Porter

The plaintiff recovered judgment against the defendant upon an action assigned to him by Mr. James L. Crittenden for services rendered as counsel upon the trial of a contest of the will of her husband. A motion for a new trial was made upon the ground that the finding by the court of an employment by her of Mr. Crittenden was not sustained by the evidence. The motion was denied, and the defendant has appealed.

The defendant had filed a contest against the probate of her husband’s will in the county of Santa Barbara, and for that purpose had employed as her attorneys Messrs. Graves & Graves and Mr. John J. Boyce, upon an agreement with them that they would advance and pay all the costs and expenses to be incurred in the contest, and that, if successful, she would transfer and convey to them one-half of the property she might recover thereby. Some months after this contest had been filed Mr. Ernest Graves employed Mr. Crittenden to assist him at the *206 trial of the contest, and in pursuance of the employment Mr. Crittenden attended at the trial and acted as leading counsel therein. The trial lasted about two weeks, and resulted in a verdict in favor of the contestant. Mr.…