96 Kan. 650 | Kan. | 1915
The opinion of the court was delivered by
H. H. Clark sued George Townsend for the reasonable value of his services in negotiating for him the purchase of a number of tracts of land. A verdict was returned for the defendant, on which judgment was rendered. ■The plaintiff appeals.
“You are hereby authorized, acting for us and as our agent, to purchase any or all of the following tracts of land at prices not exceeding the prices indicated after said tracts. . . . 'We will guarantee you in the matter of the money you advance on these tracts which are taken •for us.
“You will, of course, get these contracts at just as much lower than these prices as you possibly can.”
The plaintiff contends that in allowing testimony of a prior or contemporaneous oral agreement that his services were to be rendered without charge the court erred, such ruling being in violation of the principle which forbids the reception of parol evidence to vary the terms of a written contract. Wherever the law attaches a fixed consequence to the language
The presumption that one who performs services at the request of another is entitled to reasonable compensation is rebuttable. A counter presumption may arise from circumstances justifying an inference of an intention to do the work gratuitously. (40 Cyc. 2845.) Here the letter from the defendant to the plaintiff does not purport to set out all the
“H. H. Clark agrees to lend his aid in procuring such additional land & privileges for the benefit of the Constn. Co.’s project for one-fourth stock in all companies as may be deemed necessary by Geo. Townsend and C. F. Enright without cash remuneration, not to exceed 30 days. The optional money to be paid from sale of the land and Clark to be Industrial Commissioner.”
The plaintiff contends that this document should not have been admitted because it never was executed; because it constituted a part of the negotiations which led up to and culminated in the contract of January 6; and because upon its face it related to an agreement between Clark and a construction company, and not between Clark and Townsend. Clearly it
The judgment is affirmed.