Court Opinion

ID: 9708010
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 02:27:22.993609+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:18:10.865277
License: Public Domain

KNUDSON, Judge
(Dissenting).
I do not agree with the majority opinion holding Mr. Wishek negligent for failure to advise Mr. Feil to file the agreement between Mr. Feil and Mr. Mayer, and I therefore dissent.
The sole issue in this case is whether or not Mr. Wishek was negligent in failing to advise Mr. Feil that it was necessary to file the agreement in the proper office to secure his right in the property sold as vendor. In this case Mr. Wishek was employed to reduce to writing an agreement between Mr. Feil and Mr. Mayer for the sale and purchase of the grocery business of Mr. Feil, including the furniture and fixtures and the stock of merchandise on hand. Mr. Wishek prepared an agreement accordingly, except for the description of the furniture and fixtures included in the sale, which in the agreement was designated “as set out in the attached list.” Mr. Feil and Mr. Mayer were to bring back to Mr. Wishek a list of the furniture and fixtures to be appended to the agreement as an addendum thereto. An up-to-date list of such furniture and fixtures was not brought to Mr. Wishek, although an incomplete list thereof was left at his office some six weeks or two months later. Such list was never attached to the several copies of the agreement. The agreement as drawn by Mr. Wishek was signed by the parties and a copy thereof delivered to each party on the day of the date thereof.
At the time Mr. Wishek was employed to draw the agreement the matter of the filing of the agreement in the appropriate office was not mentioned by any of the parties or by Mr. Wishek. The agreement was not at that time filed in the Register of Deeds office for McIntosh County.
I do not think that any duty was imposed on Mr. Wishek to file this agreement arising out of his employment as an attorney at law, or implied from his employment to draw the agreement in this case. There is no evidence in the record that he was instructed or requested to file the agreement, nor that Mr. Feil or Mr. Mayer desired that the agreement be filed. In fact, there was no discussion relating to the filing of the agreement.
In this case all that Mr. Wishek was employed to do was to draw the agreement from the information given to him by Mr. Feil and Mr. Mayer. Under the circumstances, all that Mr. Wishek undertook to do was to prepare and draw a sufficient contract for the sale and purchase of the grocery business from Mr. Feil by Mr. Mayer. Apparently the agreement was sufficient for that purpose, as Mr. Mayer assumed the ownership of the business, went into possession, operated the business for several years, and made the payments to Mr. Feil periodically as called for in the agreement, before his insolvency precipitated the present controversy.
It appears that when an attorney has been employed to draw an agreement, and the duty extends no further than the drawing of the agreement, and there has been *228no express agreement or contract to file the instrument or agreement, then the attorney is not liable for the failure to file the contract, nor is there under such circumstances of employment a part of the attorney’s duty to advise the parties to the agreement of any requirement to file such agreement in the proper office.
In 7 Am.Jur.2d Attorneys at Law § 175 it is said that:
Where an attorney agrees to have certain documents recorded and neglects to do so, he is responsible for any damages resulting from his negligence. But the mere fact that an attorney is employed to prepare papers that are required to be recorded does not make it, without more, the attorney’s duty to have them recorded. There must be a special undertaking for this purpose, or the original employment must be broad enough to include it.
And in 7 C.J.S. Attorney and Client § 145, it is written that:
Recording. An attorney employed to prepare deeds, contracts, or other papers which are required to be registered in order to be effective as to third parties is not bound, in the absence of a special contract, to file such papers for recordation, or to see that they are recorded; that is no part of his duty as attorney unless he has especially undertaken it. He may be liable, however, in cases where he has expressly contracted to attend to their being recorded, or where the special circumstances are such as to raise the implication of such a contract.
In this case there was no express contract between Mr. Wishek and Mr. Feil that the agreement be filed. Consequently, there is no duty on the part of Mr. Wishek to see to the filing of this agreement, or to advise Mr. Feil as to any requirement that it be filed.
I would reverse the judgment of the trial court.