Bergen v. Frisbie

Citations

• 125 Cal. 168
• 57 P. 784
• 1899 Cal. LEXIS 819

Syllabus

<p>Contract—Validity—Influencing Patents from Secretary of Interior.—A contract by a person having timber-land entries, for the services of an attorney to influence the official action of the secretary of the interior favorably to the issuance of patents upon such entries, without any stipulation for the use of improper means or methods, and to pay for such services a per-centage of the value of the timber-lands, contingent upon success, is not void as against good morals or public policy.</p> <p>Id.—Contingent Fee—Securing Favorable Decision.—The contingent character of the fee fixed by the contract does not affect its validity; nor does the fact that the attorneys were retained to secure a favorable decision of the matters pending before the secretary of the interior taint the contract.</p> <p>Id.—Means and Manner of Employment—Presumption.—The means and manner of the employment are the factors which determine the validity or invalidity ol the contract; and in the absence of any showing that the means and methods to be used, or which were used, by the attorneys, were improper, it will be presumed that the contract is valid and enforceable.</p>