Brown Oil Tools, Inc. v. Broughton

353 S.W.2d 505, 1962 Tex. App. LEXIS 2153
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 25, 1962
DocketNo. 13893
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 353 S.W.2d 505 (Brown Oil Tools, Inc. v. Broughton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brown Oil Tools, Inc. v. Broughton, 353 S.W.2d 505, 1962 Tex. App. LEXIS 2153 (Tex. Ct. App. 1962).

Opinion

COLEMAN, Justice.

Dallas W. Broughton, plaintiff in the trial court, sued Brown Oil Tools, Inc., for a commission of ten per cent on the purchase price of a lathe. After a jury trial, judgment was rendered for plaintiff against defendant, Brown Oil Tools, Inc., and this appeal followed.

Appellant’s principal complaint is that there was no evidence, or insufficient evidence, to require the submission of the special issue relative to procuring cause to the jury, and that the answer of the jury to that issue is so contrary to the great weight and preponderance of the evidence as to be manifestly unjust.

Appellee pled that he was in the business of “brokering” machinery and that defendants contacted him to assist them with the location and purchase of machinery. He alleged that there was an express and implied agreement between the parties that he would receive as his commission ten per cent of the amount of the purchase price of any such lathe that he should locate for defendant and defendant should subsequently purchase.

[506]*506Defendant filed a general denial and a special denial that plaintiff was the procuring cause of any sale of machinery “as outlined in plaintiff’s petition.”

It is undisputed that Broughton directed C. C. Brown, President of appellant company, to the premises of the Lawrence Machine Company to look at a lathe which Broughton thought Brown might buy. After inspecting the lathe Brown offered $15,-000.00 for it. This offer was refused. Brown told Lawrence that if he changed his mind to give him a ring. Broughton considered the deal dead and made no further effort to bring the parties together.

About two months later the Lawrence Machine Company wrote Brown Oil Tools, Inc. offering to sell the lathe for $15,000.00 if Brown would also buy some gauges for $1,962.00. This offer was accepted, and the sale was concluded without the knowledge of Broughton, who instituted this suit as soon as he learned of the purchase.

The jury found that Brown agreed to pay a 10% commission to Broughton on the lathe purchased from the Lawrence Machine Co. Appellee did not allege, and the proof negatives, a contract to purchase machinery on behalf of appellant. The contract was that appellant would pay a commission to appellee if appellee found machinery appellant needed and appellant was able to buy it on terms satisfactory to himself.

There was no pleading or evidence that plaintiff was requested to do more than he did to assist in the purchase. We do not consider the cases dealing with ordinary sales contracts between owners of property and brokers to be decisive of the question with which we are confronted here. In such cases the contract is to sell and, to recover, the broker must show that he was a procuring cause of the sale. Here the obligation of the broker is to find suitable machinery. His right to compensation depends on the consummation of a sale, but he has no duty or authority to purchase on behalf of his client. We do not consider that plaintiff had the burden to secure a finding that he was a procuring cause of the purchase. 8 Amer.Jur., Brokers, § 167, p. 1083; McNabb v. Woolfolk, 240 S.W. 1043 (Tex.Civ.App., writ dism., w. o. j.) Diebold Safe & Lock Co. v. Shelton, 192 S.W. 340 (Tex.Civ.App.); Culp v. Browne,. 235 S.W. 675 (Tex.Civ.App.).

Appellant attaches great importance to the following testimony of appellee:

“Q. Now between the time you left Chickasha and the time later on when you were in Brown’s shop in Houston and saw this machine, or saw that Mr. Brown had bought the machine, you had no dealings at all regarding that machine with either Lawrence or Brown, did you?
“A. None at all.
“Q. When you all left the Chicka-sha shop that afternoon, the deal, as far as you were concerned, it was off?
“A. I figured it was just as dead as if it was ready to be buried.
“Q. And you gave no more thought to it after that?
“A. I never did until I saw it and Mr. Brown bought it and of course, naturally that revived my interest in it.”

It is his contention that this established as a matter of law that appellee was not the procuring cause of the sale. We do not agree. Appellee brought the parties together and as a result of this meeting and the brief negotiations, Lawrence made a counter offer which was accepted. The evidence amply supports the jury finding that appellee was the procuring cause of the purchase. Shepard v. Wesson, 266 S.W.2d 393 (Tex.Civ.App.); Keener v. Cleveland, 250 S.W. 151 (Com.App., Tex.).

Appellant also contends that the testimony quoted above establishes without dis[507]*507pute that appellee abandoned the contract. Appellant did not affirmatively plead the abandonment of the contract as a defense in his answer. The defensive issue of abandonment was not raised in appellant’s motion for new trial, and, while appellant raised the point in oral argument, no point raising abandonment as a defense is presented in his brief in this Court. Error, if any, in this respect has been waived by appellant’s failure to properly preserve it and to properly present the point in this ■Court. Rule 374, Texas Rules of Civil Procedure.

The trial court awarded appellee 'the sum of $750.00 as a reasonable attorney's fee for prosecuting this suit. There was expert testimony that such a sum was •a reasonable fee for the services rendered. There was no testimony to the contrary. No issue was submitted to the jury for their determination of what would be a reasonable fee. Appellant complains of this action of the trial court. In Gulf Paving Co. v. Lofstedt, 144 Tex. 17, 188 S.W.2d 155, the Supreme Court of Texas held:

“The general rule is that it is the province of the jury to determine what is the reasonable value of an attorney’s services, and that the jury may take into consideration the facts before them in relation to the services rendered, as well as the estimates of their value made by attorneys who testified. Hamman v. Willis, 62 Tex. 507; Dockery v. Johnston, Tex.Civ.App., 299 S.W. 505; Lile v. Sovereign Camp, W. O. W., Tex.Civ.App., 100 S.W.2d 1033; 5 Am. Jur., Attorneys at Law, Sec. 192, pp. 377, 378.
* * * * * *
“There may be cases in which the expert testimony as to the value of an attorney’s services is so free from inconsistencies, so thoroughly supported by undisputed facts in evidence, and so clearly in accord with knowledge and experience which the jury must have had and with the information obtained by them on the trial, that the court would be justified in accepting that testimony as conclusive, * *

We think this is such a case and, accordingly, hold that the action of the trial court complained of was not error.

Appellee has presented a cross-point that the judgment of the trial court was erroneous and should be reformed so as to allow recovery of interest from the date of the accrual of the cause of action to the date of judgment. Appellee’s pleading contained a prayer for interest and he requested that interest be allowed in his motion for judgment.

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353 S.W.2d 505, 1962 Tex. App. LEXIS 2153, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brown-oil-tools-inc-v-broughton-texapp-1962.