¶1A contract between a layman and an attorney at law, who has taken a catee on a contingent fee, whereby the layman is to search out witnesses and obtain evidence to prove the case and share in the fee of the attorney in the event of recovery, is void as against public policy. 6. R. C. L. 757, § 164; 13 C. J. 448, § 388; Johnson v. Higgins, 30 Del. 548 (2) (108 Atl. 647); Gross v. Campbell, 118 Ohio St. 285 (160 N. E. 852); Duteau v. Dresback, 113 Wash. 545 (194 Pac. 547, 16 A. L. R. 1430); Quirk v. Muller, 14 Mont. 467 (36 Pac. 1077, 25 L. R. A. 87, 43 Am. St. R. 647); Neece v. Joseph, 95 Ark. 552 (129 S. W. 797, 30 L. R. A. (N. S.) 278, Ann. Cas. 1912A, 655). Accordingly, the court did not err in sustaining the general demurrer to the petition in which the plaintiff, a layman, sought to recover a balance alleged to be due him under a contract with the defendant, an attorney at law, whereby the plaintiff was employed “to investigate the facts of said case and secure evidence and the names of witnesses to prove the case,” and share in the defendant’s fee which wa's contingent upon recovery. Judgment affirmed.
55 Ga. App. 786
Cates v. Kelley
Decided May 15, 1937
Court of Appeals of Georgia · decided 1937-05-15
Relies on McKinley v. Niederst · Neece v. Joseph · Quirk v. Muller
Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know
Decided 1937-05-15
How this case has been cited
Cited by 13 later decisions — most recently January 1996
1 federal appellate · 12 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
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