238 Mass. 120 | Mass. | 1921
This is an action brought by a broker to recover a commission for procuring a tenant to lease a portion of a building at 1126 Boylston Street in Boston. There was a verdict for the plaintiff and the case is before us on the defendant’s exceptions.
There was evidence that the defendant was the real owner of the premises, title to which stood in the name of his half sister, Mary A. Tobin, who so held title because of his financial condition; that at the time the plaintiff was employed by the defendant to procure a tenant, he did not know that the defendant was not the owner, and did not learn that fact until after he had procured the Boston Nurses’ Club as a tenant. If, as the jury could have found, the defendant told the plaintiff that he was the owner of the premises, and the plaintiff, believing the statement so made to be true, found one who was willing to lease on terms satisfactory to the defendant, his commission was earned even if the defendant did not own the property. Monk v. Parker, 180 Mass. 246.
There was evidence that the club intended to occupy the premises as a home for nurses, that many changes in the building would be required, and that an architect was employed who prepared plans showing the alterations to be made. Afterwards, an agreement for a lease was signed by Mary A. Tobin and the Boston Nurses’ Club, which provided for many alterations, and which the plaintiff contends contained all the terms of the proposed lease. After the trial, and after the bill of exceptions had been allowed, the parties by their counsel entered into a stipulation, which was filed in court, as follows: “It is hereby stipu
The third request, that if the defendant made a contract with the plaintiff it was without consideration, was rightly refused. The request “33A,” that if any promise was made by the defendant to the plaintiff it was a promise to answer for the debt of another and was within the statute of frauds, could not have been given; that statute has no application to the facts in the case at bar. There was ample evidence that the Boston Nurses’ Club by its authorized agent was able, ready and willing to become a tenant of the building, on terms acceptable to the owner;
Exceptions overruled.