Cox v. Delmas

Citations

• 99 Cal. 104
• 33 P. 836
• 1893 Cal. LEXIS 621

Syllabus

<p>Attorney and Client—Action to Becover Money Collected—Pleading—Demand—Denial of Ownership—Evidence.—In an action to recover money alleged to have been collected by an attorney for his client, in which the answer denies that theldefendant received the money sued for as attorney for the plaintiff, and alleges that he received it in his own right and as his own property, and where it was proved at the trial without objection that the plaintiff demanded the money of the defendant before the suit was commenced, a judgment for the plaintiff will not be reversed for failure of the complaint to aver such previous demand.</p> <p>Id. —Demand before Suit, when Unnecessary.—When the time has come for the doing of an act, which it is the duty of the defendant to do unconditionally, no demand other than the suit itself is necessary; nor is a demand before suit required where it appears that it would have been unavailing, and would not have changed the right and relations of the parties, or where the answer denies the relation on which the action is founded, although a demand and refusal would otherwise be a condition precedent to the right of the plaintiff to maintain the action.</p> <p>Id__Purchase of Outstanding Interest nr Cause of Action by Attorney fob Benefit of Client—Contract between Them — Consideration—Rescission. — Where an attorney purchased from an administrator of a deceased person an outstanding interest in the cause of action, which his client, previous to the employment of the attorney, had assigned and transferred to the deceased in his lifetime, and also a contingent interest in the same cause of action in favor of a former attorney, who had transferred it to the same person as security for a debt, and subsequently to the purchase of those outstanding interests, the attorney and client executed a written instrument reciting the purchase by the attorney, and that he has by regular sale, assignment, and transfer become invested with and now holds all the right