159 Iowa 189 | Iowa | 1913
Plaintiffs allege, in substance, that defendant employed them to find a purchaser for one hundred and twenty acres of land at the price of $126 per acre, $1,000 of which was to be paid in cash at the time of the making of the contract, $3,000 or $4,000 to be paid March 1, 1912, and the balance to be paid in ten years and draw 5 per cent.; that they were to have $1 per acre as a commission; that, in pursuance of said agreement, they found one, ready, able and willing to take the land upon the terms proposed; and that by reason thereof defendant is indebted to them in the sum of $120 with interest. They amended their pleading several times, and in one of these amendments stated that defendant' refused to enter into the contract, because he wanted all cash; and, in another, averred that they were to have a commission of all in excess of $125 per acre they could obtain for the land, and that they were to have thirty days within which to find the • buyer, that they immediately commenced work under the contract, and within the thirty days found a purchaser, who was ready, able, and willing to purchase upon the terms agreed. Defendant, in effect, denies that he ever employed the plaintiffs as brokers to sell the land; denies that they ever found a purchaser for the land or made a
You will find that plaintiff accepted defendant’s proposition to find a buyer for his farm, if you find that defendant told the plaintiff that he would sell his farm for $125 per acre net and' allow them as their compensation the amount the farm brought over the sum of $125 and would give them thirty days in which to find a buyer, or told them that in substance, and you further find that they told him they would attempt to find a buyer within said time, or you further find that thereafter they with his knowledge or consent attempted to find him a buyer according to the terms specified by him, and if you find that they accepted his proposition and that it included the provision that they should have thirty days in which to find a buyer for said premises, then you are told that he could not defeat their right to recover in this case by a subsequent attempt to revoke said agency. In other words, if a man enters into a valid contract and is guilty of a breach of such contract, then he is liable for the damages which result therefrom. If you find that the defendant was guilty of a breach of contract as charged, and that plaintiff is entitled to recover, in this case the measure of his recovery will be the amount which it is shown by a*192 preponderance of the evidence they would have earned, had defendant complied with the terms of his contract, less 6 per cent interest on said amount from this date until the first day of March, 1912; that is, if you find for plaintiff, when you have determined the amount they would have earned, that is, the amount of profit they would have secured had the proposed deal been consummated, you will compute the interest on the same from this date until March 1, 1912, and subtract such interest from said amount, and the remainder will be the amount of your verdict in this case.
In thus instructing, we think there was error. There is a clear distinction between a case for the recovery of a commission earned, and one for damages caused by the revocation of an agent’s or broker’s authority.
But, if this were not true, plaintiffs could not recover damages for breach of contract, without pleading such breach and this they did not do.
These propositions are the controlling ones in the case, and' it -is not necessary to note the various propositions made by the respective parties on the various assignments of error made for appellant. Practically all are disposed of by what we have already said, and it follows that the judgment must be, and it is,'Reversed.