City of Fresno v. Baboian

In City of Fresno v. Baboian (1975) 52 Cal.App.3d 753, a city began a condemnation action to obtain property for a community center. (Id. at p. 755.) The property owners hired an attorney to stop the condemnation action or, alternatively, obtain a higher price for the property than the city had offered. (Ibid.) The attorney entered into an unauthorized stipulation that gave the city possession of the property in exchange for $ 15,000, and then misappropriated the funds. (Id. at pp. 755-756.) The owners fired the attorney, but continued the litigation without challenging the settlement; they contended only that the city was not entitled to a credit of $ 15,000 against the compensation paid for the property. (Id. at pp. 756-757.) After the trial court rejected this contention, the owners argued on appeal that the stipulation exceeded the attorney's authority. (Id. at pp. 757-758.) The appellate court agreed, but concluded that the owners had ratified the stipulation by their conduct at trial. (Id. at pp. 759-760.)