Lally v. Kuster
Lally v. Kuster
Opinion of the Court
The defendant appeals from a judgment for $2,694 awarded as damages for negligence as an attorney in failing to prosecute diligently a mortgage foreclosure suit which was dismissed for lack of prosecution after the statute of limitations had expired on the mortgage debt. The case was tried once before and resulted in a judgment for the defendant. On the appeal of the plaintiff the supreme court reversed the judgment and in a lengthy opinion written by Mr. Justice Wilbur reviewed the essential and unchangeable facts. (Lally v. Kuster, 177 Cal. 783, [171 Pac. 961].)
The essential facts are that one George Brown, the former, husband of the plaintiff, was the beneficiary of a trust under the will of his father, by which he was to come into the body of the trust estate on his reaching the age of thirty years. During the continuance of the trust • he had no' right to or control over the principal of the trust funds. Mrs. Marisco Brown, who was not related to George Brown, but who had been his nurse when he was a child, owned certain real property in Los Angeles burdened with a mortgage. George Brown, being in ill health, went to Los Angeles and made his home with Mrs. Brown, who took care of him and at times gave or advanced to him small sums of money. She was old and infirm and was disturbed by the mortgage on her property. George Brown caused her to deed the property to him, and he executed a new mortgage, which was then transferred to the trustees under his father’s will, and he then deeded the property back to her subject to the mortgage. The proceeds of the new mortgage, a part of the principal of the trust estate, were presumably used to satisfy the pre-existing debt. It is claimed by the defendant that it was the intention of George Brown to cancel the mortgage on coming into the trust property. Regardless of his intention in this regard, when the mortgage was accepted by the trustees it became a part of the trust property over which he had no control. He died before reaching the age of thirty, and the trust was thereby terminated. The trustees were required to and did turn over the trust property to George Brown’s widow, the plaintiff in this action.
The defendant was retained as an attorney by the plaintiff to collect the mortgage debt: After investigation he *358 urged the plaintiff not to proceed with the suit he was retained to commence and advised her that there might be a good defense to the action. After a series of delays and excuses the defendant was instructed on April 7, 1907, to push the ease and get judgment as soon as possible. On January 13, 1910, the defendant wrote that the ease was pending and awaiting trial. In reply to a letter complaining about the time the matter had dragged along, on January 31, 1910, the defendant wrote that the attorney for Marisco Brown had told him a demurrer had been interposed merely for time, and that he would file his answer as soon as he could get a complete statement from Mrs. Brown. The suit had been filed before October 17, 1907, for the defendant wrote on that day that he had filed suit and would have summons served at once. An amended complaint was filed October 15, 1908, and demurrer thereto was filed on June 17, 1909. Mrs. Marisco Brown’s motion to dismiss the foreclosure suit was granted on March 16, 1912. In opposition to the motion the defendant made an affidavit of merits on behalf of the plaintiff, in which he stated that he had fully investigated the facts and circumstances and he verily believed the plaintiff had a good cause of action against Marisco Brown.
Substantially the same facts were before the supreme court on the first appeal. It decided as a matter of law that the defendant had been guilty of negligence, and established the rule for the measurement of damages as the amount which could have been recovered in the foreclosure suit, less, if any, the value of the barred note and mortgage.
The record has been examined carefully and the other points relied on by the appellant have been considered, but it is not necessary further to review the evidence nor to discuss the appellant’s other contentions. The outstanding facts are that the defendant failed to prosecute the foreclosure suit, in direct violation of the instructions of his client, under such circumstances that the conclusion of negligence is irresistible. On conflicting evidence the jury determined the amount of damages in accordance with the rule laid down on the former appeal. There does not appear to have been any miscarriage of justice.
The judgment is affirmed.
Nourse, J., and Langdon, P. J., concurred.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- MARIE LALLY, Respondent, v. EDWARD G. KUSTER, Appellant
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- 1 case
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- Published