Hamlin v. Flick

Citations

• 130 Wash. 126
• 226 P. 484
• 1924 Wash. LEXIS 830

Syllabus

<p>Limitation of Actions (17) — Oral Contracts — Account Stated. An account stated is not a contract in writing, and while it creates an independent indebtedness upon which the statute of limitations runs from the date it is rendered, it is subject to Rem. Comp. Stat., § 159, fixing a period of three years for contracts not in writing.</p> <p>Limitation of Actions (27) — Set-Off and Counterclaim (6)— As Bar to Defense — Credits on Note — Mutual Agreement for Set-Off. An account stated cannot be pleaded as an offset in an action on a promissory note, where it was barred by the three-year statute of limitations at the time of the commencement of the action.</p> <p>Same (27). Where an attorney, indebted to his client on a promissory note, had an agreement with the client that the reasonable value of his services to be performed should be credited on the note, he is entitled to offset the same in an action on the note, and the statute of limitations does not run against the offset short of the time within which the action is barred.</p> <p>Attorney and Client (30) — Negligence—Evidence—Sufficiency. An attorney cannot be held negligent in a matter where he was employed to make an investigation and was not directed to institute suit in the first instance, nor directed to institute suit after he reported that it was necessary.</p> <p>Same (38) — Services—Right to Compensation. In an action on a promissory note, defendant’s offset for legal services cannot be defeated by the fact that he rendered unavailable real estate pledged as security for the note, where he has shown no disposition to avoid payment of any judgment.</p> <p>Same (38). An attorney’s right to recover the reasonable value of services in defending an appeal is not defeated by the fact that one of the grounds urged on the appeal may have been due to his fault or mistake, where that was a subsidiary question and not the inducing cause of the appeal.</p>