Green v. Ozark Land Company

163 S.W.2d 325, 204 Ark. 627, 1942 Ark. LEXIS 207
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedJune 29, 1942
Docket4-6748
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 163 S.W.2d 325 (Green v. Ozark Land Company) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Green v. Ozark Land Company, 163 S.W.2d 325, 204 Ark. 627, 1942 Ark. LEXIS 207 (Ark. 1942).

Opinion

Humphreys, J.

This suit was brought on the 13th day of August, 1941, by the members of a partnership doing a real estate business under the trade name of “Ozark Land Company,” against appellant, in the circuit court of Washington county, to recover a 5 per cent, commission on the sale price of a 24-acre tract of land situated near Springdale, Arkansas, growing out of a written contract of date May 21, 1940, listing said land by appellant with appellees for exclusive sale within three months for $4,500.

It was alleged in the complaint, after setting out the contract, that appellees were the procuring cause of the sale of said land made to Wallace Johnson in the early part of February, 1941, by appellant at a reduced price of $3,800, and appellees prayed for a judgment of $190 as commission upon said sale.

Appellant filed an answer admitting that she signed the contract on the 21st day of May, 1940, giving appellees the exclusive right to sell said land within three months for $4,500 and that, in the event said appellees procured a buyer within said time for $4,500, she agreed to pay them 5 per cent, commission, but that they changed the contract in material respects without her consent, and that after the expiration of the three months she notified the appellees that the place was off the market as they had not produced a buyer within three months of the date of the contract who was ready, willing and able to purchase said land, and that after waiting a reasonable time she, without the assistance of appellees, sold the land in the early part of February, 1941.

She prayed for a dismissal of the complaint.

The cause proceeded to a trial and at the conclusion of the evidence appellant and appellees respectively moved the court for instructed verdicts and neither asked for any other instructions, whereupon the court, without objections from either party, withdrew the cause from the jury and proceeded to determine the questions involved, and from a consideration of the evidence and the applicable law, the court found that appellant was indebted to appellees in the sum of $190 with interest at the rate of 6 per cent, per annum from the date of the judgment, from which an appeal has been duly prosecuted to this court.

Under these circumstances the verdict of the court is as binding as a verdict of a .jury and if there is any substantial evidence to support the verdict, it and the consequent judgment must be affirmed.

Viewing the evidence in the most favorable light to appellees it is about as follows:

' At the inception of the dealings between appellant and appellees, J. P. Dean, son-in-law of appellant, and his wife, daughter of appellant, were residing upon the 24-acre tract of land. Appellant, who is a non-resident of this state and who resided in Oklahoma, was a frequent visitor at the home of her son-in-law and daughter and was visiting them when the alleged contract was executed by appellant. Her son-in-law, J. P. Dean, during her visit contacted appellees for her and had them prepare an exclusive contract for the sale of said land on May 21, 1940, authorizing them to sell the land for $4,500 within three months, and that, in the event they did so to pay them the customary commission of 5 per cent, on the gross amount of the sale. The prepared contract contained the following provision:

“I further agree to pay said commission to Ozark Land Company if said property be sold or otherwise disposed of, by any other person, firm or corporation, including the undersigned, during the above period, or after the above period, on information given, received or obtained through this agency. ’ ’

This prepared contract was delivered to J. P. Dean and he took it home for his mother-in-law to sign and after procuring her signature thereto he delivered it to appellees.

Appellees then advertised the land in three or four newspapers, giving a detailed description thereof, one of the papers was the Fayetteville Daily. A man by the name of Wallace Johnson saw the advertisement in the Fayetteville Daily and went to appellees’ office in Spring-dale and asked that they show him the land. L. S. Phillips, J. W. Phillips and Bob Gosnell were the members of the partnership. The prospective purchaser said that he would like to see the 24-acre tract of land and Bob Gosnell took him out, showed him the land and introduced him to J. P. Dean and his wife. He said he wanted his wife to see the land also and so he came back at a later date to the office, and Bob Gosnell took him and his wife out to inspect the property. He became interested to the extent that he listed his property with -appellees for sale and told them if they could sell his place for $5,500 he would buy appellant’s land at the price specified in the contract. Wallace Johnson was not able to buy appellant’s land unless he sold his own. Appellant was visiting at the home of her son-in-law and daughter at the time Bob Gosnell introduced Wallace Johnson and his wife to J. P. Dean and his wife, but she was not present at that particular time. Thus the matter stood until J. P. Dean came to the office of appellees and directed them to reduce the price in the contract from $4,500 to $4,250 and then came back later and told them to change the price in the contract to $4,000 and also to insert in the contract the limitation of five months instead of three months, all of which they did.

L. S. Phillips, a member of the partnership, testified that his firm had all their dealings with J. P. Dean and his wife; that after the lapse of the ninety-day period of the contract J. P. Dean told him to make no further effort to sell the land, but on December 8, J. P. Dean came in and told them to go ahead and sell same, but that before doing so, to write appellant, Mrs. Green; that pursuant to this request they wrote to appellant, Mrs. Green, asking and advising her to give them the exclusive sale thereof, but that if she did not want to do that they would handle it any way she wanted them to handle it. It seems that she did not answer this letter by mail, but the witness produced the following note from her which was left on their' desk and which she admitted having written.:

“Mr. Phillips, I called to see you, but found nobody home. That price of 4,000 that J. P. gave you was only until January 1st, and now it has gone back to 4,250, but if you get a buyer don’t let him get away. After Sunday there will be someone living in the house. I am still at J. P. ’s Lincoln, Route 2.
‘ ‘ Sincerely,
‘ ‘ Mrs. Sarah Green. ’ ’

The witness admitted that during the ninety-day period specified in the contract for the exclusive sale of the property his firm did not present to appellant and did not present to J. P. Dean a purchaser who was ready, able and willing to purchase the land at either of the prices mentioned in the contract, but that the only purchaser they had for it was Wallace Johnson who had agreed to buy it in case he, Johnson, could sell his own place.

Nothing further occurred until Wallace Johnson negotiated a sale of his own property in the early part of February, 1941. Wallace Johnson then called at the home of J. P. Dean and he was absent. A day or so after he called, J. P.

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Bluebook (online)
163 S.W.2d 325, 204 Ark. 627, 1942 Ark. LEXIS 207, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/green-v-ozark-land-company-ark-1942.