Dalen v. Coddington

167 N.W. 334, 39 N.D. 321, 1918 N.D. LEXIS 27
CourtNorth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 1, 1918
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 167 N.W. 334 (Dalen v. Coddington) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering North Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dalen v. Coddington, 167 N.W. 334, 39 N.D. 321, 1918 N.D. LEXIS 27 (N.D. 1918).

Opinions

Grace, J.

Appeal from a judgment of the district court of Ward county, Honorable X. E. Leighton, Judge.

This action is one brought by the plaintiff to recover a real estate broker’s commission claimed to have been earned by plaintiff in procuring a purchaser for certain real estate owned by the defendant in the city of Minot, North Dakota, and described as lots 1 and 2, block 9, Brooklyn addition to the city of Minot, upon which lots were situated a hotel building and a small house, the small house being situated on the back end of the lots. The plaintiff claims the contract was to secure a purchaser who would buy such property, either for cash or trade, or procure a proposition of sale, which would be agreeable to, and accepted by, the defendant, for which service plaintiff claims the defendant agreed to pay the plaintiff 5 per cent of the selling price. Plaintiff further claims that on or about the 35th day of March, 1915, he procured from one Anna Huermann a trade proposition for the defendant for the above property, which was acceptable to, and which was accepted by, the defendant, and the deal then and there consummated at the stipulated price for defendant’s property in the sum of $10,000. The plaintiff thereby claims there is $500 due him as his commission.

The foregoing matters are the substance of plaintiff’s complaint.

The defendant for his answer interposed a general denial. The case was tried to a jury, which returned a verdict in favor of the defendant.

The claim and theory of plaintiff is that the selling price of the property was to be $10,000 in cash or trade, and that his commission would be earned when he procured a purchaser for the defendant who would pay such price for the property in a cash or trade proposition which would be agreeable to, and accepted by, the defendant.

The plaintiff further contends that the proposition related to the sale of all of such property, and no reservation was made of the small house on the back end of such lots. On the other hand, the defendant contends that no commission was to be paid unless it was an all cash deal for the sum of $10,000, the defendant to retain the back end of the lots including the small house thereon. Plaintiff claims further that the proposition which he obtained from the intending purchaser was accepted by the defendant. The whole property was on the 15th day of. March, 1915, sold by the defendant to the purchaser for $10,000, a part of which purchase price being paid by the purchaser transferring cer[325]*325.tain other real estate in the city of Minot to the defendant. The purchaser was the same as the one with whom plaintiff had been negotiating for the sale of the property in question. •

The main elements or issues of the case appear to be substantially as follows: - (1) The nature and terms of the contract between plaintiff and defendant with reference to the sale of such property and whether the small house and some number of feet of ground on the back end of such lots were or were not included in such contract. (2) Whether plaintiff procured a purchaser for the defendant upon the terms provided by the contract or upon other terms which were finally accepted by the defendant, and whether plaintiff procured a purchaser who made a proposition to purchase such property which was acceptable to, and accepted by, the defendant. (3) Whether at any time during the time of the negotiations for the sale of such property the plaintiff abandoned further effort for the sale thereof, thus terminating his agency.

Each of these matters was a question of fact exclusively for the jury. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the defendant. Among many assignments of error by the appellant two may receive thorough consideration. They are appellant’s third and fourth assignments of error. The third assignment of error is as follows: “The court erred in allowing the witness Coddington to testify over the objection of plaintiff’s counsel as follows:

“ ‘Q. So that any deals that you made were entirely different than any Mr. Dalen was trying to negotiate as shown by exhibit A, or the first contract you had, that you should pay him 5 per cent if he made an all money deal?’ Objected to as calling for a conclusion, and leading and suggestive. Overruled.
‘A. It was different, yes; it was not an all-money deal, and the time was not the same. The payments were not the same.’ ”

The fourth assignment of error is as follows: “The court erred in .allowing the witness Coddington to testify over the objection of counsel for plaintiff as.follows:

“ ‘Q. Mr. Ooddington, after you had this talk in the pool hall with Mr. Dalen, when you said the deal blew up, and you could not do anything, did you believe that he had abandoned any — in every way this transaction or having anything more to do with the handling of this [326]*326property that you were offering for sale V Objected to as calling for a conclusion. Overruled.
“ ‘A. Yes, sir ’ ”

The record'discloses that previous to the time of the asking of Ibis question, Coddington had testified he met the plaintiff in the pool room immediately after plaintiff had returned from seeing Mrs. Huermann, the prospective purchaser, and that plaintiff at such time in the pool room told the defendant the deal had blown up.

The appellant’s main objection to the questions and answers set forth in assignments of error Nos. 3 and 4 is that the answers to such questions were merely conclusions of the witness and had a bearing upon the material issues in the case.

Referring to the third assignment of error, we are of the opinion that the answer of the witness did not constitute a conclusion when considered as a whole. It is true the witness testified the deal was different. This standing alone might have been considered as a conclusion of the witness. The witness, however, did not stop with testifying that the deal was different, but testified wherein it was different by showing the deal which plaintiff tried to make was not an all money deal, and the time was not the same. The payments were not the same. The deal offered by the plaintiff did not comply with the terms upon which plaintiff was authorized to make the sale. All of the testimony in this regard being considered together, it is apparent that the answer of the witness was largely based upon questions of fact, and was not a mere conclusion of the witness.

The same reasoning applies to the fourth assignment of error. The witness did not merely testify to what he believed, and say nothing more, but proceeded to testify to the facts which tended to show an abandonment of the agency by the plaintiff. We are of the opinion there was no error in the admission of the testimony referred to in assignments of error Nos. 3 and 4. If there were any error in this regard, in view of the testimony, such error was harmless. In regard to assignments of error Nos. 3 and 4, the plaintiff has not brought himself within the rule of Smith v. Northern P. R. Co. 3 N. D. 553, 58 N. W. 345, or Mulroy v. Jacobson, 24 N. D. 354, 139 N. W. 607.

Referring to appellant’s 6th assignment of error, regarding the objection to the admission of the testimony of the witness Palda, we find [327]*327no error. The defendant at the time of the drawing of the affidavit had conferred with Palda. Palda dictated the affidavit in question for the opening of the default judgment.

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Bluebook (online)
167 N.W. 334, 39 N.D. 321, 1918 N.D. LEXIS 27, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dalen-v-coddington-nd-1918.