Benton

An action to recover the sum of five thousand dollars alleged to be due upon an assigned claim for attorney’s fees. All defendants, excepting Robert Johnston, joined in a motion for change of place of trial from the city and county o| San Francisco to the county of Shasta, upon the ground that they were residents of the latter county and that the remaining defendant Robert Johnston had been improperly joined as a defendant solely for the purpose of having the action tried in the jurisdiction wherein Johnston resided. In this connection it is averred by the moving defendants that no cause of action ever existed in favor of plaintiff’s assignors as against their codefendant Johnston and that no judgment could be rendered against him in said action. The evidence offered in support of said motion consisted of certain affidavits and of the testimony of the defendant John W. Benton, given in the form of a deposition. The motion was granted, and two separate appeals were taken and are being separately presented, one by plaintiff E. R. Johnson and the other by the defendant Robert Johnston.

It appears that on April 6, 1923, the defendants Kate, Harry L. and John W. Benton entered into a…