Coffman v. Dyas Realty Co.

159 S.W. 842, 176 Mo. App. 692, 1913 Mo. App. LEXIS 50
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 16, 1913
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 159 S.W. 842 (Coffman v. Dyas Realty Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Coffman v. Dyas Realty Co., 159 S.W. 842, 176 Mo. App. 692, 1913 Mo. App. LEXIS 50 (Mo. Ct. App. 1913).

Opinion

NORTONI, J.

This is a suit by a real estate agent for his commissions accrued on account of two separate sales of property.- Plaintiff recovered and defendant prosecutes the appeal.

Both plaintiff and defendant are engaged in the real estate business—that is, as agents in making sales of real property for other persons. Plaintiff maintains a real estate office in Springfield, Illinois, and induces prospective purchasers to come into Missouri to buy farms. Defendant is an incorporated real estate company in St. Louis, engaged in selling farms as agent for the' owner.

The petition is in two counts. The first relates to the sale of property known as the McMahon farm in St. Charles county, Missouri, and the second to the sale of the Schneider farm in the same county. We will first review the arguments pertaining to the case [697]*697stated in the first count and thereafter consider the questions arising on the second count.

Touching the sale of the McMahon farm, declared upon in the first count, it is conceded that defendant employed plaintiff to solicit buyers and “talk up” the farm. For his services in this behalf, defendant agreed to divide commissions with plaintiff. Defendant’s commissions on the sale were to be five per cent of the purchase price, in event a sale was made. By defendant’s agreement with plaintiff, he was. to have two and one-half per cent of this sum, if a purchaser was procured through plaintiff’s efforts. Plaintiff employed one R. E. McClelland, a real estate agent of Springfield, Illinois, to co-operate with him in selling the property, and it appears defendant was duly informed of this fact. The evidence for plaintiff tends to prove that his agent, McClelland, called upon one F. D. Nunes and solicited him to buy the McMahon farm. Nunes had recently sold his land near Springfield, Illinois, and was in the market to buy a farm. McClelland- described the McMahon farm to Nunes, suggested the neighborhood of its location, and told ' Nunes that he would buy it if he saw it. He sought to induce Nunes to accompany him to look at the land immediately, but Nunes declined to do so. It is conceded that Nunes had never heard of the- McMahon farm before McClelland called his attention to it and urged him to buy it. Two weeks later, Nunes visited St. Louis, called at defendant’s office, and purchased the McMahon farm directly through it, for which.he paid $30,000. It is true Nunes says in his testimony that, though McClelland talked to him about this farm and described it to him in a general way, he was not induced to buy it through the efforts- of McClelland, who represented plaintiff in that behalf. Nunes says that, subsequent to his conversation with McClelland, he read defendant’s advertisement describing the [698]*698farm in a Springfield paper and was thus induced to come to St. Louis and make the purchase.

It is argued that the court should have directed a verdict for defendant on this count, for the reason it does not sufficiently appear that plaintiff was the procuring cause of the sale to Nunes, but we are not so persuaded. It is conceded throughout the case that McClelland, who first called Nunes’ attention to the farm, which he purchased two weeks later, was the agent of plaintiff and represented him in the interview with Nunes. It appears from the evidence of McClelland and another witness who was present, that he called Nunes7 attention to the McMahon farm, described it, told Kim it was splendid com and wheat land and that he was certain Nunes would buy it if he would but go and look at it. McClelland informed him, too, of the location of the land in a general way. But Nunes was not feeling well át the time and refused to accompany McClelland to look at the land. Nunes himself admitted on the witness stand that Mc-Clelland approached him and urged him to buy some farm in the locality mentioned, but says he did not know it was the McMahon farm. Nunes testified, too, that McClelland said “he would like to show me the land and he told me I would buy it if I seen it. ’ ’ It is true that Mr. Nunes further states that he was induced to visit St. Louis and make the purchase through an advertisement in the Springfield paper describing the farm; but be this as it may, this bit of evidence as well as the remainder given was for the jury. If plaintiff, through his agent, McClelland, interested Nunes in the land and he subsequently purchased it because of that fact, there can be no doubt that plaintiff’s com.mission was earned and he is entitled to recover. It is conceded that plaintiff’s agent, McClelland, first called the attention of Nunes to the farm, described it, and sought to- persuade him to buy it. It is conceded, too, that Nunes came on from Springfield, Illinois, to [699]*699buy the farm so described to and urged upon him within two weeks thereafter. Obviously these facts are sufficient, prima facie, to authorize the jury to infer that plaintiff, through his agent, McClelland, was the procuring cause of the sale. The mere fact that Nunes stated he was first really interested and induced to purchase the land through the advertisement in a newspaper which subsequently came to his attention is in nowise, conclusive on the question of the procuring cause of the sale. Of course, this evidence pertained rather to a state of mind of which no one save Nunes could speak. Because of this the witnesses for plaintiff were unable to directly dispute it. However that may be, the rule is well established that, though the evidence of a witness is uncontradicted, the question coneerning.it is still for the jury, as, under our law, the matter of the credibility of the witnesses and the weight and value to be accorded to the testimony are committed to that tribunal alone. [See Gannon v. Laclede Gas Light Co., 145 Mo. 502, 46 S. W. 968, 47 S. W. 907.]

The other argument advanced to the effect that the court should have directed a verdict for defendant-on the first count has been recently discussed and determined adversely to defendant in the case of Lane v. Cunningham, 171 Mo. App. 17, 153 S. W. 525, to which reference is made. It is entirely clear that the question as to whether or not plaintiff was the procuring cause of the’ sale of the McMahon farm to Nunes was for the jury.

In the second count of the petition, plaintiff declares upon a sale of the Schneider farm in St. Charles county, Missouri, to Dr. McClelland, who took an option thereon through plaintiff’s efforts find on whose account it was resold, during the existence of the option, to Nunes, for $21,000. It appears defendant was the agent of Schneider, the owner of the farm, and was authorized to sell it for $20,000. Under de[700]*700fendant’s arrangement with Schneider, it was to have as commissions on the sale all of the purchase money realized over and above $20,000, which amount was to go to Schneider'for the farm. The evidence for plaintiff tends to prove that he introduced Dr. McClelland to an officer of the defendant real estate company early in December and first urged McClelland to buy the McMahon farm. At that time one Wilms was agent for the Schneider farm, but his contract with respect thereto expired on December 9. Some time thereafter, not at all clear,' but, according to the evidence of plaintiff, about the middle of December, defendant became the agent for the sale of the Schneider farm. Plaintiff says about December 16 Dyas, one of the officers of defendant corporation, instructed him to find a buyer for the Schneider farm, and agreed to divide commissions if a sale were made.

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Bluebook (online)
159 S.W. 842, 176 Mo. App. 692, 1913 Mo. App. LEXIS 50, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/coffman-v-dyas-realty-co-moctapp-1913.