The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1895-01-07
FEE PLUNDERERS.
More .Facts Showing How the
Litigants Are Bled
When They Try to Secure Jus
tice in the Courts.
A FORTUNE is MADE
By Officials While the Public
| FORTUNE is MADE
By Officials While the Public
Comes Out
Without Anything, and With
Lawyers to Pay Beside.

Lawyers and litigants in the Shawnee
county courts have been quiet but have
sawed considerable wood in the past two
weeks in the matter of the fees of jus
tices, clerk OF the district court and cher
| if. That the tees are exorbitant, every
one except those officers themselves ad-
nit, and could the innermost depths of
their conscienceS be read, no doubt it
would be shown that they think SO, too.
Plans to remedy the fee evil are nearly
as numerous as the complaints, but the
most simple one is that of putting the
| officers on salary, and allowing the
fees to revert to the county treasury. 1t
is impossible to havesa fee bill that will
! be fair to officers in all parts
of the state. A bill reducing fees
of 1.-The Shawnee county officers to
"a proper limit would mean starvation to
! those. holding similar offices in less popu-
/ lous Counties. 1t was in order to give
+ the officers in minor counties a. decent
lsrecompense for their time that bill
! was created which means "a small fortune
to those of Shawnee, Wyandotte, Leav-
! enworth and the larger counties.
w. a. 5. Bird of the Topeka bar is
| preparing DILL on the matter of fees
which possesses many points of merit.
His idea is this. To allow the clerk Of
/ the district court all fees up to 5000
amount shall be turned into the county
treasury except 2 or 5 per cent which
shall lie allowed to them as commits
sion for collection. and to make it to
their interest to make the collections as
large as possible. Mr. Bird says that
this plan, applied not only to the district
clerk, but to justices of the peace,
sheriff and probate judge. would
reduce the county taxes nearly
twenty per cent The only trouble with
this plan is that it affords only half of
the relief asked. While it would reduce
the profits of the office holders, it would
not reduce the cost of law suit to the
litigants. The plan applied to an i'm
proved fee bill would be excellent.
Another lawyer says the fault is more
I with the office holders than with the law,
except as the law is so loosely construct
ed as to permit such practices The fee
bill is practically the same as it was
years ago when there was no complaint,
but it is only of late years that the art of
constructive fees" has been in vogue. If
the office used the bill as it was intend
ed, instead of taking advantage of its
weak points, there would be no trouble.
Joseph Reed used to be justice of the
peace and he knows how the justices are
able to make big fees for themselves. by
means which he says he never thought
of. He says, 'fThe law allows the justice
I of the peace % cents a folio 200 words)
and 10 cents for every additional
folio. The justices frequently charge
for every ten lines instead of every hun
dred They also get 80 cents for an or
der to bring prisoner into court When
| wanted prisoner | used to say to m
constable: Here. Kuykendall. bring so
and SO into court and he brought him.
Now the justices make out a writ en-
form and get 90 cents for it. When the y
L. i,
zauce they get So cents for signing the
document | never thought of this. In
a misdemeanor case | always let pris-
oner go on his own recog nizance, and if
he was mean enough to leave town be-
fore the trial it was good riddance;
the town was better off without
him. These figures are not large,
but when case is continued six times it
means 81 fees on the item of order and
bond alone, to say nothing of excess folio
charges and the ordinary other fees"
A certain man in Topeka, who, while
not lawyer, has a great deal of busi-
ness in the courts as plaintiff or defend
ant, had little foreclosure suit recently
in which the amount involved was only
about $780, The case was in court only
a short time, and when the costs were
figured up they amounted to $9835, or
about 80 per cent of the claim. He says
regarding this: rs it any wonder we
hesitate about going into court with a
Just claim. If man owes me $50 |
would rather settle for ten cents on the
dollar than to sue. There would be more
in it for me. 1t is plain on the face of it
that such a state of affairs work
hardship on the lawyers. They
are deprived of many cases which would
be brought were not the clients intimi-
dated by the costs which are sure to &C
crue.
81 wouldn't object to a moderate bill
of costs, or even a bill made up of CON
structive fees for l am something of d
robber myself, and have no room to talk.
| don't propose to throw stones But |
wish the STATE JOURNAL would call at
tention to the matter of what they call
'misfootings' When | got my bill for
$9S 35 for costs l made kick. and the
sheriff gave me this tip-'add the column
yourself. / did so, and found mistake
in their favor of something over six dol
lars They called it 'misfooting' and
corrected If. Not long after l got anoth-
er bill of costs. and on figuring out the
details myself found another mistake.
Then l did make roar. | told them it
was all right in case where man only
sued once in ten years, but they couldn't
afford to do it to as good a customer OF
theirs as | am. The result is that the
practice has stopped in my case. 1t is
only guess work with me about the other
cases"
, Mrs May Motsinger died this morning
at the home of her parents Mr.. and Mrs
Channel, 81 Van Buren, street The
J funeral will take place at 2 o'clock to.
kmoEr9W.