence of testimony from the plaintiffs to the contrary. This opinion of the court was erroneous. ’ The law is that, “ without special authority attorneys can not receive anything in discharge of a client’s claim but the full amount, in cash.” Civil Code, §4418. “An attorney at law ■ charged with the collection of a claim being a special agent for this purpose, and being expressly forbidden by law from receiving anything in discharge of a client’s claim but the full amount in cash, one who undertakes to settle with an attorney an account in his hands for collection for a sum less than is due thereon must, at his peril, ascertain that the attorney is authorized to make such a compromise .’ Sonnebom v. Moore, 105 Ga.
Judgment reversed.