Reilly v. Beekman

24 F.2d 791, 1928 U.S. App. LEXIS 2166
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedMarch 12, 1928
Docket201
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 24 F.2d 791 (Reilly v. Beekman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Reilly v. Beekman, 24 F.2d 791, 1928 U.S. App. LEXIS 2166 (2d Cir. 1928).

Opinion

AUGUSTUS N. HAND, Circuit Judge

(after stating the facts as above).

It is true that the so-called transcript of record was filed within the extended term, but it was not a bill of exceptions. The certificate of the clerk, who could have no knowledge of the testimony taken at the trial, was confessedly based only on the stipulations of the parties, and not on the judge’s minutes as settled and allowed by Mm, which alone could be the record of the trial.

The minutes are no part of the record, until made so by the judge. Metropolitan R. R. Co. v. District of Columbia, 195 U. S. 322, 25 S. Ct. 28, 49 L. Ed. 219; Young v. Martin, 8 Wall. 354, 19 L. Ed. 418; Duluth St. Ry. Co. v. Speaks (C. C. A.) 204 F. 573; Chicago Great Western R. Co. v. Le Valley (C. C. A.) 233 F. 384; Fraina v. United States (C. C. A.) 255 F. 28; Buessel v. United States (C. C. A.) 258 F. 811. As Chief Justice Marshall said in Lessee of Fisher v. Cockerell, 5 Pet. at page 254, 8 L. Ed. 114: “The unauthorized certificate of the clerk that any document was read, or any evidence given, to the jury, cannot make that document or that evidence a part of the record, so as to bring it to the cognizance of this court.”

A bill of exceptions was necessary to make the so-called transcript a part of the record, and without one the record is limited to “the pleadings, the process, the verdict, and the judgment. * * * ” Clune v. United States, 159 U. S. 590, 16 S. Ct. 125, 40 L. Ed. 269. In view of the foregoing, the only questions really open for consideration are whether the judgment was justified in view of the pleadings.

It cannot be disputed that, if Eeilly was in a fiduciary relation to Mrs. Trenkman when he recommended Beekman to her as her attorney, he could not agree to profit from the business arising out of the introduction without her knowledge and consent. This is because Mrs. Trenkman was entitled to his disinterested advice as to the attorney to be recommended to her. That advice was not likely to be disinterested, if affected by the consideration of whether or not he could make a profit out of the recommendation of a particular person. Moreover, she was entitled to have him recommend an attorney, the amount of whose fees would depend on the services he had to perform, and would not be affected by what he had to pay out to the plaintiff for an introduction to the client. Auerbach v. Curie, 119 App. Div. 176, 104 N. Y. S. 233; Alpers v. Hunt, 86 Cal. 78, 24 P. 846, 9 L. R. A. 483, 21 Am. St. Rep. 17; McNair v. Parr, 177 Mich. 327, 143 N. W. 42. If she knew Eeilly’s interest, and what he was to receive, and consented to the arrangement, the case would be different. She might be willing to sanction it, because it would save her from paying Eeilly for his advice, or for other reasons. If, as is contended, Eeilly was not acting in an ordinary sense as an agent for Mrs. Trenkman in respect to her business and financial affairs, and simply as a friend recommended a lawyer, when requested so to do, we think he stands in no better position. To be sure, in that case he would be only a volunteer; but if he offered merely as a friend to recommend an attorney, with no knowledge on her part that he was to derive any benefit from the recommendation, she was deprived of the disinterested advice which he assumed to give when he was under the pay of Beekman ■in making the recommendation.

This principle was clearly recognized in Bollman v. Loomis, 41 Conn. 581, Holcomb v. Weaver, 136 Mass. 265, Wyburd v. Stanton, 4 Esp. 179, and Williston on Contracts, vol. 3, p. 3035. The fact that he was a volunteer could make no difference. The objectionable feature was that he assumed to act as an apparently disinterested person, when under pay from Beekman for doing the very thing which he undertook to do for Mrs. Trenkman. In such circumstances the law regards the contract on which recovery is sought as unenforceable, because against public policy. The guilt or innocence of Beekman does not affect this result. If he knew that Eeilly was not a lawyer, the agreement was bad under the provisions of section 274 of the New York Penal Law (Consol. Laws, c. 40). Defendant denied that he had such knowledge, and said, when he first acquired it, he repudiated the arrangement. If he knew that the plaintiff was acting in a fiduciary relation for Mrs. Trenkman and agreed to pay him for a recommendation, he was aiding a breach of trust; but he denied that he did more than to pay Eeilly for work done.

But it is said that Mrs. Trenkman knew that Eeilly had an interest in Beekman’s fees and consented that he be paid by the latter. It is true that there was testimony in the case that Mrs. Trenkman was told by *795 Beekman that “he was taking care of” Reilly, .and that he had paid Reilly $50,000 for the introduction and various other things. This was very different from the full disclosure which Reilly was bound to give to secure her ■consent to his 50 per cent, contract with Beekman. It is not apparent even that she thought Reilly was really paid other than for services in connection with the law business on which Beekman was engaged. At any rate, a disclosure had to be complete to avoid the illegality which otherwise affected the agreement. ' It certainly might have made a great difference to Mrs. Trenkman whether she knew she was in effect paying a fee of $500,000 or $600,000, 50 per cent, of which was wasted on the plaintiff, or that he was only getting an indefinite amount, presumed to be reasonable, or just the sum of $50,000. The disclosure was too indefinite a one on which to base a consent to the contract sued upon. It at most only went far enough to cover the payment of the $50,000, of which Mrs. Trenkman acquired knowledge. It had to be full, and the burden to prove that it was is on the agent. Dunne v. English, L. R. 18 Eq. Cas. 524; Liquidators of Imperial Mercantile Credit Ass’n v. Coleman, L. R. 6 H. L. 194. Moreover, there is •nothing in the testimony to show that Reilly •ever told Mrs. Trenkman that he had any interest in Beekman’s fees, or even that Mrs. Trenkman was told by Beekman that he had to take care of Reilly at or before the time when she employed Beekman.

It is contended finally that the illegality of the contract was not raised by the pleadings, because the “sixth separate defense” only alleged that Reilly “did not, at ■the time of the recommending and employment of the * * * defendant by * * * Mrs. Trenkman, or at any time, disclose to her ■that he had an agreement to share in the compensation which she might afterwards pay to the defendant,” and failed to allege that it was made with the knowledge and consent of Mrs. Trenkman. It is our opinion that the defendant set up a good defense when he alleged that the plaintiff stood in a fiduciary relation to Mrs. Trenkman, and everything else was mere surplusage. That allegation set forth an illegal contract, and called for pleading in the reply by way of confession and avoidance, which would show something in the nature of a waiver of Mrs. Trenkman’s right to object to a contract which was prima facie void as against public policy. It is hardly necessary to say that a, waiver or release must be affirmatively pleaded.

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Bluebook (online)
24 F.2d 791, 1928 U.S. App. LEXIS 2166, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/reilly-v-beekman-ca2-1928.