Cotter v. Maguire
Cotter v. Maguire
Opinion of the Court
This is an action of contract in which the plaintiff seeks to recover a commission alleged to be due him, as a broker, on the sale of a house and land numbered 25 Pritchard Avenue, Somerville, Massachusetts. The case was tried to a jury and a verdict returned for the plaintiff. At the close of the evidence the defendant moved for a directed verdict; the motion was denied and the defendant excepted. The case is before this court on that exception. All material evidence is included in the record.
At the trial evidence favorable to the plaintiff’s case was introduced to the effect that in April, 1925, the defendant was desirous of selling his premises at 25 Pritchard Avenue, Somerville, and had published an advertisement in a Somer
The defendant testified that the terms he gave McDougal were $9,500 net to him. In contradiction the plaintiff testified, in substance, that after the sale to Mrs. Murphy he had a talk over the telephone with the defendant, who asked the plaintiff to come and see him; that the plaintiff went, and the defendant then said he had given the property to a man named McDougal; that the plaintiff told the defendant McDougal was his salesman and that Simpson was also his agent; that the defendant then said he did not get the price he wanted and did not see why he should pay a commission, that he only got $9,500. The plaintiff further testified that at neither of “these conversations was anything said about any net price on this property.” It is, of course, plain that the plaintiff was not entitled to a commission if the property was listed for sale with him or with his employees for $9,500 net, because concedédly he had not procured a customer who was ready, willing and able to take the property of the defendant upon the terms
There is nothing in the contention of the defendant that there can be no recovery by the plaintiff because before the sale to Mrs. Murphy it was not known to the defendant that McDougal was an employee of the plaintiff. It is sufficient that McDougal and Simpson, as agents, were acting in the service and in behalf of the plaintiff in the procurement of a purchaser. Borrowscale v. Bosworth, 99 Mass. 378, 383.
The case was submitted to the jury rightly.
Exceptions overruled.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- John L. Cotter v. Edward P. Maguire
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Published