QUASI-CONTRACT-IMPOSSIBILITY OF PERFORMANCE-RESTITUTION OF MONEY PAID OR BENEFITS CONFERRED WHERE FURTHER PERFORMANCE HAS BEEN EXCUSED

Authors

J. R. Swenson S.Ed., University of Michigan Law SchoolFollow

Abstract

In a recent Oklahoma case, City of Barnsdall v. Curnutt, an attorney was retained by a city to prosecute a damage claim arising out of the pollution of a stream. The attorney was to receive a 40 per cent contingency fee. The defendant in the action made an offer in compromise of $25,000 which was rejected by the city on advice of the attorney. Before the action was brought to trial the attorney died. The counsel substituted by the city obtained a settlement in which the city received $35,000, out of which a fee of $ 10,500 was paid to the new counsel. The original attorney's personal representative brought an action to recover for the services rendered by the decedent. Measuring his services by the rejected offer in compromise, the court allowed recovery of $10,000.

Recommended Citation

J. R. Swenson S.Ed., QUASI-CONTRACT-IMPOSSIBILITY OF PERFORMANCE-RESTITUTION OF MONEY PAID OR BENEFITS CONFERRED WHERE FURTHER PERFORMANCE HAS BEEN EXCUSED, 46 Mich. L. Rev. 401 (1948).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol46/iss3/8