Giampietro v. Nelms
Giampietro v. Nelms
Opinion of the Court
The defendant in error, hereinafter referred to as the plaintiff, sued the plaintiff in error, hereinafter referred .to as the defendant, in the Circuit Court of Hillsborough County in an action of assumpsit, and the plaintiff recovered judgment against the defendant for the sum of $750.00. This judgment the defendant below brings here for review by writ of error. ; - .
The declaration in the case, besides 'the common counts for work and labor performed, and goods sold and money lent, contains a fourth count on special contract as follows:
“And in a like sum of $760.00 dollars for commissions due the plaintiff from- the defendant for finding a purchaser for stock in which the defendant was interested at the request of the defendant, and'for which services the defendant promised to pay the plaintiff 15 per cent, for each share of stock sold for which the plaintiff would find- a purchaser. The plaintiff avers; that he did find a purchaser for said stock numbering 50 shares of said*444 stock, ancl that said purchaser was ready, willing and able to purchase said stock at the price and on the terms agreed to by the defendant, and did so purchase the said 50 shares of stock whereby the defendant became indebted to the plaintiff in the sum of 760' dollars which the defendant has refused to pay to the plaintiff although the plaintiff has often requested him so to do. Wherefore plaintiff brings suit and asks damages of the defendant in the sum of 2000.00 dollars.”
There was an amendment to this fourth count giving the name of O. H. Lowther as being the purchaser of the stock found by the plaintiff.
The only proof to sustain the common counts was an alleged sale by the plaintiff to the defendant of a riñe for the sum of Five dollars and an alleged loan by the plaintiff to the defendant of five dollars both of which items the defendant testified that he had paid in full. And as the jury in their verdict found neither of these items in .the plaintiff’s favor, but based their finding entirely upon the claim made in the fourth count of the declaration, it is patent that they gave credence to the defendant’s testimony to the effect that he had paid these two small items, discrediting the plaintiff’s denial of such payments. The whole controversy between the parties, therefor, hinges upon the claim made in the above quoted fourth count of the declaration. It must be observed that said fourth count does not allege the name of any corporation or joint stock company that issued' the stock that it alleges the plaintiff found a purchaser for, neither does it allege or explain how or to what extent the defendant was “interested” in such stock, but contents itself with claiming a commission for “finding a purchaser for 50 shares of stock in which the defendant was interested.”
The said judgment of the Circuit Court in said cause is hereby reversed at the cost of the defendant in error.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Aristide W. Giampietro, in Error v. William M. Nelms, in Error
- Status
- Published