Opinion ID: 1184544
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: report, findings and recommendations of hearing panel

Text: THE COMPLAINT OF LARRY HONN LARRY HONN, hereinafter referred to as Honn, complains generally that he hired respondent, RONALD W. MAYES, hereinafter called Mayes to cause a patent search to be conducted on four ideas or inventions, and, later, to prepare a patent application on the most promising one of the ideas; that although he paid a total of $1,000.00 (representing $400.00 for the patent searches and the $600.00 fee for one (1) patent application) he was not shown the application until sued by Mayes about a year and one-half later in the Court of Common Pleas of Sedgwick County for an additional fee; that while he made several trips to Mayes' office to see the application, when he arrived it was always at Mayes' home or Mayes did not keep the appointments, all as set out in his complaint, a copy of which is attached hereto marked Complainant's Exhibit 1 and made a part hereof. Mr. Mayes did not file a written answer to the complaint, but, as gleaned from his testimony, he claims that there was initially an oral agreement between he and Honn to conduct a patent search on Honn's ideas and that Honn would be charged $100.00 for each search made by the professional searcher in Washington, D.C.; that only three (3) such searches were made; that when the search report was received and the matter discussed with Honn an agreement was made wherein Honn agreed to pay $2400.00 for four (4) patent applications; that Honn paid $100.00 at the initial office conference on August 31, 1970, and $900.00 on December 15, 1970; that the total payment represented payment of $300.00 on the searches and $700.00 to apply on his fee of $2400.00; that Honn promised to pay the balance of $1700.00 owing to him but never did; that Honn had been told that his total fee was due in advance. After hearing all evidence and taking the matter under advisement the Panel finds as follows: That on August 31, 1970, Mayes and Honn had their initial conference in Mayes' office and discussed Honn's ideas or inventions; that Honn had three (3) ideas he presented to Mayes and as a result of their conversations a fourth idea developed; that Honn authorized Mayes to conduct a patent search of the information disclosed in the four (4) ideas; that Honn paid $100.00 to Mayes at the initial conference and agreed to pay $100.00 for each search made by the professional searcher in Washington, D.C. (hereinafter called Halpert); that Mayes told Honn that four (4) searches would be run. During this conference Mayes told Honn that in preparing a patent application he would prepare a rough draft and then he and Honn would go over it, correct it, and keep making rough drafts until they got it right; that several telephone and office conferences were had between Mayes and Honn during the time the searches were being made, both to discuss the progress of the searches and to discuss details of the ideas. That on October 23, 1970, an office conference was had between Mayes and Honn during which they discussed the results of the patent search; that Halpert had conducted the patent search in Washington, D.C. in the Patent Office, and had made his report by letter to Mayes, enclosing copies of several patents touching on or relating to Honn's ideas; that the letter report of Halpert was not shown to Honn but the enclosed patents were reviewed by Honn and copies of some of them made in Mayes' office and given to Honn during the conference. That during the October 23, 1970 conference Mayes told Honn that all four ideas were patentable in his opinion; that at this and subsequent conferences Mayes told Honn that it would be easier to prepare all four applications at the same time; that an attorney's fee of $600.00 per patent application was quoted to Honn; that a copy of a statement from Mayes to Honn dated October 20, 1972, indicating that charge is attached hereto marked Respondent's Exhibit A and made a part hereof; that Honn told Mayes that he did not have the money for all four applications and he wanted to work with Mayes on a cash basis only; Honn authorized and agreed to pay for preparation of one (1) patent application and promised to pay the $600.00 attorney's fee and the balance of the search fee at a later date. On December 15, 1970, Honn paid $900.00 to Mayes; that it was represented to Honn, and he understood, that this amount represented a $300.00 balance on patent searches of four ideas and the agreed fee of $600.00 for preparation of one patent application; that thereafter several office and telephonic conferences were had between Honn and Mayes during January, February and March of 1971 concerning technical details of the application and inquiries concerning the status of the preparation of the application; that Mayes told Honn the matter was coming along; that during the months of January, February and March of 1971, Mayes told Honn that the application was prepared and made appointments to see Honn in his office; that when Honn came to the office, Mayes would either (1) not keep the appointment (be out of the office); or (2) state that the applications were left at home; that this happened about six or eight times altogether; that each time Honn would travel from his home in Great Bend (and later, Sedgwick) to Wichita. That some time during the period of January, February and March of 1971 Mayes sent Honn a letter demanding payment of $1700.00 and enclosed a promissory note for that amount; that the note called for interest at 1% per month on the unpaid balance until paid; that Honn threw the note and letter in the waste basket; that Honn determined that since he had received nothing for his money and was not able to see the rough draft of the application that he was wasting his time and determined to drop the entire matter; that he did not communicate that decision to Mayes. In the ensuing months of the year 1971 there was no contact between Mayes and Honn; that in January of 1972 Mayes attempted to and did regain contact with Honn, discovering that Honn had, during the interim, moved to the City of Sedgwick, Kansas; that Mayes made demand for the attorney's fees of $1700.00 plus interest at 1% per month from November 23, 1970; that a copy of his letter to Honn, dated January 20, 1972, is attached hereto marked Respondent Exhibit D and made a part hereof; that Honn again attempted to see the patent applications which Mayes stated were prepared and went to Mayes' office; that Mayes again stated the application was at home; that another office appointment was made to go over the applications which Honn did not keep. That in a subsequent conversation on the telephone Honn finally told Mayes he considered he was wasting his time and told Mayes not to do anything further on the matter; that he hadn't received anything for his money and was not going to pay any more money. The panel further finds that Mayes finally prepared four (4) documents, which he stated were the technical parts of the four (4) applications; that these were not prepared until after Honn told Mayes he would not pay any more money and not to do any more work on the matter; that they were prepared sometime between January 20, 1972 and March 9, 1972; that they were prepared incident to a lawsuit against Honn for the recovery of the fees Mayes claimed Honn owed him; that these applications were not shown to Honn until the trial in the Court of Common Pleas. That in April of 1972 Mayes sued Honn in the Court of Common Pleas for the recovery of the fees and interest at the rate of 12% per annum; that a copy of the Bill of Particulars is attached hereto marked Complainant's Exhibit 2 and made a part hereof; and, upon trial of the matter, the Judge of the Court of Common Pleas found against Mayes; that the matter was appealed by Mayes to the District Court of Sedgwick County; that at the time of the hearing before this panel the matter had been tried in the District Court and was under advisement. That Honn made demand for the return of his papers and the application which Mayes had indicated was prepared but that Mayes refused to turn the documents over to Honn.