Morton v. Drichel

24 N.W.2d 812, 237 Iowa 1209, 1946 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 374
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedNovember 12, 1946
DocketNo. 46917.
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 24 N.W.2d 812 (Morton v. Drichel) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Morton v. Drichel, 24 N.W.2d 812, 237 Iowa 1209, 1946 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 374 (iowa 1946).

Opinion

Hale, J.

The first alleged errors relied upon by defendant are the refusal of the court to direct a verdict at the close of plaintiff’s testimony and at ilic conclusion of all the testimony. The other errors alleged consist of the court’s giving of certain *1210 instructions and its refusal to give defendant’s requested instructions.

Tbe case arose out of an oral arrangement- between tbe plaintiff, Morton, a real-estate agent, and Dricbel, tbe defendant, owner of 135.16 acres in Cedar county. The first talk between tbe parties in relation to a sale of tbe land was in March 1945. Defendant told plaintiff that be could list tbe land and tbe price was $225 per acre. ’ The defendant was told tbe commission would be two per cent. There was evidence that this was about tbe substance of tbe conversation. Later, in another conversation, tbe price was reduced to $200 per acre. Tbe listing was not exclusive. About April 23d plaintiff learned that one Fay was looking for a farm and went to him the next week, about May 5th, and made arrangements to show this farm and others. They drove to the Drichel farm and looked at its boundaries. Fay said he had seen part of it and the farm was then priced at $200. On May 31st Fay came to see Morton and said he wanted to take another look at the farm. Morton testified he told him he could not take him that day but he telephoned to Drichel and informed him that Fay was coming out. Fay then went to the Drichel farm and talked to the owner. Fay later told Morton that he was not going to buy the farm unless some changes were made, that he was interested in it but the price was too high. Plaintiff also alleges that when he informed Drichel that Fay was coming out defendant stated that he would take care of him (the plaintiff) just the same. The plaintiff also states that a few days after May 31st the defendant came to him and told him that he had a chance to rent and was taking the place off the market and that plaintiff informed defendant that it was all right but that if defendant sold the farm to Fay he would expect a commission.

Fay bought the land and later, on June 13th, a contract of sale was executed, by the terms of which the defendant sold the farm to Fay for $26,950 and agreed to transfer to Fay one hundred twenty-nine burr-oak posts; to pay for and wire the house for electricity and put in certain light fixtures, and to transfer the insurance without cost. Suit for commission was brought and there was trial to a jury. The court overruled the motions to direct a verdict for defendant and the case was submitted to *1211 the jury, who returned a verdict for plaintiff, and'judgment was .entered accordingly. The question to be determined is: Did the court properly so submit the case to thé jury? The various alleged errors assigned by- defendant' may be considered in their order.

I. He alleges that the agreement for commission was for a sale of the property and that no sale was made. However, a sale was made by the defendant himself, the terms of the sale varying soméwhat from those proposed by defendant to plaintiff. Defendant emphasizes, in written and oral argument, that the sale must be made by plaintiff. Whether the sale was made by the owner, through the instrumentality of the agent, was, of course, a question of fact. The duty of any agent would be to produce a purchaser ready, able, and willing to buy the land on the proposed terms, or' terms satisfactory to the owner, and whether the agent did so was for the jury to determine. There was evidence that the changes in consideration were not extensive, that they were satisfactory, as evidenced by the formal contract entered into by the purchaser and defendant later, after the purchaser had been sent out to the Drichel farm on May 31st.

The general rule is stated in 12 C. J. S. 196, section 86b:

. “Where a broker-is the procuring cause of a contract concluded by the principal with a customer produced by the broker, and any special conditions attached to the right to a commission have been fulfilled or waived, the fact that the contract so concluded- differs in price or terms from the one which he was authorized to negotiate does not deprive him of his right to a com- . mission.”

. And this is .true where he sells at a lower price than was originally quoted by him to the broker. This rule has been thé holding of our decisions. Our most recent decision is Moore v. Griffith, 234 Iowa 1024, 1028, 14 N. W. 2d 644, 646. The opinion states that the broker:

. ..<<*= * * ^as performed his duty if he introdúees the buyer in the sense that he makes known to the seller that his customer is a prospective buyer. After that the seller cannot defeat the broker’s right to the commission by closing the deal with the broker’s customer and then asserting that the broker was not *1212 entitled to the commission because lie did not sell the farm, unless, of course, there has been an abandonment of negotiations with this prospect.’’ Citing Kellogg v. Rhodes, 231 Iowa 1340, 1344, 4 N. W. 2d 412, 414. Also, the opinion cites, as to the rule, Wareham v. Atkinson, 215 Iowa 1096, 1100, 247 N. W. 534, 536; Beamer v. Stuber, 164 Iowa 309, 145 N. W. 936; Johnson Bros. v. Wright, 124 Iowa 61, 99 N. W. 103.

Kellogg v. Rhodes, supra, 231 Iowa 1340, 1344, 4 N. W. 2d 412, 414, cited aboye, states:

“The general rule is well settled that if property is listed at a certain price with a broker who is the procuring cause of a sale he is entitled to a commission, even though the sále is. consummated by the principal and at a price lower than that quoted by him to the broker.” Citing authorities.

The opinion refers to the exception to the above rule where the agreement between broker and principal provides for the payment of a commission only upon obtaining a certain price for the property and the sale is consummated at a lower price. (Italics ours.) The ease was decided upon another.exception: the withdrawal of the parties to the contract. But the facts in the present case do not bring it within this first exception. Here the contract, oral and informal, was not conditioned upon obtaining the price quoted. The instant case comes within the general rule many times announced by this and other courts. In addition, see, Fisher v. Skidmore Land Co., 189 Iowa 833, 843, 179: N. W. 152; Tilden v. Zanias, 228 Iowa 708, 710, 292 N. W. 835, 836; Beamer v. Stuber, supra, 164 Iowa 309, 145 N. W. 936; 8 Am. Jur. 1100, 1101, sections 189, 190.

The defendant cites various authorities in support of his views. Santee v. Lutheran Mut. Aid Soc., 226 Iowa 1109, 285 N. W. 685, involved the right of one of two brokers to the commission; Johnson Bros. v. Wright, supra, 124 Iowa 61, 99 N. W. 103, holds that the agent had failed to proffer the buyer to the principal; Bente v. Boden, 195 Iowa 669, 192 N. W. 834, holds that the owner may also sell, and that the record failed to show that the broker was the moving cause of the sale. In Sanden & Huso v. Ausenhus, 185 Iowa 389, 392, 393, 168 N. W. 801, the .opinion states that the brokers procured no valid obligation *1213 from the buyer nor did they bring him and the owner together. We have already referred to Kellogg v. Rhodes, supra. These cited eases do not contradict or modify the general rule.

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Bluebook (online)
24 N.W.2d 812, 237 Iowa 1209, 1946 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 374, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/morton-v-drichel-iowa-1946.