Lane

Plaintiffs, attorneys at law, brought this action for declaratory relief and for an accounting to determine the extent of their rights to attorneys’ fees under a contingent fee agreement entered into between them and the defendants. Defendants, asserting that the fee awarded by the court is excessive and unauthorized by the agreement, appeal from those portions of the judgment which award plaintiffs $31,514.57 plus interest, and which also declare the percentage rate for computing fees yet to be determined. In general, defendants’ contentions relate to the propriety of including certain amounts in the base used to compute the fee, and also to the proper methods of computation under the agreement. These contentions will be considered more particularly following a statement of the somewhat complicated factual background of the case.

The plaintiffs also have appealed from a portion of the judgment which they claim was erroneously computed, and which they seek to have recomputed to increase the amount of their judgment.

The defendants owned an undivided two-thirds interest in approximately 30.82 acres of income property near El Monte known as “Hicks Camp.” In February of 1956…