27 N.Y.S. 723 | N.Y. Sup. Ct. | 1894
The appellant is an attorney and' counselor of this court, who was employed by the petitioner to collect upwards of $90,000 due from the estate from her deceased father, which
It is well settled that an attorney has a lien on the securities of his client which are in his hands for services which he has rendered. This lien is a legal one. In re H., 87 N. Y. 525; Maxwell v. Cottle, 72 Hun, 529, 25 N. Y. Supp. 635. The attorney having a legal lien upon this mortgage and upon this sum, it is difficult to see by what right or upon what principle the court could declare that he must surrender such lien. If it had been shown that the attorney’s claim was wholly groundless, then, undoubtedly, the court, upon a summary application, might require the securities to be - surrendered; but where, as in this case, it is conceded that the attorney has performed some services, and the value of those services is in dispute, we think that the court should not have required him to relinquish his lien. The order should be reversed, but without costs to either party. All concur.