Estate of Hastings

On January 18, 1943, Harry C. Hastings employed A. J. Treat as his attorney to represent him in relation to a trust that had been set up by his grandfather and which was then the subject of litigation in an action pending in the superior court in San Francisco. Treat associated appellant Samter as cocounsel in the matter, with the approval and ratification of Hastings, on a contingent basis, counsel to receive 40 per cent of any recovery effected from the trust. The sum of $73,827.23 was then on deposit in escrow in a bank to await the judicial determination of the conflicting claims of…