Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-11-18
THE RAILROAD COUNSEL FEES.
Letter from the Attorneys to the Legis-
lature.
They Think Their Charges ReaSon-
able, but Submit the whole Matter
to the Legislature.


90 the Legislature.
To the General Assembly of the State Of Ten
neSsee
On the Dist of December, 1870, the Leg
islature passed an act to amend the act of
1870, Oh. 20, for the sale of the States inter
est in delinquent railroad companies, recit-
ing that in the attempts made to sell the
States interest under the latter act various
legal questions arose presenting serious OBJ
stacles to the sale and requiring to be set
tied before the States interest should be
again offered for sale, and providing in the
4.h section, that competent counsel should
be retained on behalf Of the State by the
Commissioners, 'wh0se duty it shall be-"
says the act, Immediately on the passage
of this act, to file a bill in said Chancery
Court Cat Nashville), so framed as to elicit
a determination by the court of all ques-
tiohs Of law and matters of controversy now
existing, or that may hereafter arise between
the State and any or all of the parties inter
ested IN said roads, and to conduct the suit
and superintend its progress, with view to
the speediest practicable determination; and
for such services said counsel shall be paid
fair compensation out of the public treas
ury of the State"
Immediately after the passage of this act,
the Commissioners employed the under
signed, E. II. Ewing, w. f. Cooper and w.
b. Reese, as counsel for the State under the
foregoing section. The questions Of law
presented were novel and difficult, the num-
Der of delinquent roads large, and the roads
scattered over the State, the amount of de-
linquent debt upwards of S1S,006,000. IThe
counsel employed went at once to work,
and on the 10th of January, 1871, filed the
original bin against the delinquent roads,
eleven in number, all their stockholders,
creditors, and mortgage bondholders,
and holders of State bonds issued
to these roads and all other persons having
Or claiming to have any interest in said
roads, and such proceedings have been had
that DEGREES have been obtained for the sale
of all of these roads, and they have all been
sold except two of the least valuable in
East Tennessee, at price which secures to
the State about six millions of dollars in its
bonds, and dissolves its connection with the
unproductive roads. The litigation has
been satisfactorily terminated; except as to
the Nashville and Northwestern Railroad
Company, This company, and the county
of Davidson as one of its stockholders, and
some Of its second mortgage bond holders,
applied for and obtained Writs Of error, by
which the case as to that road has been
taken to and is now pending in the Supreme
Court. But the Nashville and Chattanooga
Railroad Company and others, who have
made a conditional contract with the Com
missiOners for the purchase Of the Nashville
and Northwestern Railroad, have made ar
rangements with the Nashville and North
western Railroad Company and its stock
holders by which the writs Of error win
probably be dismissed, except in the case Of
the second mortgage bondholders. These
latter parties say they will litigate the case
in the Supreme Court of the State, and, if
necessary, in the Supreme Court of the
United States.
In the progress of the litigation, the coun-
sci for the State ascertained that some of
the State bonds issued to the Southwestern
Railroad Company, one of the delinquent
roads, were still held by that company,
some on deposit at Nashville and some
in New York. They took steps at once to Sc
cure these bonds, and did succeeds in securing
the whole of them, seventy eight in number,
Of one thousand dollars each, and they
were placed in the custody Of the Clerk and
Master of the Chancery Court at Nashville
as Receiver, charged with a lien for the fees
of the counsel for the State, and with the
costs Of the cause. The Southwestern rail-
road was reported by the Comptroller as
utterly worthless, and the States counsel
had hesitated, for this reason, at first to in
clude it in their bill, and they considered it
as scarcely worth the expense of the litiga-
ton. These bonds were an unexpected
gain, not in contemplation of the State or
the Commissioners in the litigation under
the act of Dec. u, 1870.
In this situation of affairs the Legislature
met, and the Commissioners made their re-
port to the Legislature, and mentioned,
among other things these bonds, and that
they were subject to a lien for fees and
costs, and this report was received, and the
proceedings Of the Commissioners sanCtion-
ed by the Legislature.
In the meantime reference was made to
the Clerk and Master of the Chancery Court
to ascertain and report what would be rea-
sonable compensation to the counsel of the
State for professional services, heretofore
or hereafter" to be rendered in the matter
Of the delinquent railroads. The Clerk and
Master, without any action Of the States
counsel, took the testimony of lawyers who
had been employed against the State in the
litigation, consisting of three of the leading
lawyers of the GAINESVILLE bar, James Z.
Bailey, JnO. F. House and Vim. A Quarles,
and ten Of the leading lawyers of the Nash
vile bar, Jno. G. G4vt, Abram L. Demoss,
Thos Ii. Malone, j. c. Thompson, Ed. Baxter,
J. L. Rice, E. b. McClanahan, NJ. B. How
ell and G. P. Thruston, all of whom testi-
fed that fee of fifteen thousand dollars
to each of said counsel was reasonable, and
many of them saying that it was low. Upon
this testimony report was made, fixing the
fees at that sum in money, or an amount in
the bonds on which the fees were charged
as a lien, at the current rate at which the
bonds were selling.
The Chancellor was inclined to think that
it was not proper case for hiBl to act upon
the fees, and the Commissioners might rea-
sonably be supposed to feel a delicacy in act
ing, as part of them had themselves ap-
piled to the Court for compensation. Under
these circumstances, the counsel for the
State thought then, and still think, they
were justified in receiving the bonds, and
holding them under the lien given them by
law, and by the decree Of the Chancellor,
and received them accordingly under the
order of the Court These bonds they were
ready to produce at any time.
The counsel recognize the right of the
Legislature to investigate these proceedings,
and their duty to see that the fees are ie-
Ultimate and proper. They think they have
the right to complain of the manner in
which the matter was taken up by the
Legislature, upon mere rumor, without any
opportunity being given them 20 explain the
facts. They are fully satisfied that the
whole proceedings, on their part, are unex-
Ceptionable; that the fees allowed were rea-
sonable, and that they are justly and legally
entitled to them. And they have
been willing that the amount of
the compensation might be tested
in any manner the Legislature might see
proper, either by calling witnesses before a
committee appointed for the purpose, or by
proceedings in the courts. They know,
and every lawyer Of the Nashville bar
knows, that larger fees have been allowed
and paid in railroad cases than the fees in
question, when the amount in controversy
and the difficulty Of the questions involved
are taken into consideration.
But the course Of the Legislature and the
public press, although altogether ex parte,
have created such furore in the public
mind that it would be difficult for the I'M
designed to allay it in any reasonable time.
Moreover, it is neither proper nor possible
Co. to 10