Eggland v. South

118 N.W. 719, 22 S.D. 467, 1908 S.D. LEXIS 101
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 25, 1908
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 118 N.W. 719 (Eggland v. South) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering South Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Eggland v. South, 118 N.W. 719, 22 S.D. 467, 1908 S.D. LEXIS 101 (S.D. 1908).

Opinions

CORSON, J.

This action was instituted'by the plaintiff, a real estate broker, to recover the balance of a commission alleged to be due him from the defendant for procuring a purchaser for a quarter section of land owned by him in Lincoln county. From a judgment on a directed verdict and motion denying a new trial, the defendant has appealed.

The plaintiff alleges in his complaint, in substance: That in the year 1906 the defendant contracted and agreed with him, in consideration that the plaintiff would find a buyer for a certain quarter section of land belonging to the defendant in Lincoln county, he would pay the plaintiff $160; that plaintiff thereafter did find a purchaser ready, willing, and able to buy said land at the agreed price per acre, and the defendant sold the said land to the said purchaser so found and produced by the plaintiff; that of the said $160 so agreed to be paid by -the defendant he has paid to the plaintiff the sum of $60; and that there is due and unpaid the plaintiff the sum of $100. Wherefore the plaintiff demands judgment for the said sum. The defendant in his answer denies each and every allegation of the complaint. For a second and further defense, the defendant alleges that, after said alleged sale, the plaintiff and the defendant met, and ’the defendant claimed that the plaintiff did not find a customer in accordance with the terms of said agreement between the plaintiff and the defendant, and that the said contract was not therefore complied with, and it was then and there agreed by and between the said plaintiff and the defendant in order to settle their deal without litigation that the plaintiff would accept $80 in full payment of all claims against the defendant on account of said contract, and that in accordance with the [469]*469said agreement the defendant paid the plaintiff the sum of $59.25, and the defendant admits there is due the plaintiff $20.75 and consents that judgment be entered therefor.

It is disclosed by the evidence and conceded by counsel for the plaintiff that the agreement set out in the answer was in fact entered into by the plaintiff and the defendant; but the plaintiff contends 'that the agreement was not complied with on the part of the defendant, by the payment of the full sum of $80, and that the same was not therefore binding upon- the plaintiff, and he was therefore entitled to a judgment for the full amount of his claim of $160, less the $60 paid by the defendant, under the law as laid down by this court in the case of Carpenter v. Railroad Co., 7 S. D. 584, 64 N. W. 1120, in which this court held: “To establish a plea o-f accord and satisfaction under the statute, it must not only appear that there was an agreement to accept, in full settlement of an obligation, something different from or less than that to which one of the parties thereto is entitled, but it must be shown that such agreement has been fully executed, and the obligation extinguished by the creditor’s actual acceptance of the consideration specified in the agreement constituting an accord.” It is, however, contended by counsel for -the defendant that the agreement to pay the sum of $80, notwithstanding -the whole amount had not been paid, constituted a good defense to the action, for the reason that the defendant denied that anything was due the plaintiff, as he had not complied with his contract, and that therefore this case is distinguishable from the case before cited. In the view we take of the case, however, it will not be necessary to discuss or determine the question, as the law of this state relating to accord and satisfaction was materially changed by an amendment made by the Legislature of 1903 to the section (859) as contained in our original (Revised) Code of 1877, and now constituting section 1177 of the Revised Civil Code of 1903 as amended, by eliminating therefrom the words “or less than” contained in the original section. The section as originally adopted in the Code of 1877 and retained in the Compiled Laws of 1887 (section 3483) reads as follows: “An accord is an agreement to accept in extinction of an obligation, something different from or less than that to which the per[470]*470son agreeing to accept is entitled.” This section of our Code as adopted in 1877 was taken from the Civil Code of California (section 1521) as amended by the Legislature of that state in 1874 (Laws 1873-74, p. 240, § 186). California originally adopted section 732 of the Civil Code proposed by the code commissioners for the state of New York, which reads as follows: “An accord is an agreement to accept, in extinction of an obligation, something to which the person agreeing to accept is not otherwise entitled.” In 1874 the Legislature of California amended this section as copied into our Code in 1877. It will be observed that the amendment of the section in 1903 by eliminating therefrom the words “or less than” makes a very material change in the section, and in effect restores the old common-law rule that no agreement to accept less than the amount to which a party is entitled, where the payment is to be made in money, constitutes a defense to the action instituted to recover the amount of the plaintiff’s original claim.

It will be observed, further, that in the case at bar the amount claimed to be due plaintiff and to be paid in money was .$160, and the amount which the defendant claimed that plaintiff agreed to accept was $80 in money. This alleged defense, as we have seen, at common law would constitute no defense to an action for the amount claimed, for the reason, as stated by the code commissioners of New York: “An agreement to accept a barrel of flour in satisfaction of a debt of $1,000 is valid, and if the flour is delivered the debt is satisfied. * * * But an agreement to accept $999 in satisfaction of the debt is unavailing and the obligation to pay the other dollar is unimpaired.” No change, however, seems to have been made in section 1180 as originally adopted in the Code of 1877, and there is now apparently a conflict between the section as amended and section 1180, which provides: “Tart performance of an obligation, either before or after a breach thereof, when expressly accepted by the creditor in writing in satisfaction, or rendered in pursuance of an agreement in writing for that purpose, though without any new consideration, extinguishes the obligation.” But as it is not claimed in the case at bar that the agreement to accept the $80 by plaintiff in settlement of his claim was in writing,-it is not necessary to discuss this apparent conflict in the [471]*471two sections at this time. Under the section relating to accord as amended by the Revised Civil Code of 1903, the defense of accord and satisfaction constitutes no defense to this action, and hence a further discussion of the question presented by the learned counsel will be unnecessary.

This brings us to the consideration of the merits of the case. A-s will be noticed by an examination of the complaint, the plaintiff claims that he found a purchaser for the defendant’s land able, ready, and willing to purchase the same upon the terms proposed by the defendant, and that the defendant sold and conveyed his land to such purchaser, and that he is therefore entitled to his full commission of $160, less the amount paid by the defendant.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Hamburger v. Economy Department Store
222 N.W. 603 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1928)
Miller v. Johnson
207 N.W. 478 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1926)
Hall v. Reynolds
171 N.W. 815 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1919)
Webb v. Burroughs
127 N.W. 623 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1910)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
118 N.W. 719, 22 S.D. 467, 1908 S.D. LEXIS 101, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/eggland-v-south-sd-1908.