Simpson v. Mooney J. Sherman & Son Co.

223 S.W.2d 42, 1949 Tex. App. LEXIS 2086
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 24, 1949
DocketNo. 15058
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 223 S.W.2d 42 (Simpson v. Mooney J. Sherman & Son Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Simpson v. Mooney J. Sherman & Son Co., 223 S.W.2d 42, 1949 Tex. App. LEXIS 2086 (Tex. Ct. App. 1949).

Opinion

SPEER, Justice.

Appellees, Mooney J. Sherman & Son Co., a co-partnership and licensed, real estate dealers, sued appellant, O. H. Simpson, for five per cent brokerage for sale of real estate. The action was predicated upon a written contract of listing with appellees by appellant.

The instrument sued on, referred to by all parties as the listing contract, is a form printed on a card 4x6 inches, containing many printed words, leaving .blanks to be filled. The printed part contains the names of appellees as if printed for their use. Only a small part of the blank was adhered to. The price is given as $225,000 and the owner’s name is in the blank space.. for that purpose. Disregarding other blanks, a brief description of two or more pieces of property was written on the card and no complaint is made of the sufficiency of cither description. Following the descriptions the card-contract contains this language:

“The undersigned, in consideration of services rendered and to be rendered and other valuable considerations, does hereby grant to Mooney J. Sherman & Son Co., for the full term of 6 months days, beginning with date hereof, the exclusive right and privilege as agent, to sell the property described on the reverse side hereof, at the price and on the terms there set forth, or at such price and on such terms as the undersigned may agree to accept therefor and agrees to pay to the said Mooney J. Sherman & Son Co., a commission of five per cent on the total sale price of said property, unless sale price is under $1000.00, in which event a minimum commission of $50.00 is to be paid, regardless of who may effect a sale thereof within said period. Seller to furnish complete abstract or an insured title policy. Taxes,' insurance and rents to be prorated to date of closing.'
“Fort Worth, Texas 15 day of October 1947.
“O. H. Simpson.”

[43]*43On the reverse side there are many printed items, leaving spaces for answers to be written in; none of these blanks were filled.

Trial was to the court. No findings of fact and conclusions of law were requested and none were filed, except such as were set out in the judgment; the judgment being adverse to appellant he has perfected this appeal.

Points of error 1, 2, 3 and 5 are substantially the same as to .subject matter, so much so that appellant makes his statements and arguments applicable to all. In effect, they each assert error because the contract sued on is unenforceable for the reasons, (1) it is too uncertain “as to price and terms of a contemplated sale of the property involved * * * and not enforceable as a present contract”; (2) by its terms the contract “constituted an agreement to enter into negotiations and agree upon the price and terms which appellant would accept, if they could”; (3) “ap-pellee had elected to sue upon a contract in writing too indefinite and uncertain to form the basis for appellee’s claimed cause of action and not enforceable as a matter of law”; and (S) the ¡.contract sued on “being so indefinite and. uncertain as to price and terms of said sale yet to be agreed upon between the parties and as a matter of law could not form the basis of ap-pellee’s claimed cause of action, thé. trial court erred in not rendering judgment in favor of appellant.”

While the contract sued on was in force as to point of time, appellant, through another purported agent, sold one of the described properties for $70,000. It was stipulated at the trial that appellees were not the procuring cause of the sale that was really made, did not produce the purchaser who bought it, nor did they ever procure or cause to be procured a purchaser ready, able and willing to buy at the agreed price nor at a price satisfactory to appellant.

The substance of appellant’s contentions under these four points is that the listing contract sued on is too indefinite in its terms to be enforceable, and that it is tío more than an agreement between 'the parties that they will in the future make a contract for brokerage if they can then agree upon prices and’ terms. Upon that assumed premise appellant cites many authorities supporting it: We are not in •accord with such a construction of the contract-.

It is true that the listing contract docs not state the price-nor terms upon which cither piece of property is to be sold as a prerequisite to appellant’s becoming liable to appellees for the specified five per cent brokerage, but we think the - contract is specifically' definite in certain essential 'particulars, namely, (.a) it designates the property to be- sold; (b) for the recited consideration it grants unto appellees “the exclusive right and privilege as agent to sell the -property * * * at such price and on such terms as the undersigned (appellant) may agree to accept therefo'r”; and (c) it obligates appellant for the consideration recited to pay to appellees, a commission of five per cent on the total sale price of the property.

There appears to be no controversy between the parties as to the property covered by the contract, nor that’ appellees held a written contract conferring upon them the exclusive right to sell it during the six months period, nor as to the -amount of the commission, if appellees are entitled to recover at all.

Apparently it is the contention of appellant that because -the contract failed to describe the property and give the price and terms on the reverse side of the instrument (under the language used) the contract as a whole became too uncertain and indefinite to be enforceable. We note the description is written on the front rather than on the reverse side as referred to in the printed part of the contract quoted above. Moreover, in connection with the phrase referable to price and descriptions on the reverse side, the next disjunctive phrase reads: “or at such price and oil such terms as the undersigned (appellant) may. agree to accept therefor.” In view of the two disjunctive phrases, if the first be ignored, the latter stands equally as effective.

[44]*44The inevitable result is that appellant executed to appellees a written contract giving to them the exclusive right to sell the described property within a period of six months from the date of the contract at such price and on such terms as appellant may agree to accept, for which appellant agreed to pay five per cent commission on the total sale price.

Without dispute, appellant did sell the property for $70,000 during the life of the contract. The sale was made through others and was accepted by appellant. Nevertheless appellant’s contract with appellees was still in effect and appellees’ rights were in no way altered or affected by another deal made by appellant to which appellees were not parties. This is true even though under the circumstances here involved appellant may have become liable for two commissions.

In Lewis v. Smith, Tex.Civ.App., 198 S.W.2d 598, writ dismissed, w. o. j., this court discussed the rule which we think is controlling in the instant case. In the cited case plaintiff, a broker, held a contract conferring upon him the exclusive right to sell. Defendant, the owner, sold the property before the expiration of plaintiff’s contract. Plaintiff claimed right of recovery on two grounds, first, under the contract, and second, because he was the procuring cause.

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223 S.W.2d 42, 1949 Tex. App. LEXIS 2086, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/simpson-v-mooney-j-sherman-son-co-texapp-1949.