Britton & Kennedy, Inc. v. Hill
Britton & Kennedy, Inc. v. Hill
Opinion of the Court
after making the foregoing statement, delivered the following opinion of the court:
The assignments of error present only two questions for our decision, which will be passed upon in their order as stated below.
The first question for our decision is as follows:
This question must be answered in the negative.
It clearly appears from the evidence in the cause that the said $1,690.74 merely constituted commissions on the sale mentioned which Kennedy had earned as against Jirasek, under the contract between Kennedy and Jirasek, by making the sale under and as authorized by such contract. As between Terry, on the one part, and Kennedy and Hill upon the other part, it was in substance provided in the contracts of partnership between them that neither Kennedy nor Hill would be entitled to claim any commissions against Terry, or the land, unless and until the partnership should resell the land at a price in excess of the price at which it was bought in by Terry on December 15, 1914, to-wit, $21,827.50 with six per cent per annum interest thereon until paid to be added, which was owing to Terry, and also the expenses of such partnership resale, so as to make a partenership profit. It was in the partnership profits alone that Kennedy and Hill had any interest. The duration of the partnership was expressly limited to two years from October 6, 1914. But aside from that consideration, the partnership was in fact abandoned by both Kennedy and Hill on and after October 6, 1916. They never made any effort to resell the land for the benefit of the partnership after October 6, 1916. They thereafter left Terry with the 1,585.3 acres of the land on his hands, as between him and Jirasek, at the price at which Terry had bought it in on December 15, 1914, unassisted in any way by Kennedy and Hill, as members of the partnership, in making a resale of it so as to save Terry from loss on the account as between himself and Jirasek. Further, Terry was never able, at any time after October 6, 1916, even up to June 3, 1919, to sell the land so as to make any profit over and above the price at which he bought it in as
Such being our conclusion it is unnecessary for us to enter at all upon the consideration of the matter of estoppel upon which the court below rested its decision.
(2) Did the court below err in holding that the contract of sale between Terry and Britton & Kennedy, Inc., of date June, 3, 1919, was cancelled and surrendered by the latter on the 18th of September, 1919, and thereafter ceased to exist, and that no other contract was then entered into between Terry and Britton & Kennedy as a consideration for the cancellation of the said contract and no other contract was subsequently made between Terry and such parties or either of them for the sale of the land in question, and that neither Britton & Kennedy, Inc., nor Kennedy nor Hill are entitled to the specific performance of the contract of June 3, 1919?
This question must be answered in the negative.
Much has been said in the argument before us, written and oral, on the subject of accord and satisfaction, and a great number of authorities have been cited by counsel on both sides of the cause as bearing upon the questions of law, whether, if there was on the part of Terry, on September 18, 1919, a verbal contract with Kennedy, acting for Britton & Kennedy, Inc., which amounted to a promise to enter into another contract in writing in lieu of the June 3, 1919, contract, which was the condition upon, or the consideration for which, the latter contract was cancelled, such
The decree under review will be affirmed.
Affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Britton & Kennedy, Inc., W. D. Hill and D. T. Kennedy v. E. M. Terry
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. Real Estate Brokers — Partnership—Right to Commissions— Case at Bar. — K. H. and T. formed a partnership for the handling and sale of a certain tract of land of which K., under a contract with J., had the exclusive right of sale, upon commission. The partnership offered the land at auction sale and T., who had in the meantime obtained a legal title, bought it in for the partnership under an agreement with his partners that if the partnership failed to dispose of the land at a satisfactory price within two years, the partnership should be abandoned and the title to the land remain in T. The partnership agreement contained a provision that no one of the partners should charge the partnership for his services in the sale of the property. It appeared that K. was entitled to commissions of $1,690.74 as against J. upon the purchase price obtained at the auction sale. K. and H. claimed on the abandonment of the partnership at the expiration of the two years one-third each of this $1,690.74 as against T. Held: That the partnership contract in substance provided that neither K. nor H. would be entitled to claim any commissions against T., unless the partnership should resell the land at a price in excess of the price at which it was bought in by T. It was in the partnership profits alone that K. and H. had ■any interest. 2. Contracts — Cancellation of Contracts — Consideration.—Where a contract is cancelled by mutual consent and agreement of both parties by an executed agreement, the cancellation avoids and puts an end to the contract, and no other consideration is required to support the cancellation. 8. Appeal and Error — Presumption in Favor of Decision of Lower Court — Credence Given to Testimony. — Where upon the question of whether the cancellation of a contract was conditional or unconditional the testimony is directly in conflict, and it appears from the decree that the.court below gave full credence to the testimony on one side and no credence to the testimony on the other, and there is nothing in the record from which the appellate court can say that the court below erred in so doing, the action of the court below is conclusive. 4. Appeal and Error — Presumption in Favor of Decision of Lower Court. — On every appeal the action of the court below carries with it the presumption of correctness until the contrary is made to appear.