Brightwell v. Epting
Brightwell v. Epting
Opinion of the Court
The denial of the motion for a new trial was not error.
The defendants in their answer denied owing the plaintiff any amount, and stated their main contention as follows: "Their approval of said sale was on the terms and conditions set forth therein as shown by the approval, that is, among other things, the said Ridlehuber would, on the date they signed same, pay $400 more as binder or down payment; that said approval by these defendants and the said covenant by said Ridlehuber were dependent covenants; that Ridlehuber breached his covenant by failing to make said payment, thereby releasing these defendants of the binding force of all dependent covenants, including the approval of said sale, so that there being no binding contract of sale they are not liable to petitioner for any commissions."
The jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff for the amount sued for; the motion for a new trial was overruled, and that judgment is assigned as error. The undisputed *Page 466 evidence showed the following facts: The defendants employed the plaintiff as their agent to sell the property in question for $9500; the plaintiff procured a customer who was ready, able, and willing to buy, and who actually offered to buy the property for said sum; that the plaintiff was to receive as his commission the sum of $362.50. The evidence, although in sharp conflict, further authorized the jury to find that Ridlehuber had made a timely tender of the additional binder of $400 to the plaintiff (the agent of the defendants) and that the tender was waived by the plaintiff, and subsequently waived by the defendants. The evidence further authorized a finding that the defendants breached their contract of sale because, after signing it, they had received through another real-estate broker an offer of $10,500 for the property. In our opinion the evidence amply authorized the verdict. Under the foregoing rulings, none of the special grounds of the motion for new trial shows cause for a reversal of the judgment.
Judgment affirmed. MacIntyre and Gardner, JJ., concur.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.