Booth v. Kraemer
Booth v. Kraemer
Opinion of the Court
This is an appeal by the defendant below from a judgment, in the Essex County Court of Common Pleas, rendered upon the verdict of a jury in favor of the plaintiff below, for the sum of $2,284 damages and $56.68 costs. The suit was instituted against Dr. Charles E. Ivraemer, a realtor of Newark. The plaintiff was Thomas Booth, a former employe of the defendant.
The evidence shows that the Klaxon Horn Company owned a manufacturing plant in the city of Newark. It desired to sell this plant. It emplo3red Dr. Kraemer as a broker for this purpose. Booth was in the office of Dr. Kraemer, at the time working upon what is known as a forty-sixty basis; that is to sa3r, if Booth effected a sale of a property he was to receive forty per cent, of the commissions, sixty per cent, going to Dr. Kraemer.
On April 9th, 1920, Kraemer and Booth went to the Klaxon company’s plant and saw its president, Mr. MeCon
Booth remained with Kraemer until August 17th, 1921, when he left his employ. Kraemer stated to Booth that he had never received anything for his sendees in connection with the sale of the Klaxon property. Booth afterwards learned that Kraemer had been paid $3,000 by the Klaxon company. Kraemer appears to have accepted this in lieu of his commissions of $10,000. Booth upon learning this instituted the present action against Kraemer and recovered the judgment above mentioned. The judgment was evidently based upon the theory that Booth was entitled to forty per cent, of the sum of $5,000 received by Kraemer. Kraemer contended that the $5,000 was for the purpose of defraying his expenses and was not for commissions, and that for reasons of policy he had foregone any commissions which he might have claimed under the agreement with the Klaxon company.
The reasons or grounds of appeal appearing in the record are five in number. They all appear, with the exception of
1. That there was error, in the assumption by the court in its charge to the jury, that the relations existing between the defendant-appellant and the plaintiff-respondent amounted to those recognized to exist between brokers associated for the purposes of transaction, or to those between a broker and a sub-agent.
2. That there was no proof that Dr. Kraemer had received any commissions from the Klaxon company; and
3. That the court erred in not directing a verdict for the defendant, in view of the fact that the relationship between the parties was shown to have been one of employer and employe.
An appellant has no right to substitute for the grounds of appeal' filed other grounds of appeal. They need not be considered. We will, as a matter of grace, not of right, consider the grounds or reasons stated in the brief.
As to the first ground of appeal there is no objection or exception in the record which raises this point. It, however, seems to us to be quite immaterial as to what the relationship was between Booth and Kraemer. The question was whether Booth was to receive for his efforts in consummating the sale forty per cent, of such commissions as Kraemer received. It made no difference whether the relationship was that of broker, or of broker and sub-agent, or of principal or agent, or of employer and employe.
The second ground of appeal, as stated in the brief, is not specified as a ground of appeal in the record. There is nothing in the record which discloses that any objection to evidence or the insufficiency of the proof was stated to the trial judge upon which he ruled adversely. There is also no merit in the appellant’s contention. There was proof that Kraemer had received $5,000 from the Klaxon company. It was for the jury to determine whether this was paid for commissions or something else.
The judgment is affirmed, with costs.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.