(DOWNLOAD) "Beck v. Dutchman Coalition Mines Co." by Supreme Court Of Utah ~ eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Beck v. Dutchman Coalition Mines Co.
- Author : Supreme Court Of Utah
- Release Date : January 26, 1954
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 62 KB
Description
WOLFE, Chief Justice. Action by the appellant, plaintiff below, to recover $10,000 for legal and other services which he rendered
the respondent corporation, defendant below, during a thirty year period extending from 1921 to 1951. The respondent resisted
the action on the ground that it had paid the appellant for all his services except the sum of $1,000, and that his action
was barred by the four-year statute of limitations on actions to recover on contract, Sec. 78-12-25, Utah Code Annotated 1953.
From a judgment entered on a jury verdict in favor of the appellant for $1,500, he prosecutes this appeal contending that
the court below did not correctly instruct the jury and that the verdict was so inadequate as to entitle him to a new trial.
The respondent cross-appeals contending that the statute of limitations above referred to bars recovery of all but $100 of
the judgment entered by the trial court. The appellant testified that he was employed by the respondent in 1921 and had been its attorney continuously since that
time; that at that time it was agreed that he would be liberally paid for his services when the respondent corporation had
money sufficient with which to pay him, but that he would be reimbursed from time to time for expenses. Briefly stated, the
appellant claimed he had rendered, inter alia, the following services to the respondent: made assessments on its stock; kept
the minutes of the directors' meetings; drafted leases; conducted litigation; made about one hundred trips to the mine which
is located in American Fork Canyon in Utah County in this state for various purposes, furnishing his own transportation; made
many trips to Provo, the county seat of Utah County, to check the title records and for other purposes; secured prospective
lessees, conducted them through the mine and negotiated leases with them; secured loans from the R.F.C. for one of the respondent's
lessees; wrote about 600 letters on behalf of the corporation; did work in obtaining patents to the mine; and kept its general
manager who lived in California apprised in all matters connected with the operation of the mine. In addition, the appellant
claimed that his law office in Salt Lake City served as the office of the respondent corporation in Utah and that he furnished
it stationery, stamps, telephone and stenographic service. He testified that during the thirty year period he had received
from the respondent as fees for himself only $350, plus 10,000 shares of stock in the respondent which were given to him so
that he could serve as a director, and an additional 20,000 shares which were given him without his knowledge in about 1937
by the board of directors at a meeting held in Los Angeles, California, of which he received no notice. Estimates as to the
value of the stock ranged from nothing to one cent per share.