Case Name: Isaac A. Stewart et al. v. Louisville & N. R. Co.
Court: Kentucky Court of Appeals
Jurisdiction: Kentucky
Decision Date: 1883-02-08
Citations: 11 Ky. Op. 943
Docket Number: 
Parties: Isaac A. Stewart et al. v. Louisville & N. R. Co.
Judges: 
Reporter: Kentucky Opinions, containing the unreported opinions of the Court of Appeals
Volume: 11
Pages: 943–944

Head Matter:
Isaac A. Stewart et al. v. Louisville & N. R. Co.
[Abstract Kentucky Law Reporter, Vol. 4—718.]
Attorney’s Lien Under Statute.
An attorney, under the provisions of Gen. Stat., Ch. 5, Art. 1, § 15, is entitled to a lien for his fee in an action for damages, but such lien does not attach until there is a recovery in the action and then only upon the judgment.
APPEAL FROM ROCKCASTLE CIRCUIT COURT.
February 8, 1883.

Opinion:
Opinion by
Judge Lewis:
Though under Gen. Stat. (1881), Ch. 5, Art. 1, § IS, an attorney at law is now entitled to a lien for the fee agreed upon, or, in the absence of a contract with his client, to a reasonable fee in an action to recover damages, yet by the terms as well as spirit of the law the lien does not attach until there is a recovery in the action, and then upon the judgment only.
S. F. J. Trabue, I. H. Trabue, I. A. Stewart, for appellants.
Wm. Lindsay, S. M. Burdett, for appellee.
In this case a compromise was made and the amount agreed upon was paid by appellee before the action was tried, and the judgment rendered was for the dismissal of the action at the costs of the plaintiff, the client of appellants. Having paid the full amount agreed by the terms of the compromise to be paid to the plaintiff in the action, appellee is not now, as the record stands, responsible to appellants for their fee, but they must look to their client.
The court below therefore properly overruled the motion for a rule against appellee, and the judgment must be affirmed.