65 P. 670 | Kan. | 1901
The opinion of the court was delivered by
Was the plaintiff entitled to an attorney’s lien on the funds in the hands of the defendants? or, Did the defendants render themselves liable to the plaintiff for the attorney’s fees by ignoring notice of the lien and by the payment of the entire amount in their hands to another? According to the facts stated, the fee was earned in the case in which notice of the lien was given, and the money in controversy, which was in the hands of Moffett Brothers, was money due to Mrs. Boydston, a client of the attorney, as determined in the proceedings in which the attorney was employed. The statute provides :
“An attorney has a lien for a general balance of compensation . . . upon money due to his client, and in the hands of the adverse party, in an action or proceeding in which the attorney was employed, from the time of giving notice of the lien to that party.” (Gen. Stat. 1901, §395.)
Mrs. Boydston intervened in an attachment proceeding, and it was in that case that her right to the
The notice of the lien was sufficient to bind Moffett Brothers. It was in writing, and was served upon the attorney of record in the case. The attorney of record was the representative of the defendants, and acted for them in this matter as much as in any other involved in the action, and service upon him effectively bound them. (K. P. Rly. Co. v. Thacher, 17 Kan. 92.)
It is next contended that, as the exact amount due was not stipulated nor shown, no recovery whatever can be had. To recover the full amount claimed, the plaintiff should have shown his services were worth that sum. The showing made, however, entitled the plaintiff to a recovery of a substantial amount. By ■the stipulation he estimated the value of the services ■to be $105, and that was the amount claimed in the Hen and named in the notice -of Hen. The facts agreed upon show the character of the litigation, the nature and extent of the services rendered, and, also, that the plaintiff was successful in both courts in
The judgment will therefore be reversed, and the cause remanded for a new trial.