Leon Irwin & Co. v. J. E. Warner & Co.
Leon Irwin & Co. v. J. E. Warner & Co.
Opinion of the Court
This is a suit on open account for the sum of $135.15. The particular debit item represented by the amount claimed is admitted to be due and owing, but defendant somewhat inartistically pleads compensation because of the payment in error of another item of this amount. From a judgment in plaintiff’s favor as prayed for defendant appeals.
The plaintiff, Leon Irwin & Co., Inc., is the local representative of the New Amsterdam Casualty Company, a foreign corporation transacting business in this State as a Surety Company with plaintiffs as general agent. The defendant is a local corporation conducting a sort of insurance brokerage business. It is customary for the general agents to allow a commission of 15% to the broker or producer of the business brought to them by the broker. The defendant brought to plaintiff’s office a building contractor by the name of Bourgeois, who obtained from the Amsterdam Casualty Company a surety bond through plaintiff’s agency, the usual commission being allowed defendant. Subsequently Bourgeois obtained four other bonds of a similar character, and it is concerning the preminum of $135.15 for the last bond which was not paid, that this controversy has arisen. It is the custom for the broker, in this case the defendant, to add its commission to the premium due the bonding company and bill the assured and collect the amount, paying the general agent at stated intervals the aggregate of premiums due in the interval. Pursuant to this custom plaintiff, on July 26, 1922, presented a statement calling for several hundred dollars and including the disputed Bourgeois premium of $135.15. The defendant deducted the Bourgeois premium and gave its
We are convinced of the correctness of the judgment appealed from and it is therefore affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.