107 Wash. 53 | Wash. | 1919
The appellant asks to recover the sum of $1,000 as a real estate broker’s commission for his services in procuring a purchaser ready, able and willing to buy the respondent’s property. The appellant had an agreement, signed by the respondent, which reads as follows:
80 Ranch. Property of W. L. Powell. Address.............................. Number of 80 acres; 2% miles from Wapato, south. Legal Description, S % of S. E. 27-11-19. Improvements............................ I hereby*54 agree to pay a commission of 5 per cent to B. Schmidt & Co., if sale or trade is made by or through them. (Signed) W. L. Powell. Date, 2-28-17
The appellant’s action was dismissed on respondent’s attack against it upon three points: First, he claimed that there was a defect of parties plaintiff, in that the agreement on its face shows that the commission was to he paid to B. Schmidt & Co. The testimony, as it appears in the statement of facts, shows, however, that the appellant B. Schmidt was the only person interested in B. Schmidt & Co. It was next urged that the appellant had not found a purchaser ready, willing, and able to buy the property according to the terms of the listing. This also presents a question of fact which must be determined on the record adversely to the respondent’s claim.
The third point raised by the respondent, and the one upon which the court below dismissed the action, presents the question as to whether the description in the agreement was sufficient to identify the property; the argument of the appellant upon this point being that the agreement was defective in that no mention was made therein of the state, county, or location as to base line or meridian. Respondent concedes that, in so far as the figures “27-11-19” are concerned, they are generally accepted as designating section, township, and range; but since there are both north and south townships, and east and west ranges, that the description is still indefinite in that it cannot be determined therefrom as to what county or state the property is located in or the location of the property as to the base line and meridian.
Ordinary abbreviations which are customarily used and generally understood are recognized by the courts, and so far as the abbreviations used in the agreement are concerned, there can be no doubt they were in
This result does not trench upon the rule as announced by this court in other cases involving the sufficiency of descriptions contained in various instruments, including brokerage agreements; for, in determining the adequacy of the description here, no resort to parol testimony has been necessary. We have the description contained in the instrument, accompanied by the recognition of those facts which the court is bound to know, rendering the description full, adequate, and complete. Where descriptions have been held to be insufficient, it has been necessary, in order to determine the location of the property, to add to the words and figures contained in the description information which could only come through parol testimony. An examination of the following cases will show that they announce the doctrine that descriptions on their faces indefinite cannot be made sufficient by parol testimony, but in none of these cases was involved the question of whether a description apparently insufficient may be rendered sufficient when interpreted by the facts of which the courts will take judicial notice. Broadway Hospital and Sanitarium v. Decker, 47 Wash. 586, 92 Pac. 445; Cushing v. Monarch Timber Co., 75 Wash. 678, 135 Pac. 660, Ann. Cas. 1914 C 1239; Thompson v. English, 76 Wash. 23, 135 Pac. 664; Baylor v. Tolliver, 81 Wash. 257, 142 Pac. 678; Salin v. Roy, 81 Wash. 261, 142 Pac. 679; Gilman v. Brunton, 94 Wash. 1, 161 Pac. 835; West v. Cave, 98 Wash. 237, 167 Pac. 747; Rogers v. Lippy, 99 Wash. 312, 169 Pac. 858, L. R. A. 1918C 583; Nance v. Valentine, 99 Wash.
The case of Hartigan v. Hoffman, 16 Wash. 34, 47 Pac. 217, while recognizing that judicial notice would be taken of the system of public surveys, held that such judicial knowledge would not be of assistance to the case then under consideration for the reason that, by the addition of that knowledge to the information, still the description would then be applicable to many other states than the state of Washington. That case is distinguished from the case at bar by reason of the fact that here the judicial knowledge of the location of the town of Wapato identifies the state.
The action of the superior court is reversed.
Mitchell, Tolman, and Main, JJ., concur.