Little v. Herzinger

97 P. 639, 34 Utah 337, 1908 Utah LEXIS 66
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 14, 1908
DocketNo. 1930
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 97 P. 639 (Little v. Herzinger) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Little v. Herzinger, 97 P. 639, 34 Utah 337, 1908 Utah LEXIS 66 (Utah 1908).

Opinion

ERICK, J.

Tbe respondents commenced tbis action in the district court of Salt Lake county to recover a commission alleged to' Lave been earned by them, in making a sale of real estate as the agents of appellants. Respondents are partners engaged in the real estate business in Salt Lake City, and appellants are nonresidents of this state, and during all of the time covered by the transaction referred to herein were absent therefrom.

The undisputed facts developed at the trial are substantially as follows: Appellants owned a certain parcel of real estate located in the business district of Salt Lake City, which they had listed wdth respondents for sale and to be sold by them. After some preliminary correspondence between respondents and appellants with respect to the terms and conditions of sale, respondents, pursuant to such-correspondence, on the 30th day of December, 1905, prepared an option agreement, which was duly executed by all the parties, and in which appellants were styled “first parties” and one W. S. Crismon, the purchaser, “second party.” The stipulations of this agreement, so far as material here, are as follows: “Said first parties further agree: (1) Within fifteen days after said date, to furnish to date and tender to said second party a complete abstract of said premises. (2) That said second party may have until May 1, 1906, to examine the said abstract; and if the title is marketable, and the second party elects not to buy, then said receipted sum is forfeited; if the title is not marketable, then said receipted sum to' he returned. (3) To tender to said second party a deed as above specified on May 1, 1906, or sooner if demanded. (4) If said title is not marketable then to make it so on demand, if the second party binds himself to buy. (5) To accept payment (if said second party buys) of said balance of the purchase price, as follows, to wit: E'ourteen thousand five hundred ($14,500.00) in current funds of the United States. Demand and tender to be made at the office of Little and Little.” The agreement was executed in duplicate; one copy being forwarded to Mrs. Agnes Herzinger, who lived in San Francisco, and the other delivered to the purchaser. The [340]*340$500 mentioned in tbe agreement was duly paid by IVEr. Crismon and received by the appellant Mrs. Herzinger. Fred H. Herzinger, a son of Mrs. Herzinger, lived in Ouray, Colorado. Nothing further seems to have been done in the matter until April 11, 1906, when the appellant Fred H. Herzinger wrote the following letter to respondents, to wit: “Gentlemen: I am writing to ascertain whether or not the party is going to complete the purchase of the Herzinger comer, 3d South and 2nd East. If so, we should be getting a deed ready, as my recollection of the matter is that we have not made one yet, and this purchase is to be completed on May 1st. What is your commission to be ? and how will we arrange this payment? or purchase money to be paid? I can either come out to Salt Lake, or I suppose the deed put in escrow in some reliable bank in Salt Lake will be satisfactory. Hoping to receive an early reply, I am,” etc. This letter never was answered by respondents, but on or about the 10th day of April, 1906, they wrote the following letter to Mrs. Agnes Herzinger: “Dear Madam: The party who bought the comer has had some disappointment in money matters, and wanted us to write you for an extension, of time, to make the final payment to July 6, 1906, at which time he will have the money. Customers for this class of property are very scarce, and we have no doubt, if you extend the time, we can nurse him along and get the money on July 6, 1906. We advise the extension, as this is the most expeditious way of selling, and, of course, he will have to pay the paving tax if levied this year which may be, as they are paving a good many streets just now. We are anxious to get the matter closed for your sake as. well as ours, and think this the wisest move. If agreeable to you, please sign the enclosed, and forward for the other signatures and return to us.” Mrs. Herzinger on the 13th of April, 1906, replied, to this letter as follows: “Dear Sirs: Your letter has been received, and I will forward it at once to my son at O'uray, Colorado, asking him to answer you direct. As your buyer asks for more than two months extension of time, I think it is only fair that-he should be willing, to make some return for the favor he [341]*341asks. Of course, I can’t say wbat my son will du, but my daughters and I make you the following offer: That we will extend the time as he desires till July 6, 1906, providing he will .pay us on the 1st of May the sum of five hundred dollars ($500.00), this to be in addition to the $14,500 specified in the contract.” On April 16th respondents also wrote the following letter to Fred H. Herzinger: “Dear Sir: We wrote your mother some time ago about granting an extension to make next payment on corner to July 6, 1906, as the buyer has been delayed in getting his money, but says he will be ready to pay on or before the above mentioned date. As the market is quiet at present, we think the surest and quickest way to a sale is to grant the extension, and we strongly advise it. Kindly let us hear from you as soon as possible. ” Fred H. Herzinger on April 16th wrote a letter to respondents in which he agrees i» the terms proposed by his mother. Respondents did not answer either the letter of Mrs. Herzinger or that of her son containing the proposition, and they had no information with regard to what was being done by the respondents or the purchaser with regard to the proposition for an extension of time. Fred H. Herzinger, having received no answer to his letter of inquiry of April 11, 1906, prepared no deed nor forwarded any for delivery, as provided in the option agreement. Mr. Crismon, after having ascertained from respondents that no deed had been received by them, on the afternoon of May 1, 1906, made a pretended tender of the $14,500 named in the agreement to respondents at their office. The manner in which this tender was made will be more particularly referred to hereafter. Following this tender, on May 2, 1906, respondents wrote to Mrs. Herzinger the following letter: Hear Madam: Since your refusal to extend the time to July 6, 1906, on the option on the corner, we have been expecting to' receive a deed from you daily. Mr. Fred H. Herzinger in his letter of April 11th mentioned the deed question. We could not get the buyer to pay $500 additional for the extension, and on May 1st, at about bank closing time, he tendered to us $14,-500.00 in gold coin and demanded the deed, which, of course, [342]*342we did not have to give him. Tbis is as far as the matter has gone np to-date. Will keep yon advised in the future. We told the buyer we expected the deed daily and asked him if we should send and get it. He replied: ‘Do- as you like.’ Perhaps you had better send the deed so- that it can be ten- ' dered to him, if it is not now on the way.” On May 7, 1906, Mr. Crismon addressed the following letter to respondents: “Gentlemen: In compliance with my contract for the purchase of the Herzinger corner, a part of lot eight, block forty-two plat 'A,’ Salt Lake City survey, on May 1, 1906, at twelve minutes to three o’clock p. m., I tendered to you fourteen thousand and five hundred dollars in. gold coin which was then counted by Mr. Jesse C. Little of your firm. I then demanded a deed to said property which you were unable to furnish. I now demand the return of the five hundred dollars paid by me on said property.” On May 17, 1906, Pred H. Herzinger wrote the following letter to respondents: “Gentlemen: I am just in receipt of a letter from my mother saying that you had informed her that Mr. W. S.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
97 P. 639, 34 Utah 337, 1908 Utah LEXIS 66, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/little-v-herzinger-utah-1908.