Crouch v. Forbes

Citations

• 63 Wash. 564
• 116 P. 14
• 1911 Wash. LEXIS 1245

Syllabus

<p>Frauds, Statute of — Contract for Broker’s Commissions. A broker’s contract for the sale of real estate rests in parol, and is void within the statute of frauds,' Rem. & Bal. Code, § 5289, requiring an agreement employing an agent to sell real estate for compensation or a commission to be in writing, where it appears that the vendor refused to sign a proposed contract giving the brokers the exclusive right to sell the land and retain all received over $12,000 as commissions, but later wrote that she objected to some parts of the contract, which she said no doubt could be fixed by a satisfactory talk, that they could send down their man and if they sold she wanted $12,000 net, and that they could keep the letter as a contract until they came down; although she afterwards consummated a deal with a purchaser procured by the brokers for $15,000; since the latter does not accept the terms of the contract and they cannot therefore be read together as one; and the statute requires that the amount of the compensation be fixed in the writing (Dunbar, C. J., and Fullerton, J., dissenting).</p>