159 Iowa 424 | Iowa | 1913
The plaintiff for cause of action states: That on or about September, A. D. 1909, and .prior thereto, under verbal contract, he employed the defendant, Geo. H. Jackson, to contract and sell a certain tract of real estate owned by this plaintiff and situated in Floyd county, Iowa, and described as follows: The S. E. *4 of section 36, township 97, range 17, and the S. W. 14 of section 31, except east thirty-eight acres in township 97, range 16, containing two hundred and fifty-seven acres more or less. That the defendant, Geo. H. Jackson, was to receive for commission in contracting and making sales of said premises for this plaintiff the sum of $1 per acre. That in pursuance of said contract, and on or about September 12, A. D. 1909, the defendant, Geo. H. Jackson, as agent of this plaintiff, represented and stated to plaintiff that he had a customer or purchaser for said land from Iowa Falls, Iowa, at $65 per acre, saying to this plaintiff that $65 per acre was the highest and best price he could obtain for said land from said customer or purchaser, and that $65 per acre was the highest price obtainable for said land. That this plaintiff believed and relied upon said statements and representations, as made by the defendant, Geo. H. Jackson, and consented to make sale of said land. That, in pursuance of the said statements and representations
Comes now the defendant and for answer to plaintiff’s amended and substituted petition denies each and every allegation therein contained, except as hereinafter admitted or qualified, and admitted, or qualified and denied. Defendant states that on the 12th day of September, 1909, he purchased said farm from plaintiff and received deed thereto from plaintiff and his wife about 8 o’clock a. m., December 14,1909. That he made no false, wrongful, or fraudulent statement to plaintiff in securing title to said -land, and did reveal to*428 plaintiff all knowledge he had as to its value, and in no way defendant intended to defraud plaintiff. That he himself was a bona fide purchaser of said land from plaintiff, and so told plaintiff at time, and plaintiff knew defendant was buying said land from plaintiff on defendant’s own word, and for defendant and certain of his business associates in Iowa Falls and Floyd county, to wit, A. R. Sullivan and T. W. Jackson, of Iowa Falls, and C. W. Schermerhorn, of Floyd, Iowa, for $64 per acre. Defendant admits that, after he had purchased the said land, that he did transfer and sell the same to T. M. Leslie for $70 per acre. Defendant states that the price he agreed to pay, and did pay for said land, to plaintiff was $64 per acre. That, at the time he purchased said land, defendant was not the agent of the plaintiff, but was acting for himself, which fact was told to plaintiff by defendant and was known to plaintiff.
It appears from the testimony of the defendant that during these years he acted as an agent for the plaintiff and sought purchasers for the land at the list price, but had not
It appears that after the deed signed by Mrs. Bracken was returned to the bank, and while Barney was absent for the purpose of procuring the signature of the plaintiff, tife defendant herein, Leslie, and T. W. Jackson went back to the farm; that they drove to the farm, examined it, and returned. He says that, when he got back to the bank from this trip, Barney was there with the deed. That then was the first time he priced the farm to Leslie at $70 an acre, and gave him the terms. That he immediately then went to his stenographer in the adjoining room, drew up a contract between himself and Leslie, and, after the contract was drawn, Leslie signed it. That Leslie signed the contract about 12 o’clock on the 14th, or about five hours after the Brackens had signed the deed to the defendant. It appears that Sullivan & Jackson and Schermerhorn were associated together in the real estate business with the defendant.
Defendant says: “I claim I bought the farm for us four. I don’t know as I told Bracken about us four. I told him there was Schermerhorn and other parties at Iowa Falls interested in the land. I didn’t tell him the names of the other parties. It was customary, whenever we bought a farm, to put it in the name of one of us. I told Mr. and Mrs. Bracken that these agents of ours at Iowa Falls were interested with us, but I don’t remember that I mentioned their names. I had done more or less business with T. W. Jackson,'of Iowa Falls, for six or seven years. Schermerhorn had been in the
It appears that Leslie had visited this farm the day before and had examined it. It does not appear what conversation or arrangement was had between the defendant, Jackson, and the other parties that he claimed were interested with him in the land prior to the making of the deed from Bracken to the defendant. He says: “"When they drove up in front of the bank on the afternoon of September 13th, I told them that we had bought the farm and to bring on buyers, if they could find them, who wanted a stock farm.” It appears, that, at the time this statement was made, Leslie was there in the company of Jackson, from Iowa Falls, and that on that same afternoon Jackson and Schermerhorn took Leslie out to examine the farm again. Whether it was necessary for this other examination or not in order to inform Leslie of the nature and character of the land does not appear.
The defendant testifies that he knew nothing of Leslie as a purchaser, or as to the amount Leslie was willing to pay, until about 11:30 of the 14th; but it does appear that the defendant got busy immediately after Leslie’s arrival at the bank. That he prepared the deeds and tried to find Mr. Bracken on that evening, but failed, but the next morning, between 6:30 and 7 o’clock, he had the signature of Mrs. Bracken to the deed, conveying the land to him at $64 an acre. It appears that he waited, before going out with Leslie, until after he had seen the deed from Mrs. Bracken. That before 8 o’clock that morning he had Mr. Bracken’s signature to this deed.
A. R. Sullivan, of the firm of Jackson & Sullivan, testifying for the defendant, says: “I first acquainted Mr. Leslie with the fact that the farm was for sale on the 13th day of September, about 10 o’clock in the forenoon. I got a phone message from Jackson on Saturday the 11th. The defendant and I did some business together. We were selling
T. W. Jackson, of the firm of Jackson & Sullivan, testifying for the defendant, says: “I priced the -land to Leslie on the 13th, Monday, at $70 an acre. On the morning of the 14th, we got back to the bank, from our trip to the farm, about 11 o’clock. I stayed in the bank until the papers were drawn up. I do not remember that the defendant and I talked over the deal before that time. ’ ’
Leslie, testifying for the plaintiff, says: “I saw the Bracken farm once before I bought it, and I contracted for it on the first trip. I came here one day and bought it the next. I think it was on Monday I came, and I was shown the land that day and looked it over again the next. I understood that it was the Bracken farm we were looking at. The day before I went to the farm with Schermerhorn and we met Mr. Bracken, and Schermerhorn introduced him to me as the man who owned the farm. The day I went with Jackson, he talked to me about Bracken’s circumstances, and said he was in bad circumstances and that something or other would have to go. He thought it a cheap piece of land at $70 an acre. At the time I signed the deed, Mr. Jackson said to me that he had several claims against the land and that it would be better for the deed to come through him than through Bracken. Bracken’s business was in bad shape. Mr. Jackson told me, during the two days that I was looking at the farm, that he had stayed with Bracken a part of the night before to get him down to $70 an acre. He said Bracken held it at $75. ’ ’
The plaintiff testified that, when Barney came to him with the deed for his signature, Barney told him that Jackson had sent him to get the papers signed. That Jackson would take care of the attachments. That the commission was $1 an acre, and, “when I asked him why the deed was
It is true that the defendant denies that he had any knowledge that Leslie would buy the land, or intended to buy the land, or that he would pay $70 an acre for the land, until after he had secured his deed from the Brackens. Leslie says that he contracted for the farm on the first trip. That was the evening of the 13th. That he actually consummated the deal on the next day. It appears that on Saturday evening he had a talk with Sullivan over the phone. That Sunday he visited the Brackens. That, on Monday following, Sullivan’s-partner appeared at defendant’s bank with Leslie. That some conversation was had at the bank that afternoon. That Leslie was taken to see the farm that afternoon by parties with whom the defendant was associated in business. That by 6:30 the following morning, Tuesday morning, he had a deed prepared and signed by Mrs. Bracken conveying the land to him. That by 8 o ’clock, he had the deed signed by Bracken. That he went to visit the farm with Leslie on Tuesday morning. That they got back about 11:30. That by 12 o ’clock a contract was entered into between Leslie and the defendant, and it was for the jury to say, under the whole record, what the real truth of this matter was, or whether defendant had acted in good faith with the plaintiff in procuring the deed from the plaintiff to himself, and we think there was no error in submitting the case to the jury. It is next contended that the court erred in allowing the plaintiff to file an amended and substituted petition.
"We find no error in the record, and the cause is Affirmed.