161 Mo. App. 8 | Mo. Ct. App. | 1912
Plaintiffs who are real estate agents in Columbia brought this suit to recover a commission of $318 they allege they earned under a contract of employment with defendants. They prevailed in the trial court where the cause was tried before a jury and defendants appealed.
The conceded facts of the case are as follows: Defendants owned a farm of 270' acres in Boone county and employed plaintiffs, to find them a purchaser, agreeing to pay the usual commission for such services. Plaintiffs found a purchaser, introduced him to
The only material controversy in the record concerning issues of fact relates to the subject of the pecuniary worth of the purchaser. The evidence of plaintiffs tends to show that he owned real and personal property in Boone county of the value of from $17,000 to $20,000 in excess of his liabilities. The evidence of defendants places his net worth at a lower figure but shows beyond question that he was solvent and able to respond in damages if he failed to perform his part of the contract of sale.
With the case in this posture the learned trial judge would have been justified in peremptorily directing a verdict for plaintiffs since all of the facts elemental to their pleaded cause were conceded and there was no issue to submit to the jury.
Defendants argue that the written contract of sale is non-enforcible under the Statute of Frauds but whether or not this is so is immaterial to plaintiff’s right to recover. They were employed to find a purchaser who was ready, able and willing to buy the farm on defendants’ terms, and the question of the ability of such purchaser is to be tested not by his