Henry v. Colorado Farm & Live Stock Co.

Citations

• 164 F. 986
• 91 C.C.A. 16
• 1908 U.S. App. LEXIS 4707

Syllabus

<p>1. Brokers (§ 11*) — Employment by Intending Seller — Stipulation as to Commission — Refusal to Sell to Acceptable Purchaser — Employee’s Liability to Broker.</p> <p>A., being desirous of selling certain of his property, employed a broker to procure a purchaser able, ready, and willing to buy upon acceptable terms, one of which was that the purchaser should pay the broker’s commission as part of the purchase price. The broker procured such a purchaser, with whom A. entered into a contract to sell, one of the terms of which was that the broker’s commission should be paid by the purchaser in certain bonds to be issued by a corporation to be organized by the purchaser to take over the property from him. Without fault on the part of the purchaser, A. thereafter refused to complete the sale, and the .broker thereby lost his right to exact payment of his commission from •the purchaser. Held: (1) A. impliedly obligated himself to the broker to complete the sale, if an acceptable purchaser was procured by him, so that he might realize his commission. (2) The refusal to complete the sale was a breach of that obligation, and gave to the broker a right of action against A. for the damages thereby sustained. (3) It was not essential to that right of action that the proposed corporation should be brought into being, or that it should adopt or ratify the purchaser’s engagement respecting the issuance of the bonds.</p> <p>[Ed. Note. — For other cases, see Brokers, Cent. Dig. § 58; Dec. Dig. § 11.*]</p> <p>2. Courts (§ 329*) — Circuit Courts — Jurisdiction—Amount in Controversy —Pleading.</p> <p>In an action between citizens of different states in a Circuit Court of the United States, where the complaint contains the requisite allegation respecting the amount in controversy, jurisdiction is not defeated because other matters stated in the complaint have a tendency to show that that allegation is not well founded, unless they are such as to create a legal certainty of that conclu