Gettler v. Caffier, 10046

• Decision Date: 06 December 1960
• Docket Number: No. 10046,10046
• Citation: 92 R.I. 19,165 A.2d 730
• Parties: Marguerite GETTLER v. Edouard CAFFIER et al. Ex.
• Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court

Page 730

165 A.2d 730

92 R.I. 19

Marguerite GETTLER v. Edouard CAFFIER et al.

Ex. No. 10046.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

Dec. 6, 1960.

Edward L. Gnys, Jr., Providence, for plaintiff.

John F. Cuzzone, Jr., J. Frederick Murphy, Pawtucket, for defendants.

ROBERTS, Justice.

This action in assumpsit brought to recover a brokerage fee was tried before a justice of the superior court sitting without a jury and resulted in a decision for the defendants. The plaintiff has prosecuted a bill of exceptions to this court but now relies solely upon her exception to the decision of the trial justice.

There is no substantial dispute concerning most of the material facts in this case. The plaintiff, a Pawtucket realtor, had taken Mrs. Annie Sandler, hereinafter referred to as the purchaser, to view the exterior of a dwelling house owned by defendants and located in that city. At the time of this inspection late in August 1957 the purchaser expressed an interest in buying the house. Thereafter on September 3, 1957 the parties entered into an oral agreement whereby plaintiff was employed by defendants to procure a buyer for the property.

It is not disputed that plaintiff was the first broker to show the property to the purchaser and to introduce her to defendants. Neither is it disputed that plaintiff brought the purchaser to the house on two occasions for the purpose of inspecting the interior of the premises or that she had communicated at least three offers to buy from the purchaser to defendants, all three of which admittedly were refused by defendants.

According to plaintiff's version, the last of these offers was made on November 3, 1957 when she informed defendants that the best offer that she could obtain from the purchaser was $14,000. The defendants, declining to sell at that price, told her that they were going to take the property off the market until the spring. The plaintiff also conceded under cross-examination that she understood that defendants were no longer interested in continuing to employ her as a broker and that thereafter she made several attempts to interest the purchaser in other properties. The purchaser, however, remained interested in defendants' house, and plaintiff testified that she therefore continued to make inquiry of defendants as to whether the property was still for sale and whether they would accept an offer of $14,000. The plaintiff testified that the last such call was made to defendants on March 24, 1958.

The testimony of defendants in this regard was contradictory of that of plaintiff. The defendants testified that plaintiff never did transmit an offer of $14,000 to them and that the highest offer ever transmitted by plaintiff was $12,500. The defendant wife further testified that after September 1957 on three occasions she told plaintiff that she was not interested in continuing to employ her for the purpose of selling the property. She further testified that plaintiff did not communicate with her concerning the property after September 1957 and specifically denied that plaintiff had made her an offer of $14,000 in March 1958.

There is no dispute that on April 4, 1958 defendants sold the house to the purchaser at a price of $14,000 and paid a commission thereon to another broker.

The plaintiff's contention is, as we understand it, that the undisputed facts in this case establish that she was the procuring cause of the sale that was ultimately made and therefore under the well-settled law of this state is entitled to a commission thereon. The evidence does establish that plaintiff had been employed by defendants to procure a purchaser for the property and that plaintiff first interested the purchaser in the property and introduced her to defendants. It is also clear that plaintiff on two occasions took the prospective purchaser to the house for an inspection of its interior and transmitted to defendants several offers to purchase the property made by the purchaser. Finally, it is clear that the property was sold to the purchaser thus interested by plaintiff.

It is the well-settled law of this state that when a broker is the effective agent in bringing about a sale or, stated otherwise, if he is the procuring cause, that is, a sale results from his efforts or negotiations, he is entitled to a commission even though the sale actually was accomplished through other persons. G. L. & H. J. Cross v. Tillinghast, 35 R.I. 298, 86 A. 721; La Verde v. Impagliazzo,...