The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1895-09-16

AoehppolHuAleHb ny lung usage, anu loio
the Council to take the odium of throw
ing down faithful public servant. But
the odium attaching to this case does not
stop with the rejection of Mr.. Written.
The selection of his successor is, to say
the least very unfortunate one.
No apology is needed for instituting an
inquiry into the qualifications of man
who seeks appointment to an important
public office like that of bank examiner
Such an inquiry is not only proper, it
is duty. That 1t is made late is due
to the fact that Mr.. Timberlake prosecut-
ed his campaign for the office secretly,
his candidacy not being generally known
until a day or two before his appoint
ment Neither Mr.. Written nor his friends
knew that any one was in the field un-
til few days before the nomination, so
quietly had Mr. Timberlake carried on
his canvass and got his "stack of petit
ions''
Mr.. Timberlake is lawyer by profess
sion. He has been in practice ten or
twelve years in the town of Phillips in
Franklin county. In 1888 he brought suit
against one Eli Crosby for professional
services. The case finally reached the
law court and..in the eighty first volume
of the Maine Reports is published the
opinion rendered by Judge Walton and
concurred in by Judges Peters, Danforth,
Virgin and Emery. The opinion suffio-
iently discloses the facts of the case 1t
is as follows:
F. E. TIMBERLAKE VS.. ELI
CROSBY.
Franklin. Opinion January 49,, 1885,
Attorney. Compensation. Negligence.
Where an attorney makes twenty writs
| when only one is necessary, he cannot
| recover for the writs, nor for term fees
| in the suits, thus unnecessarily COM
menCed.
On motion by defendant to set aside
the verdict. The facts appear in the
opinion,
| Walton, 1.-THE plaintiff has obtained
verdict of $l07. 80 for balance which he
claims is due him for professional services
and disbursements. We are forced to the
conclusion that this verdict is clearly
wrong and must be set aside. Lawyers,
like other professional men, are required
to possess and exercise a reasonable
amount of knowledge and skill. And
when a lawyer is employed to assist in
the collection of a debt, and, through
| ignorance of a plain and we'll settled rule
Of law, he makes twenty writs when only
one Els necessary, he cannot srecover for
the writs nor for term fees in the suits
thus unnecessarily commenced. To hold
otherwise would place ignorance at a
premium and knowledge at a discount.
1t appears that the plaintiff was en-
ployed to make oneftrustee writ against
IoIS% AE~4 I, IL,
| it and delivered it to the creditor, and
| that the latter caused it to be served on
the nineteen defendants and on the
Franklin & Megantic Railroad Company
as their trustee; and that several days
afterward, without instructions from his
client and without seeing him, the
plaintiff made nineteen more writs and
had them served-that is, he sued each
of the nineteen joint debtors in sepa-
rate action. His excuse for so doing is
that he was not certain that he ''coulo
hold their several accounts against the
railroad ON their joint liability"
This excuse is not satisfactory 1t is a
against joint debtors the property Of each
may be attached. And it was decided
in Smith VS.. Cahoon, 81 Maine, 281, that,
Gin suit against joint debtors, person
holding goods, effects or credits, of either
of them may be held as trustee" The
marginal note of this decision, which
we have quoted, is copied into the Maine
process and the subtitle of "when
the trustee will be charged" The de-
cision is also cited on the margin of the
revised statutes opposite the chapter re-
lating to ''trustee process, under the
titlesof ''when charged And it seems
to us that by a search of ten or fifteen
minutes, the plaintiff could have found
this decision, and thus removed his uncer-
tainty; and to remain ignorant, with the
means of information SO readily accessi-
BILE, must be regarded as cuipable negli-
gence. Caverly vs. McOwen, 1923 Mass.
574; Wilson VS.. Russ, 20 Maine, 421; 2 Sh.
and Red. on Negligence. 9th ed. } $3.50.
2 Greenl. Ev. IA.
No reason is perceived, and none is sug-
gested why the suit first commenced did
not accomplish every purpose desired.
We think it did. And we think that the
nineteen suits subsequently commenced,
and in which the plaintiff has charged
the client for writs and term fees $3.50. 90,
were not only useless, but worse than
useless, for they absorbed over $3.50 90 Of
the funds from which the creditor hoped
to collect his debt in the trustees fees
alone. And the plaintiff has charged in
his account annexed to the writ 1874. 10
for the officers fees for serving these
writs and he admits that he paid the
acce pied that sum in full for his services
A deduction of 1914. 10 must therefore be
made from this item. And we think $3.50. 90
should be deducted from the charge for
writs and term fees. These two sums be-
ing deducted, the balance of the plain
tiff's account, as charged by him, will
be only $685. rs, and, as he has already been
paid $75 co. we think that nothing more
can Justly be recovered of the defendant
Motion sustained.
Peters, G. j., Danforth, Virgin and
Emery, JJ., concurred.
We are disposed to assume that neither
the Council nor the Governor knew of
the existence of this opinion, and that
the newspapers which have been sounding
Mr.. Timberlake's praises in so lavish
way were ignorant of it ALSO We cannot
believe that either the Council or the
Governor or the newspapers would recon-
mend for the important duty of super
vising the management of $50, 900, 600 be-
longing to the people of the.state which
they have accumulated by years Of thrift
and self denial a man who only six years
ago was found guilty by tho Supreme