C. Robert Peter & Co. v. Fix
| Decision Date | 22 June 1928 |
| Citation | 225 Ky. 198 |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court — District of Kentucky |
| Parties | C. Robert Peter & Co. v. Fix. |
Appeal from Jefferson Circuit Court
MARK BEAUCHAMP for appellant.
JOSEPH J. HANCOCK for appellee.
Affirming.
The appellant and plaintiff below, C. Robert Peter & Co., a corporation, is engaged in the real estate business in Louisville, including that of brokers in effecting sales of real property. The appellee and defendant below, Dr. C.C. Fix, owned a building at 1060 South Eighteenth street, which on or about January 14, 1927, he sold to Dr. J.W. Craddock for the sum of $10,000 and other considerations not necessary to now mention. This action was filed by plaintiff against defendant in the Jefferson circuit court to recover against him a judgment for $500 as alleged commissions due plaintiff from defendant for services rendered to him by it in making the sale to Dr. Craddock, and as grounds for the recovery it was alleged in the petition that defendant had placed his property in the hands of plaintiff for sale with the agreement to pay the commissions sued for. The answer was a denial of all material averments of the petition, and at the close of plaintiff's testimony the court sustained defendant's motion for a peremptory instruction in his favor, and from the judgment based upon such directed verdict plaintiff prosecutes this appeal.
The substance of the testimony heard at the trial was: That some time in the latter part of December, 1926, Dr. Craddock and his wife went to the office of plaintiff in Louisville for the purpose of consulting it with reference to a piece of property on West Market street owned by Dr. Moser and which Craddock contemplated purchasing if satisfactory terms could be made. Both it and the property of the defendant, Dr. Fix, had been recommended to Craddock as suitable for a location for the practice of his profession of a physician, he theretofore having resided in Munfordville but was preparing to move to Louisville. Taking the testimony of plaintiff's vice president for the purpose of testing the correctness of the court's ruling in giving the peremptory instruction, he testified that at the time his company did not have the property of defendant listed for sale, but that Craddock inquired of him about the value of the Moser property, and some other matters connected therewith, and that some time during the conversation witness suggested that Dr. Fix had recently purchased property in a different part of the city and probably his property on Eighteenth street could be purchased and would be acceptable to Craddock; that thereupon he called Dr. Fix over the telephone, and in the presence of Craddock, and arranged for a meeting between those two, and in which defendant stated to him, in substance, that if a sale was effected "he would take care of me as an agent." Craddock then left and went back to his home in Munfordville. But prior to that time he had discussed the matter of his purchasing property in the city with his friend, Dr. Casper, who had an office in the Starks building in the city, as did also his friend Dr. Hester.
On January 5, plaintiff sent its representative to Dr. Fix and obtained from him a written proposition to sell his property for a total consideration of $12,500, $6,500 of which was to be cash and $6,000 was to be the assumption of a mortgage on the property. Certain provisions were contained therein with reference to the payment of taxes and when possession was to be given. There was also inserted an agreement to pay defendant commissions for the sale if effected thereunder,...
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