184 Iowa 809 | Iowa | 1918
The fact contention of the defendants is that C. B. Willenburg represented Ludwig, the seller of the farm, and the defendant Eichorn represented the plaintiff, as the proposed purchaser, and that neither of them had any interest in the commission of the other. Both sides take.the ground that Eichorn was an agent of the plaintiff. The defendants deny that Willenburg was such. The grounds laid by appellants for a reversal all rest upon the general proposition that there was no evidence of conspiracy, and that there was no evidence of the employment of Willenburg by the plaintiff as an agent. Indeed, the basic proposition upon which all the grounds of reversal rest, is that Willenburg was never employed as agent of the plaintiff, and never assumed to act as such; but that he acted openly, and with knowledge of the plaintiff, as agent for the seller. If this is the undisputed state of the evidence, then, clearly, the verdict should not stand.
I. The plaintiff testified directly that he did employ C. B. Willenburg to assist in disposing of his $30,000 mortgage, and, to that end, in the purchase of the Ludwig farm. This was denied by Willenburg axxd by Eichorn. While the terms of the employment, as related by the plaintiff, are somewhat indefinite, they were quite sufficient to create the relation of principal axxd agent. The circumstances attending the transaction strongly corroborate the claim of the plaintiff in that x*egard. Willenburg had acted as agent for the plaixitiff ixx the sale of his farm at a prior time. It was pursxxaxxt to such sale that the plaintiff got the $30,000 mortgage. The plaintiff lived at Remsen. Willenburg lived at New Hampton, but had px’eviously resided at Itemsen. His brother, Henry Willenburg, was the partner of Eichorn ixi the real estate business, under the imme of Willenbxxx*g & Eichorn. Another brother, Louis, was a