Opinion
March 8, 1950.
Present — Foster, P.J., Heffernan, Brewster, Bergan and Coon, JJ.
Appeal by defendant from a judgment in favor of the plaintiff for the sum of $4,261.50, entered after a trial before an Official Referee. Plaintiff is an attorney, and the judgment appealed from was recovered for an alleged breach of contract by the terms of which plaintiff claimed to have been retained by the defendant to perform legal services for the period of one year, at a salary of $10,000. The period alleged to have been breached was from June 1, 1944, to October 1, 1944. The defense was that the contract was one at will, to be terminated at the option of either party. The proof indicated that plaintiff had been counsel for defendant with an annual retainer for many years, including a period when the defendant was in a receivership. At a meeting of the board of directors held on September 23, 1943, a resolution was adopted to the effect that plaintiff's salary as general counsel was to be at the rate of $10,000 per annum, beginning October 1, 1943. From this and other evidence in the record we think the clear purport of the agreement was to retain plaintiff on an annual basis, at the salary stated, and that a valid contract of retainer was made. Concededly the services of plaintiff were terminated without fault on his part. Judgment unanimously affirmed, with costs and disbursements.