Howell v. McCreless
Howell v. McCreless
Opinion of the Court
This is a suit to recover $2,500, alleged to be due on a contract on the part of the plaintiff in error to pay defendant in error as commissions for effecting. an exchange. The cause was submitted on special issues, and the court upon receiving the verdict rendered judgment in favor of defendant in error for $2,792.90. This is the second time this case has been before this court. 210 S. W. 972.
The evidence showed that plaintiff in error agreed to pay defendant in error the sum of $2,500, of which $1,250 was to be in cash and $1,250 in a note to be executed by Knight, for effecting an exchange of certain properties; that of plaintiff in error being lands in Texas, and that of Knight city property in Los Angeles, Cal. The uncontradicted evidence shows that defendant in error performed the service and that it was worth the sum of $2,500. No part of it was paid, although plaintiff accepted the service and profited by it.
There is no merit in the first assignment of error. Plaintiff in error was allowed to present all the testimony as to the alleged misrepresentations made by' defendant in error in regard to the value of the Los Angeles property, and the evidence showed that plaintiff in error, before concluding the exchange, went to Los Angeles, thoroughly investigated location, value, and rental revenues of the property, and made no objections whatever as to the value. He objected to nothing except some amounts for which the property was bound, payment of which was demanded at once. That matter was arranged and the exchange made. Both parties to the exchange knew that inflated values were, as usual in case of exchanges, placed on the respective properties. Each was satisfied.
The third assignment of error is without merit. The court properly submitted the issue as to the agreement to pay the commission.
“Mr. Howell, I want you to figure so as to pay me $2,500 on this deal.”
Even if that commission was based on a $100,000 valuation on the California property, plaintiff in error did not object to that valuation until he sought to evade payment of the commission which he had promised to pay. ' Plaintiff in error did not depend upon any representations made by defendant in error, but made his offer of an exchange, in writing, “subject to a thorough inspection of his property which I will make within a reasonable time after his inspection and approval of my property.” In his letters plaintiff in error indicated that he was not acting on the representations of defendant in error, but, if on any, those of Knight, and he evidently gave small heed to those, but relied on his own inspection. He traded at arm’s length, and with his eyes open. The fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth assignments of error are overruled.
The judgment is affirmed.
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Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.