Dodson v. Temple Hill Baptist Church, Inc.

This extraordinary dispute concerns a lawyer’s fee and the former client’s success, so far, in foiling all efforts to collect it.

In the very early Fifties the Reverend William B. Adams (Adams) hired the appellant (Dodson) to collect a claim against the United States. The fee was to be contingent on Dodson’s success. As a result of Dodson’s efforts, Adams received $9,552 from the government but he refused to pay him the agreed percentage thereof. In 1954 Dodson obtained a judgment against Adams in the District of Columbia. Adams v. Dodson, 106 A. 2d 501. Dodson sued on that judgment in…