The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-12-04
Enormous Fees Paid To Lawyers.


, OF ten. probably irresponsible and I'M
able to respond for the costs of the suit
il they are defeated. the lawyers of the
class mentioned take their cases and
bfin action on the gamble that they
Will be able to squeeze something out
of the railroad company.
They figure that they have every
thing 10 gain and nothing TO lose, and
as their agreements with their clients
usually provide that they have half OF
whatever is recovered they can afford
10 and do take long chances many
times when they know that their eli
ents were injured. If at all, by reason
Of their own negligence.
The very minute an action is begun
the defendant cannot settle with the
plaintiff without being responsible for
the lawyers fees. and therefore the
attorney has strong inducement to
bring these cases with little or no dan
ger to himself in case OF defeat.
II is said that Guiteau, the assassin
of President Garfield, who at one time
was a practicing attorney in New York
City, once took case on a contingent
fee. the agreement being that he should
have half of what he collected. He
collected one-haif of the original claim
and informed his client of the fact
telling his client that the half he had
already collected was his (the Iawyer's)
half, and when he succeeded in collect
ing the other half he would turn il over
10 the client.
OF course the value of lawyers
services frequently depends on the eff
fectiVeness of his work rather than the
time which he takes 10 do il, and when
he accomplishes important results for
his client, and does it within day or
two, it is hard 70 make the client be-
lieve that the services are worth as
much as the lawyer thinks il ought
TO be.
A story is told of a prominent lawyer
who had an important litigation pend
ing and il was agreed between his eli
eRt and himself that if hec Ould secure
$4,000 the lawyer could have half that
amount. The attorney finally. after
some negotiations, secured a settlement
by which his client was TO receive $780,
900 and called his client in TO carry
through the adjustment
Tho story goes that when the client
discovered that the money was in sight
he made a strenuous objection 10 the
lawyer getting so large a fee, where
upon the attorney replied that the
papers were not yet signed and could
! be Immediately returned to the other
party and the settlement could be de-
clared of. The client then thought bet
ter of the matter and accepted SIS 900.
\ case OF this kind also happened TO
an attorney of New York, who related
his experience a short time ago. The
attorney said:
II received a call from d client for
! whom ! have done q. small amount of
business who told me that he was hard
up, but he wanted me to do some work
for him and suggested that ] take a
small yacht which he owned in pay
ment for my work. 1t was an unusual
proposition. but / assented and after !
had done the work / went UP to take
| possession OF the yacht. Ny client
went along and explained the workings
OF the machinery, it being fitted with a
| steam engine the power of which was
generated by a burner which burned
! gasoline into gas and then burned it
under an ordinary tube boiler.
Il hired an engineer to run the boat.
/ spent several times the amount of my
! fee and took two or three trips in the
yacht But the boiler and engine were
OF the Anticipated pattern and were
constantly getting out of order, and
| finally one day the whole machinery
| got on fire and we were compelled to
| jump into the water TO escape with our
lives. The yacht burned to the waters
edge and 1 suppose it sank ] have
never seen or heard anything about It.
made up my mind that thereafter I
would only accept cash fees for my
| services. New York Tribune.