Nardi, Pain & Podolsky, Inc. v. Vignola Furniture Co.

224 N.E.2d 649, 80 Ill. App. 2d 220, 1967 Ill. App. LEXIS 850
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMarch 2, 1967
DocketGen. 51,467
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 224 N.E.2d 649 (Nardi, Pain & Podolsky, Inc. v. Vignola Furniture Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Nardi, Pain & Podolsky, Inc. v. Vignola Furniture Co., 224 N.E.2d 649, 80 Ill. App. 2d 220, 1967 Ill. App. LEXIS 850 (Ill. Ct. App. 1967).

Opinion

MR. JUSTICE DEMPSEY

delivered the opinion of the court.

The plaintiff, a real estate broker, appeals from a summary judgment entered in favor of the defendant. The complaint alleged that the defendant owed the plaintiff $4,000 in commission for its services in finding a purchaser for the defendant’s property. The defendant answered that it had been willing to sell but that the purchaser produced by the plaintiff did not comply with one of the defendant’s conditions of sale. After the case was at issue, both parties filed motions for summary judgment supported by affidavits and exhibits. The court granted the defendant’s motion and dismissed the complaint.

The plaintiff contends that the judgment should be reversed because the condition of sale set forth in the defendant’s answer was not contained in its agreement with the plaintiff and was not specified by the defendant at the time it terminated negotiations with the prospective purchaser. The plaintiff further contends that the defendant’s motion for summary judgment did not raise a substantial defense to the plaintiff’s right to a commission and that the affidavit supporting the motion did not show that the affiant, if sworn as a witness at the trial, would be competent to testify to the facts set forth in the affidavit.

It appears from the pleadings, affidavits and exhibits that during May, 1965, discussions were held between the plaintiff-broker and the defendant concerning the possible sale of the defendant’s property. An offer of $70,000, relayed by the plaintiff, had been refused by the defendant. On May 26th the defendant, for the first time, authorized the plaintiff to negotiate a sale and said that it would consider a price of $75,000 — net after the deduction of the plaintiff’s commission. The plaintiff informed a prospective purchaser of the defendant’s willingness to sell, and on May 28th the attorney for the purchaser wrote the defendant that his client was prepared to pay $79,000 subject to certain conditions. The offer to purchase was limited to five days from the date of the attorney’s letter.

On June 11, 1965, the defendant wrote the plaintiff that it would sell its property to the plaintiff’s client. It accepted the conditions set out in the attorney’s letter of May 28th but enumerated certain conditions of its own. Of the conditions, the one with which we are concerned, No. 5, stated: “This offer is contingent upon the ability of the seller to obtain favorable mortgage for the seller’s proposed new warehouse building.” The offer to sell was to remain open for ten days from the date of the letter.

The broker communicated this offer to the purchaser who, on June 15th, replied through its attorney that the offer was acceptable and that the attorney would prepare the contract of sale. The broker wrote the defendant on June 16th, enclosed a copy of the letter of June 15th, and stated that the conditions outlined in the defendant’s letter of June 11th were acceptable to the purchaser.

The contract, drafted by the purchaser’s attorney, was submitted to the defendant on June 25th. It made no mention of the defendant’s condition No. 5.

After June 25th the purchaser’s attorney wrote the lawyer for the defendant, referred to several telephone conversations between them and asked that the defendant’s lawyer contact him so that a contract could be drawn which would be acceptable to both sides. The defendant’s lawyer returned the unexecuted contract and informed the purchaser’s attorney that the defendant would not enter into any agreement.

If the plaintiff produced a purchaser who was ready, willing and able to buy the property on the defendant’s terms it earned and was entitled to its commission. Chiagouris v. Continental Trailways, 50 Ill App 2d 196, 200 NE2d 399 (1964); 12 Am Jur2d, Brokers, § 183; 12 CJS, Brokers, § 85. The questions are whether the plaintiff found such a purchaser and whether the plaintiff accepted employment with knowledge of the defendant’s terms.

The plaintiff states that condition No. 5 was not specified in its agreement with the defendant, that noncompliance with this condition was not given by the defendant as the reason for rejecting the purchaser’s offer to buy, and that the injection of this defense into the case is an unfair attempt to avoid the obligation to pay the earned commission.

The evidence heretofore delineated does not disclose whether or not condition No. 5 was known to the plaintiff before or on May 26, 1965, when the defendant authorized it to negotiate the sale. However, the evidence does disclose that the condition was known to the plaintiff on June 11th — through the medium of the defendant’s letter of that date. It can be inferred that, even if the plaintiff did not know of the condition theretofore, it accepted the condition after receiving that letter because it did not then claim that the condition was new or that it altered the terms of its employment; and, furthermore, it transmitted the defendant’s proposal to the purchaser and informed the defendant on June 16th that the terms were acceptable.

The resolution of the question as to the terms of the plaintiff’s employment does not, however, rest on this inference. The question is resolved by the affidavits and pleadings. The affidavit in support of the defendant’s motion for summary judgment asserted that the plaintiff knew on or before May 26th “that any sale was conditioned upon seller’s ability to obtain a favorable mortgage for a proposed new warehouse building and knew that any acceptable offer would be contingent upon acceptance of a purchase under said condition. . . .” Although the plaintiff filed an answer to the motion, the defendant’s allegation was not denied. Hence, for the purpose of summary judgment, the truth of the allegation was admitted. Grant v. Reily, 346 Ill App 399, 105 NE2d 316 (1952). Upon the record before it, the trial court correctly concluded that the plaintiff knew of condition No. 5 and accepted employment under that condition.

The plaintiff next contends that the purchaser was ready to buy the property and was willing to accede to the defendant’s terms; it argues that, because the defendant did not state any reason for rejecting the contract tendered by the purchaser, it is now precluded from asserting condition No. 5 as a defense. In Smith v. Keeler, 151 Ill 518, 38 NE 250 (1894), relied upon by the plaintiff, Smith, the seller, employed Keeler, the broker, to sell some property — part for cash and part on time. Smith previously had employed Keeler to sell other property in the same manner. Keeler found a buyer and executed a contract on terms similar to those used in the past. When informed of the sale, Smith declined to carry out the contract on the sole ground that he had received a better offer and had decided to retain the property. Keeler sued for his commission and Smith defended on the ground that Keeler was not authorized to arrange a sale on the terms stated in the contract.

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

Related

Smith v. Chicago Park District
646 N.E.2d 1330 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1995)
Smith v. South Shore Hospital
543 N.E.2d 868 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1989)
St. Paul Insurance v. Armas
527 N.E.2d 921 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1988)
Niemoth v. Kohls
524 N.E.2d 1085 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1988)
Purtill v. Hess
489 N.E.2d 867 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1986)
Solomon v. Baron
462 N.E.2d 756 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1984)
Podolsky & Associates, Ltd. v. City Products Corp.
431 N.E.2d 1263 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1981)
Loveland v. City of Lewistown
405 N.E.2d 453 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1980)
KLIBANOW & CO. v. Shafer
276 N.E.2d 446 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1971)
Schroeder v. Busenhart
272 N.E.2d 750 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1971)
Bowler v. Metropolitan Sanitary District
254 N.E.2d 144 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1969)
National Acceptance Co. of America v. Exchange National Bank
243 N.E.2d 264 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1968)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
224 N.E.2d 649, 80 Ill. App. 2d 220, 1967 Ill. App. LEXIS 850, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nardi-pain-podolsky-inc-v-vignola-furniture-co-illappct-1967.