Kelly v. Burnham, Williams & Co.

Citations

• 248 Pa. 223
• 93 A. 949
• 1915 Pa. LEXIS 549

Syllabus

<p>Agency — Authority of agent — Insufficient evidence■ — Ratification —Case for jury — Forbearance to sue — Consideration.</p> <p>1. Where the wife of an injured employee made an agreement with her husband’s employer to refrain from bringing suit in consideration of certain payments to her, and where though the authority of the agent was not shown, it appeared that for twenty-seven months following the accident payments had been made at defendants’ office by an authorized employee, with the knowledge of defendants, and without objection or protest from them there was sufficient evidence in an action on the agreement for arrears that the agent’s contract had been ratified by defendants, to carry the case to the jury.</p> <p>2. While it is a general rule that a promise to forbear a suit against a person against whom the plaintifE has no legal cause of action is not a sufficient consideration, the rule is not applicable to an agreement of settlement made by plaintifE during the lifetime of her husband for injuries sustained by the husband, where both plaintifE and the agent of the company in whose employ the husband was injured believed that he would die as a result of the injuries, in which case plaintifE would have had a right of action.</p>