Perkins v. Laborde

271 So. 2d 658, 1972 La. App. LEXIS 6230
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 26, 1972
DocketNo. 9118
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 271 So. 2d 658 (Perkins v. Laborde) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Perkins v. Laborde, 271 So. 2d 658, 1972 La. App. LEXIS 6230 (La. Ct. App. 1972).

Opinion

CUTRER, Judge.

A real estate firm, Perkins & Son, filed suit against Dalton Laborde to recover a commission allegedly due plaintiff as a result of a sale of property by Laborde to Kleinpeter Farms Dairy, Inc. From a judgment of the trial court awarding plaintiff $2,640.00, defendant perfected this sus-pensive appeal.

We affirm.

The appellant presents the following assignment of errors:

“1. In failing to determine first whether the broker had been employed by the defendant; and secondly, what the terms of that employment were; and thirdly, whether broker had discharged the duties intrusted to him in accordance with the terms and conditions of his employment to earn a commission.
“2. In finding that the broker was the procuring cause of a sale directly negotiated by defendant after broker failed to get an offer of any sort from prospect known by both broker and defendant prior to broker’s efforts.”

It was stipulated that Clyde Farr was a realtor and was employed by Perkins & Son during the time involved in this suit. It was further stipulated that Laborde sold the property to Kleinpeter Farms Dairy, Inc. on August 14, 1969 for a cash consideration of $44,000.00.

The first question for determination is whether Laborde had employed Farr to sell the property and, if so, upon what terms did the employment exist.

Laborde, an experienced real estate broker, testified that on or about June 1, 1969 he talked with Farr, also a realtor, about the 33 acres which Laborde had under option. Laborde stated that Farr informed him that he had a client, the [660]*660Kleinpeters, who Farr thought would be interested in the purchase of the property. Laborde agreed to accompany Farr to see the Kleinpeters about the sale. Laborde related that his agreement with Farr was limited to a certain price, commission, and time. Laborde contends that he told Farr that if Farr could sell the property within 10 days for $60,000.00 that he would give Farr, as a commission, the sum received above $50,000.00. The trial court did not accept the testimony of Laborde. The trial court noted that the testimony of Laborde pertaining to the limitations of the verbal agreement “has considerable doubt cast upon it” by the facts and circumstances herein. We agree with the trial court’s evaluation of Laborde’s testimony.

Farr testified that he and Laborde had known each other prior to this initial conversation as they had had previous real estate dealings. He informed Laborde that he could only work on a 6 per cent commission basis. Farr stated that Laborde agreed to allow him to offer the property to the Kleinpeters for $50,000.00. Farr and Laborde went to the Kleinpeter office where they met with Leon Kleinpeter, Jr., Leon Kleinpeter, Sr., Tommy and Vincent (Bobo) Kleinpeter. The 33 acre, tract was discussed. The Kleinpeters were familiar with the property as they had purchased several acres adjacent to this tract a few years before. The property was offered to the Kleinpeters for a price of $50,000.00. The Kleinpeters turned this offer down as being too high. They did relate, however, that they were interested at a lesser price and requested that Farr furnish them with a map of the property as they had some reservations about the title. Farr stated that Laborde delivered the map to him approximately one week or ten days later. Farr delivered the map to the Kleinpeters. Attached to the map was a note signed by Laborde (P-1), which read as follows:

“Dear Clyde:
“I had to take the Zerox, or waite untill late this afternoon, they got this right away.
“T hope you good luck with the Klcin-peters. You can reach me at 344-4231 leave word if you need me to sign the purchase agreement.
Yours,
Dalton L. LaBorde”

Farr further related that, as a result of a later discussion, Laborde agreed to reduce the offer to $47,500.00. As a result of this discussion an “Agreement to Purchase” was prepared by Farr (P-2) making the new offer and presented to Leon Klein-peter, Tr. This offer was rejected.

The testimony of Farr is corroborated by that of Leon Kleinpeter, Jr., the vice president of Kleinpeter Farms Dairy, Inc.

“Q Did you at this meeting with Clyde Farr, Dalton LaBorde, your father and two brothers discuss the purchase of this property from Dalton LaBorde ?
A Yes, we did.
Q Do you recall exactly what was discussed in regard to the purchase of the property? Tell the Court, in other words, what went on.
A We discussed price, quite naturally, and there was some question about the title. I think we discussed primarily those two things, the value and whether we could get a clear title to the property and, of course, at the time we felt that the price was too high and T think that pretty much was the way we left the thing. After that meeting, as I recall, T told them that T wanted a map of the property and they told me that they would get a map.
Q Did they furnish you with a map?
A Yes. As well as I remember, about a week later Mr. Farr brought me a map of the property.
[661]*661Q When you said you discussed price and the price was too high, do you know the figure that Mr. LaBorde was asking initially?
A Fifty thousand dollars is the figure that I recall.
Q After this first meeting, then Mr. Farr returned to your office to discuss this property at which time he brought you a map and also at that time he drew up a purchase agreement which has been introduced into evidence as Plaintiff-2. This is the purchase agreement here for originally $49,875. Did he discuss this purchase agreement with you?
A Yes. I'm fairly certain that this was the meeting that he offered the property at this reduced price which was $47,500, which was about $2,500 below what the original offer was.
Q Did you accept the figure of $47,500?
A No. I told him that I still thought the price was too high, that we were interested in the property but that we would think about it further and we wanted to clear the title up, be sure that that was clear too.”

On June 16 Laborde entered into a listing agreement with Martin Realty for the sale of the subject property. It is important to note that this agreement made the following reservation:

“The seller reserves three prospects, Ben Skillman, Thibodeaux and Leon Klein-peter, et al” (Emphasis added.)

We conclude that the trial court correctly evaluated the testimony in its conclusion that the employment agreement was not limited to ten days nor was the commission to be the sum above a net price of $50,000.00. The evidence is convincing that the verbal agreement of employment continued during the negotiations and that the commission would be 6 per cent of the sale price.

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Related

Real Estate Development & Investment Co. v. D'Antoni
466 So. 2d 701 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1985)
Perkins v. Laborde
273 So. 2d 842 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1973)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
271 So. 2d 658, 1972 La. App. LEXIS 6230, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/perkins-v-laborde-lactapp-1972.