Burgin v. Godwin

167 S.W.2d 614
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 14, 1942
DocketNo. 5494
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 167 S.W.2d 614 (Burgin v. Godwin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Burgin v. Godwin, 167 S.W.2d 614 (Tex. Ct. App. 1942).

Opinion

STOKES, Justice.

This suit was filed by the appellees, L. B. Godwin, F. P. Works, and James W. Bassett, attorneys at law, the latter two being partners practising under the firm name of Works & Bassett, against the appellants, Fred Burgin and his wife, Ada Burgin. The purpose of the suit was to recover and have partitioned to them a one-fourth interest in 427.9 acres of land together with a like proportion of $1,283.70' in money on deposit in the State National Bank of Groom. Appellees’ suit was based upon a written contract entered into between them and the appellant, Fred Bur-gin, on the twenty-second of May, 1937, by the terms of which Fred Burgin employed appellees to represent him in whatever negotiations and litigation that might be necessary to recover his interest in the estate of his father and mother, J. A. Burgin and Florence Burgin, both of whom. were then deceased. The terms of the contract reveal that the estate consisted of 4,400 acres of land in Carson and Armstrong Counties, approximately $40,000 in money then on deposit in the State National Bank of Groom, and some shares of the capital stock of Farmers Grain and "Implement Company of Groom. After the suit was filed, an amicable disposition of the capital stock was made by the parties and it is not further involved in the case. The contract provided that, as consideration for the legal services to be performed by appellees, they were to receive forty per cent of all personal property and interest in the lands of the estate that might be recovered or awarded to Fred Burgin. A sliding scale was provided, however, to the effect that the full forty per cent would be paid only in the event litigation proved to be necessary and proceeded to the point of being appealed to the appellate courts. In the event the matter should become involved in litigation and did not proceed beyond the trial court, the contract provided that their interest should be one third of the property and interests so recovered, and in the event the controversy should be settled without litigation, the interests of appellees in the property received by Burgin would be only twenty-five per cent. The contract contained the provision that, in consideration of the premises and of the legal services rendered and to be rendered by appellees, appellant Fred Burgin had and did thereby “grant, bargain, sell, convey, assign, and set over unto the said L. B. Godwin, F. P. Works, and James W. Bassett an undivided forty per cent or four-tenths interest in and to all of our said rights and interests in and to said lands and properties.”

The record reveals that the parents, J. A. and Florence Burgin, died intestate and [616]*616left surviving- them nine living children and the children of a deceased son and a deceased daughter, as their sole heirs at law; hence, the estate was divided into eleven parts, of which appellant Fred Burgin was entitled to one. The occasion which brought about the employment of ap-pellees arose by virtue of the fact that appellant Fred Burgin appeared to be indebted to the estate in the sum of approximately $9,000 and although the notes evidencing the indebtedness appeared upon their faces to be barred under the statute of limitations, Article 5527, R.C.S.1925, and although he claimed he had paid a large portion of them, the other heirs of the estate were insisting that the indebtedness be satisfied before he received his portion of the estate. Appellant, Fred Burgin, was also indebted to one V. K. McCaskill in the sum of approximately $5,400, consisting of a deficiency judgment and interest thereon which McCaskill had procured against him some years prior thereto in the foreclosure of some vendor’s lien notes which Burgin had executed as part of the purchase price for other land. If Burgin had been required to pay the McCaskill judgment in full and the full amount claimed by the heirs of the estate, it would have consumed practically his entire interest in the estate of his father and mother. He claimed, however, that he had paid all of the indebtedness due his father except a small amount, and that the McCaskill judgment was not an equitable and just claim against him for the reason that when he purchased from McCaskill the land for which the vendor’s lien notes were given as part of the purchase price, he paid a substantial cash payment and at the foreclosure sale Mc-Caskill had bought the land in for a nominal sum.

In answer to the petition of appellees, appellants alleged that during the negotiations which resulted in the contract of employment, Burg'in revealed to appellees the entire situation concerning his interest in the estate and the notes and obligations which the other heirs were contending he must discharge, together with the facts concerning the McCaskill judgment, and that appellees, through F. P. Works with whom the negotiations were conducted, represented to him, in substance, that he had a hard case and that it would be very difficult to recover his share of the estate and to obtain relief against the Mc-Caskill judgment. Appellants alleged that during the negotiations Fred Burgin also revealed to appellee Works that his brother, Ollie Burgin, and his sister, Mrs. Frederickson, were likewise indebted to the estate, and that appellee Works represented to Fred Burgin that he and his associates could not afford to accept the employment of Fred Burgin alone and that they could not handle the matter unless Fred Burgin would procure his brother Ollie and his sister, Mrs. Frederickson, to join him in the contract of employment. They alleged that thereupon Fred Burgin discussed the matter with his brother and that his brother consented to employ ap-pellees along with Fred and that he also signed the contract of employment. They alleged that Fred also approached his sister, Mrs. Frederickson, with the same proposition but that she declined to employ appellees; hence, the contract was executed by the two brothers only. They alleged further, in effect, that, as a matter of fact, the case was not a difficult one, as represented by appellees but was a simple matter, as viewed from the standpoint of the average lawyer, and easy to handle; that it was not necessary to include in the contract the interests of the brother and sister, as represented by appellees, but that Fred’s interest in the estate could have been recovered without the joinder of either of them; and that these representations of appellees were untrue, without foundation in fact, and constituted fraud which induced appellant, Fred Bur-gin, to execute the contract and employ appellees as his attorneys. They further alleged that Fred Burgin was essentially a farmer, poorly educated, and wholly ignorant of matters pertaining to lawsuits or the amounts ordinarily charged by attorneys for representing their clients, and that he was overreached and imposed upon by appellees in the negotiations which resulted in the contract; that a reasonable fee for the contemplated employment and a reasonable compensation to appellees for the services they rendered was $750; and that the contract was unreasonable, unjust, and unconscionable, and they sought to be relieved from further obligations under it.

The record shows that the $40,000 on deposit in the bank was divided among the heirs, regardless of the claimed indebtedness, and that appellant Fred Burgin received $3,545.45 as his share, one-third [617]*617of which was paid to appellees, and that they had also received one third of another distribution amounting to approximately $300, aggregating about $1,500 that had been paid to appellees in cash at the time the suit was filed.

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Bluebook (online)
167 S.W.2d 614, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/burgin-v-godwin-texapp-1942.