58 Wash. 97 | Wash. | 1910
On the 28th day of October, 1908, one Eleanor Ferguson, through the relator as her attorney, commenced an action for a divorce against her husband, Fred E. Ferguson, in the superior court of King county. The case thereafter came on regularly for trial, and the court made findings of fact and conclusions of law, and entered a decree in favor of the plaintiff,. awarding her a divorce, the care and custody of a minor child, certain property and a money judgment, and costs of suit, including an attorney’s fee of $100. The court found, among other things, that, “As part compensation for his services in this cause, it is reasonable that the defendant should pay one hundred dollars ($100),” and the conclusions of law and decree followed the findings in that regard. After the entry of the final judgment, the relator filed a notice with the clerk of the court’, claiming a lien on the judgment in the sum of $514 for services performed in the action. Thereafter the defendant in the action was cited to appear and show cause why he should not be punished as for a contempt for failure to pay over certain moneys awarded to the plaintiff by the decree. In the answer or return to the show cause order, the defendant set up the lien claim filed by the relator, and thereupon the court cited the relator to appear and show what if any lien he had or claimed upon the judgment. The relator appeared in obedience to the citation or show cause order, and the plaintiff in the action thereupon proposed amended findings of fact and conclusions of law and an amended decree, wherein it was found and decreed that the attorney’s fee of $100, allowed by the court in the divorce action, was in full payment for all services performed by the relator for the plaintiff in the prosecution of that action. The court indicated its intention to sign the amended findings and decree, and the relator applied to this court for a writ of prohibition to restrain it from so doing.
The case is now before us for final determination on the return to a show cause order, and on testimony taken before
On the trial of an action for divorce the court may, as between the parties, make such orders as it may deem right and proper for the disposition of the persons, property, and children of the parties, and relative to the expenses of the action. Hem. & Bal. Code, § 988. But this section gives the court no jurisdiction to determine questions arising solely between the litigants and their counsel. Section 474, Rem. & Bal. Code, provides, that the measure and mode of compensation of attorneys and counsellors shall be left to the agreement, express or implied, of the parties, and this section applies to an action for a divorce as well as to any other form of action. A plaintiff in a divorce action may make an agreement with her attorney fixing the amount of his compensation, and, in the absence of an express agreement, the law will imply an agreement to pay the reasonable value of the .-services performed, and this obligation ■ is not affected or abrogated by the allowance of an attorney’s fee in the divorce .action, except as to the amount allowed. In fixing the allowance in the divorce action the court is governed and controlled by many considerations, aside from the reasonable value of the services performed. If the plaintiff in the action .has made an express agreement with her attorney, the court