49 Wash. 76 | Wash. | 1908
Lead Opinion
The only question in this case is the reasonableness of an attorney’s fee. The facts are as follows: On October 24, 1905, the plaintiff brought an action in the superior court of Stevens county against the Northport Smelting & Refining Company, A. I. Goodell, and John H. Mackenzie, to restrain the defendants from dismantling the Northport smelter and from removing certain machinery therefrom. On the same day, the complaint and affidavit were presented ex parte to the judge of the court and a temporary emergency restraining order was issued, the plaintiff furnishing a bond in the sum of $1,000. November 6, 1905,
The defendant alleges that the allowance of $3,500 is excessive, and plaintiff claims that $10,000 is a proper fee. The record shows the parties stipulated, at the hearing on the reasonableness of the fee, that certain attorneys would testify that a reasonable fee for plaintiff’s attorneys under all the circumstances surrounding the case would be a sum not less than $7,500 nor more than $10,000, and that certain other attorneys under the same circumstances would place such fee at from $500 to $1,000. The case was not a complicated one. The complaint embraced only six pages of typewritten matter, and there appears nothing out of the ordinary cither in the law or the facts. It is true a large amount of property was involved, but there was no resistance to the restraining order or to the complaint. The plaintiff’s attorneys gave very little time to the case. Taking all these circumstances into consideration, we think that $1,000 is a liberal allowance for the plaintiff’s attorney’s fees.
The judgment is therefore reversed, and the cause re
Hadley, C. J., Rudkin, and Dunbar, JJ., concur.
Dissenting Opinion
(dissenting) — In view of the large amount involved and the responsibility necessarily assumed by the attorneys, I think $1,000 an inadequate allowance. I therefore dissent.
Fullerton and Crow, JJ., concur with Root, J.