Wernick v. Bowes
Wernick v. Bowes
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
The plaintiff seeks to recover in this action a balance alleged to be due him for commissions, as a broker, for services rendered to the defendant in procuring an order for a large quantity of yarn from the Frankford Worsted Mills. The trial in the court below resulted in a verdict in favor of the defendant and the plaintiff appeals.
The contract for the payment of commissions was in parol and the testimony of the parties afe to its terms was flatly contradictory. The plaintiff testified that the defendant agreed, without qualification, to pay the two per cent upon" the acceptance of the order. The defendant testified that when the order was presented it provided that the price of the yarn should be $2.15 per pound, less 2% cash in ten days; that he then said to plaintiff “We can’t pass the Frankford Worsted Mills,” that plaintiff said “Why not?” to which defendant answered “They are very tricky; I am afraid of their credit.” He testified that he- told the plaintiff he would take the order on the basis of two and a half per cent
The only assignments of error which are founded on exceptions taken at the trial go to the refusal of the court to affirm the fourth point submitted by the plaintiff and the qualification of his first point. The first point requested the court to charge that, “As soon as an order is accepted by the buyer the commission of the broker, who has brought the parties together is due.” The court affirmed this point, saying to the jury that it was a correct statement of the law, “in the absence of an express agreement to the contrary.” The court in its general charge instructed the jury to the same effect, and told them, in substance, that, it was their duty to find a verdict for the plaintiff, unless the defendant had satisfied them by the weight of the evidence that there was an express agreement that the commission should not become due and payable until the goods were delivered and paid for. If the testimony of the defendant was true he had in the negotiation given the plaintiff warning that he regarded the proposed purchaser as very tricky, that he was afraid of their credit, and, in the same conversation, it was distinctly agreed, between the plaintiff and the defendant, that the commission of the plaintiff was to be payable when the yarn was delivered and paid for. It was entirely competent for the parties to covenant that the right of the plaintiff to commissions should be dependent upon the purchaser’s taking and paying for the goods: Lindsay v. Carbon Steel Co., 195 Pa. 120; Hillman & Co. v. Joseph & Bros., 9 Pa. Superior Ct. 1;
The judgment is affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.