Brown v. Arnold

127 F. 387, 1904 U.S. App. LEXIS 4610
CourtU.S. Circuit Court for the District of Western Missouri
DecidedJanuary 6, 1904
DocketNo. 2,271
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 127 F. 387 (Brown v. Arnold) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Western Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brown v. Arnold, 127 F. 387, 1904 U.S. App. LEXIS 4610 (circtwdmo 1904).

Opinion

PHILIPS, District Judge

(after stating the facts as above). The first question lying at the very threshold of this case is, did Thomas'

Montgomery, who was the attorney in question of the defendant .in the law action, have authority to bind the defendant by the alleged stipulation? When the final judgment was made and entered of record in favor of the defendant, and the"term of court adjourned, with-out more, he had a right to return to his distant home under the assumption that the matter was at an end so far as he was concerned) and that after the adjournment of the term the court lost jurisdiction over the case. Pending the litigation between the receiver and the defendant, the attorneys in the case were clothed with many powers impliedly delegated by the client. The attorneys can stipulate respecting matters of’evidence, can make binding admissions, consent to continuances, waive trial by jury, withdraw papers, amend the pleadings, change the issues, and during the term consent to a modification, of the judgment, and as to time for filing bills of exceptions, appeal bonds, and the like. Gaillard v. Smart, 6 Cow. 385; Union Bank v. Geary, 5 Pet. 99, 8 L.Ed. 60; Chicago, etc., R. R. Co. v. Hintz, 132 Ill. 265, 23 N. E. 1032; Wieland v. White, 109 Mass. 392; Barrett v. Third Avenue, 45 N. Y. 628. But the books and decisions lay down the rule to be that, after final judgment in a suit at law, and the adjournment of the term, without more, the attorney’s employment is at an end, and be is without power, sua sponte, to bind his client .by any stipulations he may make affecting the judgment. While the attorney of the judgment creditor continues with implied authority for the issuing of execution for the enforcement of the judgment, and other steps necessary for the collection of the money thereon, and' the like, yet he has no implied power to discharge the judgment, nor to consent to vacate a judgment pending on appeal. Weeks on Attorneys (2d Ed.) § 239. After the rendition of final judgment the original attorney by whom the suit was prosecuted or defended has-no authority, resulting from the original employment, to consent to set it aside. Holbert v. Montgomery’s Adm’rs, 5 Dana, 11; Harrow, v. Farrow’s Heirs, 7 B. Mon. 126, 45 Am. Dec. 60. Weeks on Attorneys asserts the rules as follows:

“When the attorney undertakes acts out of the usual range of his duties,’ the presumption of authority, based upon his general employment, no longer „ applies. ' Parlies dealing with him in such cases are put upon their inquiry^ as to his authority. If they do not inquire, their loss is imputable to their) own negligence.” Section 242. ° . ;
“An attorney is only authorized to appear and act for his client in the proceedings which constitute a part of the action. He has no authority to appear for the party in other proceedings not forming essentially a- pari of' the action.” Section 243. ,.
[390]*390“It is a rule, sustained by numerous authorities, that the authority of the attorney .ceases with the termination of the suit and the entry of judgment, and it is equally true that in the absence of special circumstances the authority continues, by virtue of the original retainer, until the final termination of the cause. * * * It follows, as a consequence of the doctrine that the attorney’s authority ceases with 'the determination of the cause, that a party may sue out a writ of execution, scire facias, or error by a different attorney without giving notice of the change. * * * After judgment, the attorney employed has no authority to revive or reverse the judgment , without another warrant of attorney.” Section 248.
“So, the employment of an attorney to defend an action pending in a trial court does not, under ordinary eimunstances, authorize him to take an appeal to a higher court from the judgment rendered against his client.” Section 249a.

The relation of attorney to a judgment obtained is considered, and the authorities are discriminatingly collected, in Berthold v. Fox et aL., 21 Minn. 51. The court lays down the recognized rules to be that:

■ “At common law the authority of an attorney to represent his client in an action ceased upon the entry of judgment, but for a year and a day thereafter he had authority to act for his client in enforcing the judgment by execution, etc. Com. Dig. ‘Attorney,’ B, 10; 2 Inst. 878; 1 Tidd, Pr. 93. * * * But neither the common law nor any statute continues after judgment the authority of the attorney for the defeated party, the judgment debtor, or the defendant in the judgment, as he is aptly styled. * * * After judgment, unless the defendant, by appeal or otherwise, seeks a reversal or modification thereof or a stay of proceedings thereon, no reason is apparent why he should be represented by attorney, or why the authority of his attorney in the action should be presumed to continue. All that remains to be done in the action is the enforcing of the judgment. * * * A judgment creditor may employ a new attorney to enforce the judgment, without any formal substitution • or notice to the defendant. * * * As Mr. Corman’s [the attorney] retainer expired at the entry of the judgment, service upon him was not service upon his client,-and the latter has not received the notice to which he is by law entitled. For this reason, the order appealed from by him must be reversed.”

In People v. Mayor, etc., of New York, 11 Abb. Prac. 66, it is held that after judgment the attorney for the judgment defendant has no implied power, even at the term, to stipulate that his client will not appeal. The court, inter alia, said:

“While the attorney has all the authority necessary for the conduct and management of the action and for the collection of the debt, if any, his powers go no further. He has no further or greater authority, even if he thinks it, for the benefit of his client. * * * He is vested with all necessary power and authority for the management of the case intrusted to him, and for carrying into effect the orders and judgments of the court. If he enters into stipulations pertinent to the matter intrusted to him, he can thereby bind his client. * * * But his acts, done outside of the matter committed -to his charge are not binding, and, when he undertakes to bind his client by stipulating as to matters not connected with the action, such agreements are not binding.”

This same doctrine is laid down in Howe v. Lawrence, 22 N. J. Law, of. In that case there was a stipulation for allowing another trial. The Chief Justice said:

“The' stipulations were that áll necessary papers should be filed out of time, that all irregularities in the steps taken should be waived, that the same judgments should be entered in the cases as were entered in that,” and other provisions wore made after judgment was entered. “The stipulation to waive [391]*391the judgment was not an agreement for the conduct of the cause; it was a deliberate surrender of his client’s rights, a surrender which I conceive the counsel had no power to make, and which, if he had the power, justice would never permit to be enforced.”

The case of Deen v. Milne, 113 N. Y. 303, 20 N. E. 861, relied upon by complainant’s counsel, is not in point. In the progress of the trial of a suit pending in the Supreme Court, the court held that the pendency of a suit inter partes in the marine court, where there had been a judgment for costs, constituted a barrier to recovery in the pending suit.

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Bluebook (online)
127 F. 387, 1904 U.S. App. LEXIS 4610, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brown-v-arnold-circtwdmo-1904.