Reumping v. Wharton

76 N.W. 1076, 56 Neb. 536, 1898 Neb. LEXIS 273
Nebraska Supreme Court·Decided November 3, 1898·No. No. 8411·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

Ryan, C.

Plaintiff shed the defendants in the district court of Douglas county for damages alleged to have been sustained by reason of their negligence. In accordance with a peremptory instruction there was a verdict in favor of the said defendants, and by proceedings in error plaintiff seeks the reversal of the judgment thereon rendered. In the petition it was averred that the defendants, during- all the transactions described in the petition, were attorneys at law engaged in the practice of their profession in Omaha; that for labor done and materials furnished plaintiff' was entitled to a mechanic’s lien on two certain described lots in Omaha, and for the preservation and enforcement of said lien had taken the steps prescribed by law; that after taking such steps plaintiff employed the defendants to do all things necessary to foreclose said lien in said district court, and to do all things that might be necessary to enforce the collection of the amount thereof, whether such things were required to be done in the said district court or in the supreme court of the state; that said defendants accepted said employment and procured a decree of foreclosure of said lien, which decree was duly entered of record in the case of the Bohn Sash & Door Company against Case & Kennedy and others, and that in said decree there were a great many otheT mechanics’ liens, together with some mortgage foreclosures, which were divided into classes according to the order in which they were to be paid out of the fund to be 'created by the sale of the two lots affected by said decree. In round numbers the first class covered the costs of the foreclosure proceedings, $1,000. The second class was composed of a claim of P. H. Ma-honey & Co. for $198; the third class was made up of the amount due J. Jeffries & Sons on a mortgage, which amount was $19,770. The fourth class emlbraced numerous claims in the aggregate amounting to $10,000, in which class was the claim of plaintiff for $2,515 and [538] that of George A. Hoagland for $3,152. In the tenth class it was averred were the claims of the Bohn Sash & Door Company and Edward Tighe, the first for $5,312 and the last for $815, a total of $6,157. It was alleged in the petition that the Bohn Sash & Door Company appealed from the aforesaid decree to the supreme court and made all other parties to the suit appellees and caused them to 'be .served with notice of the appeal, and that defendants, as attorneys for plaintiff, were served with notice of the appeal and knew the same had been taken. The negligence imputed to the defendants was thus described in the petition: “Plaintiff further states that the said Wharton & Baird negligently failed to appear in the supreme court in behalf of this plaintiff, as they were required by the terms of their contract to do, and failed and refused to carefully preserve and enforce the interest of this plaintiff in said suit in the supreme court, and failed to urge that plaintiff’s claim was entitled to priority over the said $19,770 of the mortgage of said John Jeffries & Sons, and failed and neglected, in violation of their duty to this plaintiff and of their duty as attorneys .at law, to present to said .supreme court the right of this plaintiff in said suit, and failed and neglected to discharge their duties owing by them to this plaintiff and resting upon them by reason of their employment in said case as attorneys to watch and guard the interests of this plaintiff and conduct his suit with reasonable care and skill; and that by reason of said failure, neglect, and want of skill upon the part of said Wharton & Baird this plaintiff’s claim was not placed ahead of the claim of the said John Jeffries & Sons for $19,770.90, as aforesaid, and was not placed in the second class with the claims of the Bohn Sash & Door Company, Edward Tighe, P. H. Mahoney & Company, and George A. Hoagland.” It was further charged in the petition that the defendants became the attorneys of the firm of J. Jeff lies & Sons, whose interests were adverse to those of plaintiff, but this averment is of no impor[539] tance in this case, for the gravamen of' plaintiff’s action was negligence, and not bad faith, as to which there was no proof whatever. It was further averred in the petition that the lots against which the decree was entered sold for $80,010, which was insufficient to pay all of the claims of the first, second, and third classes, for which reason plaintiff received nothing on his claim in the fourth class, but that, if plaintiff’s claim had been placed in the second class, it would have been paid in full. The prayer was for judgment for an amount equal to the claim of plaintiff as established by the aforesaid decree.

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Reumping v. Wharton, 76 N.W. 1076, 56 Neb. 536, 1898 Neb. LEXIS 273 (Neb. 1898).

76 N.W. 1076 (Reumping v. Wharton) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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