Menefee v. Diggs
| Decision Date | 05 January 1915 |
| Citation | 172 S.W. 427,186 Mo.App. 659 |
| Parties | GEORGE W. MENEFEE, Respondent, v. LUTE DIGGS, Appellant |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
December 9, 1914, Argued and Submitted
Appeal from Montgomery Circuit Court.--Hon. James D. Barnett, Judge.
Judgment reversed and cause remanded.
E. S Gantt and S. S. Nowlin for appellant.
(1) Instructions should be confined to the issues presented by the pleadings and the evidence. Home Bank v. Towson, 64 Mo.App. 97; Waddingham v. Hughlett, 92 Mo. 528; D. Donata v. Morrison, 160 Mo. 581; Glass v Gelvin, 80 Mo. 297; Ely v. Railroad, 77 Mo. 34; Kelly v. Stewart, 93 Mo.App. 47; Kingman & Co. v. Buggy Co., 150 Mo. 282; Rothschilds v Fernsforf, 21 Mo.App. 318; Mansur v. Botts, 80 Mo. 651; Wright v. Fonda, 44 Mo.App. 634; Whitlock v. Appleby, 49 Mo.App. 295; Altman & Taylor Co. v. Smith, 52 Mo.App. 351; Whipple v. Building & Loan Assn., 55 Mo. 554; Matney v. Railroad, 75 Mo.App. 233. (2) Under the terms of the contract pleaded, plaintiff should recover, if anything, the full amount agreed upon. Weisels Gerhardt & Co. v. Pemberty Investment Co., 150 Mo.App. 626; Witty et al. v. Saling et al., 171 Mo.App. 574; Cole v. Armour, 154 Mo. 333.
E. Rosenberger & Son for respondent.
Plaintiff brought his action against defendant for commission on an exchange of lands, the petition averring that, being a real estate agent and broker, and defendant being anxious and desirous of selling or exchanging 252 acres of farm land, of which he was the owner, entered into a contract with plaintiff, whereby he agreed that if plaintiff would find him a purchaser for the farm, or find some person who was willing to exchange other land for defendant's farm, that he, defendant, would pay plaintiff a commission of $ 1 per acre, to-wit, $ 252, for plaintiff's services in the matter. It is averred that, acting under this contract of employment, plaintiff produced and introduced to defendant one Norwood, then the owner of another farm, and had brought about an exchange between Norwood and defendant of their respective properties, and it is averred that defendant became indebted to plaintiff in the sum of $ 252, payment of which, although demanded, was refused. Judgment is prayed for this amount with six per cent interest from date of demand, together with costs.
The defendant answered by a general denial.
The cause went to trial before the court and a jury and at its conclusion the jury returned a verdict in favor of plaintiff for $ 126, judgment following. Defendant objected to the receipt of this verdict. His objections were overruled, and filing a motion for a new trial as well as one in arrest of judgment, and saving exceptions to the action of the court in overruling these motions, defendant has duly perfected his appeal to our court.
There was evidence in the case on the part of plaintiff tending to prove the contract as alleged, and to the contrary evidence tending to prove the absence of any contract, defendant himself specifically denying entering into the one in suit and denying that he employed plaintiff as his agent to make the exchange. During the progress of the trial evidence was introduced tending to prove that the defendant was also acting in the transaction as the agent for Norwood as well as for defendant, and that plaintiff knew of that. Defendant denied this. Plaintiff's testimony moreover tended to prove that he had not only told defendant of his agency for Norwood, but also told defendant that when he acted for both parties he was in the habit of dividing commissions and that he would do that in this case. This was also denied by defendant.
The errors assigned here by appellant are to the giving of two instructions at the instance of plaintiff (marked 2 and 3) and to the refusal of the court to give an instruction asked by defendant.
Instruction No. 2 given at the instance of plaintiff told the jury in effect that a real estate agent is not permitted to act for both parties in an exchange of farm lands without the knowledge and consent of both parties to such exchange, but that if both parties to an exchange of lands know that a real estate agent is acting for both parties and consent thereto, then the real estate agent is entitled to his commissions from both parties, even if he is the agent of both, provided he is the procuring cause of the exchange and has been employed by both to bring about the trade.
Instruction number 3 was practically to the same effect, repeating the same idea in different language. It is complained of these instructions that they are outside of the issue pleaded.
Neither these nor any other instruction made any reference to any contract as to a division of commissions when the agent represented both parties.
The general rule is, that instructions must be confined to the issues in the case as pleaded, but it has been held in many cases that where at the trial of a case evidence is introduced without objection, which is outside of the...
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