Deeble v. Stearns

186 P.2d 173, 82 Cal. App. 2d 296, 1947 Cal. App. LEXIS 1202
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 6, 1947
DocketCiv. 15894
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 186 P.2d 173 (Deeble v. Stearns) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Deeble v. Stearns, 186 P.2d 173, 82 Cal. App. 2d 296, 1947 Cal. App. LEXIS 1202 (Cal. Ct. App. 1947).

Opinion

WILSON, J.

Respondent, a licensed real estate broker, recovered judgment against appellant for a commission growing out of the sale of real property. This appeal is from the judgment and from the order denying the motion for a new trial. Since the latter is a nonappealable order the appeal therefrom will be dismissed.

Appellant, who was the owner of the real property involved, listed it for sale with one Koerner, a real estate broker, at the price of $70,000. Ben M. Murphy, a salesman employed by *298 respondent, interviewed Koerner and obtained the latter’s consent to show the property to a prospective purchaser. At that time neither respondent nor Murphy had a listing of the property. Pursuant to Koerner’s permission Murphy showed the property to Carlo Caliguiri and wife who agreed to purchase it for $69,500.

The written agreement which forms the basis of this action consists of three parts: (1) A temporary receipt and agreement of sale signed by Murphy as salesman for respondent, acknowledging receipt from the Caliguiris of the sum of $2,000, “being deposit and part payment on account of the purchase” of the property. The price agreed upon for the property was recited to be $69,500, to be paid in the following manner: $1,000, “receipt of which is hereby acknowledged,” $48,000 to be paid in escrow, and a loan of $19,500 to be assumed by the purchasers; (2) the purchasers’ approval, signed by the Caliguiris, in which they agreed (a) “that an inspection has been made of the above described property and [the undersigned] hereby approves the transaction to purchase the same as above outlined”; (b) “that no representation of any kind has been made binding DeebleChapman Company as the agent herein except to obtain a signed agreement with the seller providing for the conveyance of said property ... in accordance with the terms outlined in this purchase agreement”; and (c) that in the event of failure on their part to complete the purchase the deposit made by them should be retained by respondent as liquidated damages; (3) the seller’s approval, signed by appellant, in which he approved the sale of the property “upon the terms and conditions hereinabove set forth” and agreed to pay respondent “the sum of $3500.00 Dollars ($____) for services rendered.” The three parts of the agreement above outlined were included in one document.

At the time the Caliguiris signed the agreement they handed their check to Murphy for $2,000. Murphy delivered the check to Koerner who, in turn, delivered it to appellant. The latter cashed the check and signed the seller’s approval. The completed contract was returned to respondent. Thereafter, the purchasers refused to pay the balance of the purchase price and repudiated the contract.

1. The alleged uncertainties in the agreement. Appellant maintains that the agreement is so uncertain as to exonerate him from liability to pay a commission to respondent in that the first portion of the temporary receipt ae *299 knowledges payment of $2,000 as a deposit and part payment on the purchase price and in the recitation of the terms of purchase the receipt of $1,000 is acknowledged. He argues that since the latter sum, added to the cash to be paid and the loan to be assumed, amounts to only $68,500, or $1,000 less than the agreed purchase price, the amount which the Caliguiris agreed to pay for the property is indefinite.

It is manifest that the statement in the receipt that $1,000 had been received by respondent on the purchase price is a clerical error since the receipt in the very first lines clearly acknowledges payment of $2,000. This sum with the $48,000 cash and the assumed loan of $19,500 totals the full sum of $69,500 which the Caliguiris agreed to pay for the property. Furthermore, the check for $2,000 given by the purchasers at the time the receipt was signed was received by appellant and deposited in his bank account. The balance then remaining unpaid by the purchasers amounted to $67,500, which is the total of the cash remaining to be paid and the loan to be assumed. Appellant, having received and retained the sum of $2,000, is in no position to claim that only $1,000 was paid when the original receipt was signed by Murphy.

2. The commission was earned by respondent. Appellant was not bound to accept the offer of the purchasers without a reasonable opportunity to satisfy himself both as to the purchase price of the property and as to the ability of the purchasers to perform their part of the agreement. Appellant’s approval of the contract submitted by him and his acceptance and retention of the deposit of $2,000 which constituted part payment estop him from denying the claim of the broker for his commission. (Wood & Tatum v. Basler, 37 Cal.App. 381, 384 [173 P. 1109] .) A broker through whose efforts a binding contract is made has earned his commission. (Carrington v. Smithers, 26 Cal.App. 460, 466 [147 P. 225].) The execution of a contract of sale by the owner of real property is conclusive proof that he was satisfied as to the qualifications of the purchaser and of his ability to perform the contract, thus rendering the owner liable for the payment of the broker’s commission. (McNamara v. Steckman, 202 Cal. 569, 572 [262 P. 297].)

3. Exceptions to rulings on admission of evidence. After Murphy had testified that in a conversation with Koerner the latter stated that appellant had signed the agreement and that he, Murphy, later had another conversation with Koerner “in regard to seeing more of the premises” he was *300 asked “What was that conversation?’ ’ to which an objection by respondent’s counsel was sustained. Objections to other questions relating to conversations between Murphy and Koerner were sustained.

Appellant maintains that Murphy, respondent’s salesman, was the agent of the Caliguiris, that Koerner was the agent of appellant, and that therefore the conversations between them as representatives of appellant and respondent were admissible. Whether or not Koerner was appellant’s agent is immaterial since there is no evidence that Murphy was the Caliguiris’ agent at any time. Murphy was respondent’s salesman. By the written agreement appellant made respondent his agent and agreed to pay the latter a commission for consummating the contract. Murphy therefore was the representative of appellant.

Moreover, there is nothing in the record to indicate the subject matter of any conversations that may have been had between Murphy and Koerner nor anything from which it may be determined that any of the conversations were pertinent to the issues involved in the action, or that if answers to the questions had been permitted they would have been favorable to appellant. When an objection to a question is sustained and the question does not indicate that the answer would be favorable to the party making the inquiry the ruling will not be reviewed by an appellate court unless an offer of what was proposed to be proved was made to the trial court (Price v. Price, 71 Cal.App.2d 734, 738 [163 P.2d 501

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Bluebook (online)
186 P.2d 173, 82 Cal. App. 2d 296, 1947 Cal. App. LEXIS 1202, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/deeble-v-stearns-calctapp-1947.