Peoples National Bank of Washington v. King

697 S.W.2d 344, 1985 Tenn. LEXIS 554
CourtTennessee Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 30, 1985
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 697 S.W.2d 344 (Peoples National Bank of Washington v. King) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Tennessee Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Peoples National Bank of Washington v. King, 697 S.W.2d 344, 1985 Tenn. LEXIS 554 (Tenn. 1985).

Opinion

OPINION

FONES, Justice.

We granted this rule eleven application for permission to appeal to consider whether an unendorsed check is subject to attachment and whether the expenses directly incurred by an attorney in the prosecution of his client’s claim are entitled to lien status under T.C.A. section 23-2-102 where [345]*345expenses are expressly provided for in the contract with the client.

Chattanooga attorney Ronald J. Berke represented defendant Robert H. King, Jr. in his claim for personal injuries arising out of a Crossville, Tennessee airplane crash. A sliding-scale formula was agreed upon to determine the amount of Mr. Berke’s contingent fee: fifty percent of the first fifty thousand dollars, forty percent of the second fifty thousand dollars, thirty percent of the next fifty thousand dollars, and twenty percent of all remaining sums. It was additionally agreed that Mr. Berke would be reimbursed from any monies recovered for his expenses in prosecuting the suit.1 King Jr. had been convicted of one or more serious crimes and had indictments pending against him, in the State of Washington, which, together with other factors led to a settlement of defendants’ claim for only fifteen thousand dollars. It is the settlement check made out to Robert Haden King, Jr., Betty Dunne King, and the law firm of Berke, Berke & Berke, that is the subject of the case at bar.

On January 27, 1981, plaintiff Peoples National Bank of Washington obtained a default judgment in the principal sum of $15,680.55 plus interest, costs and attorney’s fees against the defendants Robert H. King, Jr. and Betty King in the Superior Court for the County of King, Washington. On April 2,1982, plaintiff filed in the Chancery Court of Davidson County, Tennessee, a petition to enforce the Washington judgment pursuant to the Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act, T.C.A. section 26-6-101, et seq. Process was issued on April 6, 1982, for service through the Secretary of State upon defendant King Jr. at the King County Jail in Seattle, Washington. The return on that process showed that a person other than King signed the receipt for the summons, and a second summons was promptly issued to the same address and returned, signed by Robert Haden King, Jr.

Plaintiff amended its petition to enforce the foreign judgment on April 26, 1982, praying for an attachment of defendant’s property, specifically a fifteen thousand dollar settlement check which was either in Mr. Berke’s possession or in the hands of a Nashville attorney, George McGugin. A writ of attachment issued to the Sheriff of Davidson County and a counterpart writ issued to the Sheriff of Hamilton County. The Davidson County writ was returned showing that McGugin had mailed the check to Mr. Berke in Chattanooga. The Sheriff of Hamilton County found the check to be in Mr. Berke’s possession and executed the attachment.2

A motion to dismiss was filed on the grounds that venue did not lie in Davidson County, but was in Hamilton County because the funds were attached in Hamilton County and none were found in Davidson County. The trial court overruled that motion and an answer was filed wherein venue was denied but no grounds attacking venue were specified. The only other issue mentioned in the answer was that the attorney’s fees and expenses incurred “should be deducted and protected from any attachment.” This Court agrees with the Court of Appeals’ conclusion that this action was originally brought as a suit to enforce a foreign judgment; that the attachment was ancillary, in aid of that suit and that the writ issued to Davidson County and the counterpart writ to Hamilton County were valid. See, T.C.A. sections 29-6-127 through 29-6-130. Other aspects [346]*346of the venue question presented for the first time on appeal are considered by this Court to have been waived. See, T.R.A.P. 36(a).

The trial judge awarded Berke an attorney’s fee of fifty percent of the recovery as a lien having priority over plaintiffs judgment.

I.

Both of the courts below rejected defendants’ contention that a check is not subject to attachment.

The common law rule, in at least twelve states, was that promissory notes and checks could not be seized under attachment and sold under execution against the owner since they were regarded as mere choses in action. See 41 A.L.R. 1004. That annotation cites Moore v. Pillow, 22 Tenn. 448 (3 Humphrey) (1842) as adhering to that rule. In Moore an execution was issued against one Maxwell and in aid thereof a garnishment was served upon Pillow, who answered that he was not indebted to Maxwell but did have in his possession a promissory note belonging to Maxwell that was not then due. The court held that the note was “an evidence of debt and no more;” that the possession of a note belonging to another, not yet due, would not authorize a judgment against the possessor. The court added, unnecessarily it seems, that no “proceeding of any kind against the note” was authorized for it was not the subject of execution.

However, the later cases of Matheny v. Hughes, 57 Tenn. 401, 404 (10 Heisk.) (1873) and Kimbrough v. Hornsby, 113 Tenn. 605, 613, 84 S.W. 613 (1904) state that “before the enactment of the Code, it has been held by this Court that a negotiable note might be attached ...”

Regardless of the rule at common law, the Legislature has authorized the attachment of equitable interests, debts and chos-es in action. T.C.A. section 29-6-132.3

The Uniform Commercial Code clearly contemplates that commercial paper is subject to seizure by legal process and judicial sale. T.C.A. section 47-3-302(3)(a) expressly provides that a holder does not become a holder in due course of an instrument “by purchase of it at a judicial sale or by taking it under legal process.”

The attachment of a check may or may not result in making the fund it evidences available for distribution in accord with the judgment of the court. Obviously, to insure that result it would be necessary to have not only the payees but the maker or drawer and the drawee bank in court by garnishment or other process. However, the mere fact that attachment of a check is not a complete remedy in and of itself does not require that it be declared unavailable for attachment. A payee of a check has a right to receive the money evidenced by the check upon his endorsement, which the court can order. It is that interest that the Legislature has made subject to attachment.

II.

We hold that the Court of Appeals erred in concluding that the attorney’s lien granted by T.C.A. section 23-2-1024 extended only to Berke’s contractual contingent fee agreement. It was undisputed that the fee contract expressly provided that Berke would be compensated as well for any expenses he incurred in pursuing King’s claim. Our cases have long held that an attorney is entitled to compensation in the amount agreed upon by contract, provided that the contract is fair at its inception and entered into in good faith. Hunt v. McClanahan, 48 Tenn. (1 Heisk.) 503, 509 (1870); Bright v. Taylor, 36 Tenn. (4 Sneed) 159, [347-349]*347-349162 (1856) and McClain v. Williams, 16 Tenn. (8 Yerg.) 230 (1835).

We have also recognized that an attorney is entitled to a lien upon his client’s recovery for the amount of compensation settled by contract.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Ben C. Adams v. Buchanan D. Dunavant
Court of Appeals of Tennessee, 2026
Luna Law Group, PLLC v. Richardson M. Roberts
Court of Appeals of Tennessee, 2022
Jon Vazeen v. Martin Sir
Court of Appeals of Tennessee, 2021
Berkley v. Williams
W.D. Tennessee, 2020
In re Saroff
509 B.R. 166 (E.D. Tennessee, 2014)
Cooper v. Estate of Weisberger
224 S.W.3d 154 (Court of Appeals of Tennessee, 2006)
Michelle Stalls v. Dorothy J. Pounders
Court of Appeals of Tennessee, 2005
Edward Silva v. Albert Buckley, Jr.
Court of Appeals of Tennessee, 2003
Walter Walsh v. Ba Inc .
37 S.W.3d 911 (Court of Appeals of Tennessee, 2000)
Alexander v. Inman
974 S.W.2d 689 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1998)
Ganaway v. Department of Social Services
753 S.W.2d 12 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1988)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
697 S.W.2d 344, 1985 Tenn. LEXIS 554, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/peoples-national-bank-of-washington-v-king-tenn-1985.