269 S.W. 41 | Ark. | 1925
Appellee was employed to represent the personal interests of Morris, who had no authority to bind appellant. A person who has availed himself of the act of an agent must prove the authority under which the agent acted.
The statutes of this State provide that the Attorney General may, at the instance of the Insurance Department, institute an action in a court of competent jurisdiction against any domestic insurance society which has failed to comply with any provisions of the law with respect to carrying out its contracts in good faith or in the transaction of its business, and thus procure a receivership to wind up the affairs of such corporation, but that such proceedings shall not be commenced "until after notice has been duly served on the chief executive officers of the society and a reasonable opportunity given to it, on a date to be named in said notice, to show cause why such proceedings should not be commenced." Crawford Moses' Digest, 6111. And adverse recommendation to the Attorney General was made by the Insurance Department against appellant society, and the Attorney *79 General notified the officers to appear on a given date to answer the charges against the society.
According to the testimony of appellee, he was employed by Morris to appear for appellant society before the Attorney General, and he did in fact appear there and represent the society in the examination. The president and other ranking officers of appellant were also present, and permitted appellee to appear there in the name of appellant to resist the proceedings against it. They contended, however, that appellee appeared as personal counsel for Morris, and the latter testified that he employed appellee solely for that purpose.
The Attorney General instituted an action against appellant in the circuit court, and, pursuant to his employment, appellee appeared there for appellant, but subsequently other attorneys were employed to represent appellant, and, according to the testimony introduced in that case, the record made by appellee in the hearing before the Attorney General was used in the circuit court as a basis of appellant's defense in that action, and upon which a decision favorable to appellant was secured, and an affirmance of that judgment was obtained in this court. State v. Knights of Pythias,
The testimony adduced by appellant tended to show that Morris was without authority to employ counsel, but the verdict of the jury can be sustained upon the theory that appellee performed the services for which he claims compensation, and that officers of the corporation whose authority is unquestioned accepted these services and knew that they were being performed for appellant; hence there was an implied contract. Boynton v. Brown,
Appellee did not recover his full fee according to the contract, but it is unimportant to determine whether his recovery should have been on the implied contract *80 or upon the quantum meruit, since he has not appealed, and the evidence is sufficient to establish the reasonableness of the compensation awarded by the jury.
The court's charge to the jury and the court's rulings with respect to giving and refusing instructions have not been abstracted, hence we must assume that the case went to the jury upon proper instructions and that there was no error of the court in that respect.
Judgment affirmed.