Smith v. Shelton
Smith v. Shelton
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
The judgment of the court below herein was affirmed a.t a former day, and counsel for the appellant suggests that we erred in so doing. The appellant sued the appellees for commissions claimed to be due him by the appellees under a contract by which the appellees agreed to pay him a commission of five per cent, in event he should sell certain real property for him for the sum of four thousand five hundred dollars.
The evidence for the appellant, in the language of the brief of his counsel, is to the effect:
“That he was standing across the street in front of the property where Eugene Shelton and Sallie Morgan lived; that Sallie Morgan called him, inquiring if he sold property; that he was a rental agent, and that she said she would like for him to sell her property for her; that she described the property to, him, size, etc.; that she told him her price was four thousand five hundred dollars; that he told her he would charge five per cent, commission for the sale, if a salé was made; that she agreed to this; that, he asked her if she would take less; that she said she might, but that he should take it up with her.”
The appellee Sallie Morgan, on whose testimony the defense of the appellees rests, testified as follows:
“The defendant, Sallie Morgan, colored, testified that she had lived in Vicksburg between thirty-five and thirty-seven years. That she knew Mr. Smith; that she saw him daily passing the streets. That in last June she did not know Mr. J. E. Smith. That he faces, her, and says, 'You have this property for sale? What are you asking for it?’ I said, 'Mr. Smith has'the property’ (meaning Mr. W. F. Smith, another real estate agent). He said, 'He' is offering
There was a verdict and judgment for the appellees.
Three rulings of the court are assigned for error by counsel for the appellant, but only two of which are urged in their brief. These two assignments bring into review the granting by the court below of the following instructions given to the jury at the request of the appellees:
“The court instructs the jury that, before plaintiff is entitled to recover in this case, he must prove by a preponderance of the evidence every material allegation of his declaration, and must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that defendant employed him to sell their said property; otherwise the jury must find for the defendants.”
“The court instructs the jury that, unless they believe from the evidence that fe'allie Morgan and Eugene Shelton employed the plaintiff to sell their property on Clay street, and that they fully understood that they had employed him to sell said property, then the jury should find for the defendants.”
The objection to the first of these instructions is that it required appellant to prove “every material allegation of his declaration.” The objection to the second question is that the jury is required thereby before returning a verdict for the appellant to believe not only that the appellees employed him to sell their property, but also “that they (the
As set forth in the brief of counsel for the appellant:
“All of the facts in this case are uncontroverted with the exception of the single and sole question as to whether appellees had employed appellant to sell their property.”
And this question was clearly and succinctly given to the jury by the appellant’s first instruction and by the first clause of the appellees’ instruction. Southern Railway v. Ganong, 99 Miss. 540, 55 So. 355. There was no contention on the part of either the appellant or the appellees that either misunderstood the language which the other used in the discussions between them on which this case is predicated. The contention of the appellees, with which the jury agree, was simply that neither they nor the appellant used the language on which the appellant’s claim is based.
In order for an erroneous instruction to require the reversal of a judgment it must affirmatively appear from the record that the complaining party was prejudiced thereby, or, in the language of this court’s rule No. 11 (101 Miss. 906, 59 So. ix), it must affirmatively appear from the whole record that such judgment has resulted in a miscarriage of justice. Jones v. State, 104 Miss. 871, 61 So. 979, L. R. A. 1918B, 388.
Suggestion of error overruled.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.