Stiewel v. Lally

115 S.W. 1134, 89 Ark. 195, 1909 Ark. LEXIS 45
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedFebruary 1, 1909
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 115 S.W. 1134 (Stiewel v. Lally) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Stiewel v. Lally, 115 S.W. 1134, 89 Ark. 195, 1909 Ark. LEXIS 45 (Ark. 1909).

Opinion

McCulloch, J.

This is an action at law instituted by M. A. Dally and D. S. Cherry against Abe Stiewel to recover a sum alleged to be due as commission on sale of a coal mine and lands owned by the latter, situated in Johnson County, Arkansas.

In the first paragraph of the complaint the plaintiffs alleged that the defendant entered into a written contract with them, a copy of which contract is exhibited with the complaint, whereby the defendant employed them to sell said property for ■a sum not less than $350,000 and agreed to pay them as compensation for their said services all of the purchase price in excess of said sum; that they negotiated a sale of said property to one Daugherty for the sum of $450,000; that, by and through the efforts of plaintiffs, said purchaser, Daugherty, and the defendant were brought together, and defendant conveyed said property to him for the price of $437,000. They prayed judgment for $100,000 as compensation.

In the second paragraph of the complaint the plaintiffs alleged that they negotiated a sale of said property to Daugherty at the instance and request of defendant, that defendant accepted Daugherty as a purchaser and sold the property to him, that said sale was accomplished through the efforts of plaintiffs, and that their services in negotiating said sale were reasonably worth the sum of $100,000, which it is claimed they were entitled to recover, even if it should be found that they were not entitled to recover on the written contract set forth in the preceding paragraph.

The contract set forth in and exhibited with the first paragraph of the complaint reads as follows:

“It is agreed between Abe Stiewel, principal, and Martin A. Dally and D. S. Cherry, agents, that if the said agents shall make a sale of the lands and Eureka Coal Mines at Spadra, Johnson County, State of Arkansas, under a power of attorney executed by the said principal to said agents, bearing.even date herewith, authorizing them to sell'said property for the sum of four hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars ($425,000.00), the said principal will allow the said agents, as full compensation for making said sale, all the purchase money received by him in excess of the sum of three hundred and fifty thousand dollars ($350,000.00), the said excess to constitute the sole and entire compensation to be asked or demanded by said agents of said principal.
“Witness our hand and seals this 26th day of March, 1903.
“Abe Stiewel,
“L. S. Cherry,
“Martin A. Lally.

The power of attorney referred to in the contract is not mentioned in nor exhibited with the complaint, but it was introduced in evidence at the trial. According to its'terms, plaintiffs were appointed by defendant as his agents and attorneys to sell the property in question for the sum of $425,000, and it was provided that “said agency is to continue thirty (30) days from this date,” the date of the instrument being March 26, 1903, the same date of the contract.

Defendant in his answer to the first parag-raph of the complaint admitted that he executed the contract exhibited with the complaint, but denied that it was in force at the time of the alleged sale of the property; denied that he entered into any contract whereby the sale of said property was to be made by plaintiffs and compensation was to be paid to them whether the transfer was directly through them or whether the purchaser and defendant were brought together by plaintiffs; denied that plaintiffs negotiated the sale of the property to Daugherty for $450,000, or that Daugherty accepted an offer made to him by plaintiffs for the purchase of the property, or that defendant and Daugherty were brought together through the efforts of plaintiffs, or that defendant sold the property for the sum of $437,ooo.

For answer to the second paragraph of the complaint the defendant denied that plaintiff negotiated a sale of property to Daugherty, or that they brought him (defendant) and the •purchasers together, .or had any connection with the sale of the property which he subsequently made. He alleges that he sold the property in July, 1904, to Daugherty and one Albers, together with a large quantity of merchandise, for the sum and price of $400,000, and that he realized on the sale of the mine and land only the sum of $367,000, and that neither of the plaintiffs had anything to do with the sale.

Defendant also pleaded, in -bar of plaintiff’s right to recover commission on the sale, an ordinance of the city of Little Rock, where plaintiffs and defendant resided, requiring all agents and brokers engaged in the sale of real estate to obtain a license from the city. He alleged that plaintiffs had never obtained a license as required by said ordinance, and that the alleged services were performed by plaintiffs, if at all, in the city of Little Rock.

He also pleaded as a further defense that prior to the institution of this action plaintiff Cherry and one Charles B. Hood had instituted an action against him in the court of common pleas of Hamilton County, Ohio, for the recovery of commission on -the sale of this property, and that said action was still pending.

It is undisputed that the defendant sold and conveyed the property in July, 1904, to Daugherty and Albers for $400,000, this price including a stock of merchandise which was not embraced in the terms of plaintiff’s alleged employment, and that, after deducting the price of the merchandise, the price received by defendant for the property which plaintiffs claim to have been employed to sell was $388,000.

A trial of the case before a jury resulted in a verdict in favor of the plaintiffs in the following form: “We, the jury, find for the plaintiff in the sum of 2j^ per cent, commission based on the sum of three hundred and eighty-eight thousand dollars ($388,000) which- amounts net to nine thousand seven hundred dollars ($9,700).”

Judgment was rendered in accordance with the verdict, and the defendant appealed.

Appellee Lally testified, in substance, that he acted as appellant’s agent for the sale of the property in the year 1902, and continued to do so after the execution of the written contract mentioned in the complaint; that after this contract was entered into he negotiated with numerous parties for the sale of the property, among whom was Daugherty, with whom Albers was associated; that he had considerable correspondence with Daugherty, beginning in July, 1903, and extending up to September 8, 1903, when the last letter was written to him by Daugherty, saying that he and his associate Albers could not purchase the property then, but would take up the proposition with him again after the first of the year (1904), and invited further correspondence; that he informed appellant from time to time of his continued effort to sell the property, and showed appellant his correspondence with Daugherty and others as the negotiations progressed; and that appellant made no objection to him continuing the negotiations after the expiration of the thirty-day limit in .the contract, but on the contrary encouraged him to continue his efforts to sell the property, and gave him information concerning the output of the coal mine.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
115 S.W. 1134, 89 Ark. 195, 1909 Ark. LEXIS 45, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stiewel-v-lally-ark-1909.