Lewis

This is an appeal from a judgment in favor of respondent Anne Lewis (assignee of the law firm of Goldberg, Stinnett & Macdonald) for $26,172.08 due as legal fees from appellant, The Neptune Society Corporation (hereafter Neptune). We affirm.

Respondent’s assignor served as attorney for Neptune in a bankruptcy matter beginning in 1983. Prior to rendering legal services, Attorney Dennis Davis met with Mannie Weintraub and Charles Denning, of Neptune, and orally agreed on monthly billing and payment of fees. Neptune paid $10,000 in October 1983 and $5,000 in April 1984. The amount billed in the final invoice of June 1984 was not paid. Davis’s first meeting with Neptune officials was with Weintraub and Denning, but all subsequent conversations regarding fees were with Weintraub only.

The matter was set for a half-day trial on January 28, 1985. On the day of trial, counsel for Neptune appeared and requested a one-month continuance of the trial date due to Charles Denning’s inability to attend the trial. At that time, counsel served a declaration by Denning which stated that he had undergone surgery for skin cancer in November 1984, which affected his ability to appear as a…