Marcus v. Portal
Marcus v. Portal
Opinion of the Court
The plaintiff, a duly licensed real estate broker, instituted this action for a commission which he alleged he earned when he procured a customer ready, willing and able to buy the defendant’s real estate in Hartford for the price and upon the terms laid down by the defendant. From a verdict and judgment for the plaintiff the defendant has appealed, assigning error in the denial of his motion for judgment non obstante veredicto, in the denial of his motion to set aside the verdict as unsupported by the evidence, and in rulings on evidence.
At the outset, we point out that the defendant filed no requests to charge and took no exceptions to the charge as given. “Since no assignment of error is addressed to the charge, we must assume that it was adequate and legally correct.” Vogel v. Sylvester, 148 Conn. 666, 668.
The record discloses that the defendant did not move for a directed verdict before the case was submitted to the jury. “Under the rule such a motion is a prerequisite of a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict based upon a lack of evidence.” Goldberger v. David Roberts Corporation, 139 Conn. 629, 634; Practice Book, 1963, § 255; see Masterson v. Atherton, 149 Conn. 302, 314; Haag v. Beard Sand & Gravel Co., 151 Conn. 125, 126; Oborski v. New Haven Gas Co., 151 Conn. 274, 281. The first assignment of error must fail for noncompliance with our established practice. Maltbie, Conn. App. Proc. § 206.
We come now to the denial of the defendant’s motion to set aside the verdict. “Our primary concern in reviewing the action of the trial court on a motion to set aside a verdict is to determine
The jury could reasonably have found, as the evidence had come in, that in April, 1962, the defendant engaged the plaintiff, a duly licensed real estate broker, to sell his three-family dwelling house, located at 498 Blue Hills Avenue, in Hartford, at a price of $29,000 cash. The plaintiff made efforts to procure a customer and in the latter part of April did procure Isidor Rubin, who, as trustee for William Calusine, agreed to pay $29,000 in cash for the defendant’s property. When this fact was communicated to the defendant, he changed the terms as originally fixed by him and insisted that, in addition to the price of $29,000 cash, he wanted six months’ free rent of the second-floor apartment which he and his family occupied. The plaintiff prevailed upon his customer to accept, and the customer did in fact accept, the new and additional term imposed by the defendant. A deposit of $1000 was paid to the plaintiff which he was to turn over to the defendant upon the execution of a contract of sale. Thereafter the defendant refused to go through with the transaction on the ground that the terms as specified by him, in addition to the six months’ free rental of the second-floor apartment, called for a price of $29,000 in cash “net” to him.
“A broker earns his commission in a real estate transaction when he procures a customer who is ready, willing and able to purchase upon terms prescribed or accepted by the seller.” Richter v. Drenckhahn, 147 Conn. 496, 500; Marshall v. Sturgess & Jockmus, Inc., 150 Conn. 59, 62. “This rule does not require that the parties enter into an enforceable agreement but only that the offer of one party fairly meets the terms of the other.” Dyas v. Akston, 137 Conn. 311, 313. In his brief and upon oral argument before us, the defendant has argued the case upon the basis of the ability of the buyer to comply with his terms. The subject was nowhere specifically pursued until after the jury had rendered their verdict. A careful examination of the record discloses that the trial of the case revolved almost entirely around the question of terms. The ground of financial inability is not specifically mentioned in the grounds of defense, and at no time in the course of the trial did the defendant ever contend that he refused to go through with the sale because of the inability of the buyer to meet his terms. It is clear to us from the record and especially from the defendant’s own
The defendant claims error in admitting into evidence a check for $1000 which the prospective
There is no error.
In this opinion Prityk and Kosicki, Js., concurred.
The special defense alleged: “The defendant at all times mentioned in the complaint instructed the plaintiff that the purchase price of said property was twenty-nine thousand ($29,000) dollars, net, to the defendant in addition to a period of six (6) months rent free of the apartment occupied by the defendant on said premises.”
The transcript is replete with testimony, admitted into evidence without objection, that the transaction called for “$29,000.00 all in cash.” We fail to find a single reference in the transcript in whieh the defendant, during the course of the trial, ever raised or questioned or argued the issue of the buyer’s ability to meet the terms as prescribed by the owner.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.