Armstrong

An action to recover the reasonable value of. work and labor alleged to have been performed by the plaintiff for the defendant between May 15, 1905, and September 15, 1918.

The action was commenced on October 28, 1925, the complaint alleging that on August 18, 1924, the defendant, in a writing signed by her, acknowledged the indebtedness. The defendant denied the,allegations of the complaint, and pleaded as a bar to the action the provisions of sections 337 an 5 339 of the Code of Civil Procedure. After a trial the court ordered judgment for the defendant, and findings having been waived, a judgment, from which the plaintiff appealed, was entered.

It is conceded that the claim was barred by the statute unless certain letters signed by the defendant and addressed to the plaintiff were sufficient within the provisions of section 360 of the Code of Civil Procedure to constitute a new promise. The letters were written in French, the translations being as follows:

With respect to the sufficiency of writings offered for the above purpose it was held in Concannon v. Smith, 134 Cal. 14 [ 66 Pac. 40 ], that while the statute does not prescribe any form in which the new promise shall be…