Titche v. Hiller

5 La. App. 375, 1927 La. App. LEXIS 26
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 31, 1927
DocketNo. 10,063
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 5 La. App. 375 (Titche v. Hiller) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Titche v. Hiller, 5 La. App. 375, 1927 La. App. LEXIS 26 (La. Ct. App. 1927).

Opinion

CLAIBORNE, J.

This is a suit for attorney’s fees.

The facts of the case are as follows:

One June 2, 1920, A. J. Hiller sold to H. P. Campbell certain lands situated in the County of Pontotoe, Mississippi, said to contain 160 acres; the price of sale was $4168, which was paid as follows: By assuming a mortgage of $1000 upon said lands and by the transfer and delivery by Campbell to Hiller of a promissory note of $3168 made by N. T. and W. D. Willis.

On June 21, 1920, Campbell filed a suit against Hiller for the rescission of said sale and for the return of the note of $3168. In his petition he alleged that he had purchased the lands without inspecting them, and upon the representations made to him by Hiller and his agents that the lands were situated within one mile from Pontotoe and that they were all level and under cultivation; that he visited the lands and has discovered that the representations made to him by Hiller were false and fraudulent to the knowledge of Hiller; that the truth is that said lands are situated about eleven miles from Pontotoe, and are hilly, and only twenty acres thereof are under cultivation, and are worth only a small part of the price which they would have been worth had they accorded with the representa[376]*376tions; that the sale made by Hiller to Campbell is therefore null for fraud on the part of Hiller and error on the part of Campbell, and Campbell desired to have the sale rescinded on those grounds, to be relieved from the assumption of the mortgage of $1000, and to have returned to him the note of $3168, and that Hiller be enjoined from negotiating said note.

The injunction was issued as prayed for on a bond of $500.

In a supplemental petition Campbell alleged that although the price of sale in the act of sale was stated to be ten dollars, the truth was that the price was as above stated; that' in addition to the false representations hereinabove mentioned, Hiller represented to Campbell that there was a large crop of growing alfalfa uipon the lands and that they were entirely fenced in; while the truth was there was no alfalfa at all and very little fencing.

Hiller employed Bernard Titche, the plaintiff herein, attorney at law, to defend the suit.

Titche topk a rule to dissolve the injunction upon two grounds.

1st. No cause for the writ;

2nd. Insufficiency qf the bond in amount.

The rule was dismissed.

Titche excepted to the petition on the ground of vagueness and that it disclosed no cause of action, and that' the supplemental petition charged the substance of the demand.

Titche filed a four-page brief “in support of the exception of no cause of action”, and quoted Article 1847 of the Civil Code, and State vs. Dozier, 33 La. Ann. 1364; 39 S. E. 593, 2 Day (Conn.) qwi, 136, and 13 Wall. 379.

The exceptions were overruled.

Hiller then filed an answer. He admitted the sale to Campltell, and the price set forth in the petition, but denied all the other allegations of the petition and supplemental petition.

The case went to trial upon those issues.

As stated by Campbell’s attorney, “the main issue in the case is, therefore, whether or not the representations were made as alleged, and if so, what is their legal effect upon the rights of the parties”. The testimony in the case as to the representations which the plaintiff claims induced him to purchase the land, and with which the land concededly did not comply, is directly conflicting, and it will be necessary for the court to determine which side of this conflicting testimony it will accept as true, and having thus found the facts, to make a proper application of the law thereto. It is conceded that the plaintiff and the defendant never met directly either in the negotiations leading up to the sale or in the consummation of same, communications being through plaintiff’s (Campbell’s) brother' as an intermediary.

The plaintiff’s, Campbell’s, testimony consisted of the deposition of himself; of his brother, B. J. Campbell, in the real estate business in Memphis, operating under the name of B. J. Campbell and Company; of J. B. Hyde, manager of the Farm Loan Department of B. J. Campbell and Company, and of J. Wiley Móore, a bank cashier in Pontotoe County, Mississippi.

The defendant’s (Hiller) evidence consisted of the testimony of himself, which [377]*377was given in open court, and of the deposition of a Memphis lawyer named Loch.

Mr. Titche wrote a two-page brief upon the fact. He argued the rule to dissolve the exception and the merits.

The questions of law was the same in all three.

There was judgment in favor of Hiller rejecting Campbell’s demand.

In the suit'under consideration plaintiff, Titche, sues the defendant, Hiller, for five hundred dollars, subject to a credit of one hundred dollars received as a retainer, as a fee for services by him rendered to Hiller in the above suit of Campbell vs. Hiller.

The defendant Hiller for answer, admitted the employment of Hiller, as stated in his petition, but denied any indebtedness to him for three reasons.

1st. That he was compelled to employ counsel to defend himself in the suit of Campbell against himself to whom he owed attorney’s fees, and that he was damaged in the sum of $310 as interest on the mortgage notes enjoined, both of which Titche failed to claim against Campbell who was an absentee;

2nd. That the plaintiff, Titche, agreed upon a fee of $100 for all services to be rendered by him;

3rd. That the fee claimed is excessive.

Hiller claimed $410 in reconvention.

There was judgment in favor of plaintiff for $400 rejecting the reconventional demand.

Hiller has appealed.

1st. The injuncton could not have been dissolved on rule as the validity of the injunction depended upon facts, the truth of which could be denied only upon the merits. 4 La. Dig. S. 82; New Orleans Water Wks. Co. vs. Joseph Oser & Co., 36 La. Ann. 918.

Attorney’s fees cannot be allowed to defendant in injunction when it is dissolved after trial on the merits. 4 La. Dig. S. 97, p. 45; 8 Orl. App. 342 (344).

Only those fees are allowed which have been rendered to set aside the injunction proper. Aiken vs. Leathers, 40 La. Ann. 23, 3 South. 357; Lemeunier vs. McClearley, 41 La. Ann. 412, 6 South. 338; Levert vs. Sharpe, 52 La. Ann. 602, 27 South. 64.

The defendant has not shown that he has suffered $310 damages or any damages at all.

2nd. It is not proven that Titche agreed to defend the case for $100. Hiller and his mother-in-law testify to that. They may have mistaken the amount of the retainer for the entire amount of the fee. Titche denies it. One hundred dollars was not in proportion to the value of the services and this circumstance and the opinion of the trial judge lead us to believe the defendant was in error.

3rd. Plaintiff and the attorney of Campbell place a value of $500 upon the serv-: ices rendered by plaintiff.

There is no law and no absolute rule fixing the value of attorney’s fees. Every ease rests upon its own facts. 6 Orl. App. 225.

In the case of Randolph vs. Carroll, 27 La. Ann. 467, the court said:

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Bluebook (online)
5 La. App. 375, 1927 La. App. LEXIS 26, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/titche-v-hiller-lactapp-1927.