19 S.D. 525 | S.D. | 1905
On an alleged claim of $667 as their interest in certain commissions arising from the sale of three separate and distinct tracts of Hanson county land, plaintiffs recovered judgment for $343.75, together ■with costs, and the defendant has appealed. The evidence offered to support the complaint tends to show that some time during the month of May, 1902, or'early in June of that year, respondents and appellant entered into a contractual relation, the main characteristics of which may be stated briefly as follows: Appellant, who was a resident of the village of Fulton, and engaged in the real estate business, apparently owned certain lands, and had other tracts listed, which he was authorized to sell on commission. He also owned a printing office, in which the respondent Dan W. Dickinson was employed, while his father, Isiah Dickinson, was engaged in the business of farming near the town of Fulton. Negotiations began at the Dickinson farm, where appellant proposed to give respondents $1 per acre for assisting in the sale of any lands then upon his list, and one-half of all that could be netted in the way of commissions on sales of such lands as they might subsequently list jointly, regardless as to which of the parties procured the purchasers and transacted the business. . If the testimony of Isiah Dickinson is true, the foregoing proposition was squarely accepted by respond ents, and pursuant to such agreement the parties proceeded to procure a list of lands in the sale of which they were to share the commissions equally after deducting such expenses as might-necessarily be incurred in the transaction of the business. •With reference to appellant, and what was immediately said and done, the witness testified in part-as follows: “We started that day with the expectation of getting some land on our
The verdict for $343.75 being wholly unsupported by the evidence, and contrary to the instructions of the court to the jury, the judgment appealed from is reversed, and a new trial ordered.