McKibben v. Wilson

Citations

• 105 Kan. 200
• 182 P. 638
• 1919 Kan. LEXIS 51

Syllabus

<p>SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.</p> <p>1. Agency — Sale of Real Estate — Contract for Agent’s Compensation. The contract herein fairly interpreted is that plaintiff was appointed as agent for the defendants to procure a purchaser for their land at a fixed net price, and that he was to receive the excess over the quoted net price as his compensation for his services in finding a purchaser able and willing to buy the land on the stipulated' conditions.</p> <p>2. Same — Purchaser Found — Defective Title — Commission Earned. One of the conditions of the contract was that plaintiff was to sell outside quarter sections, and not from the center of the tract listed with him by defendants. Plaintiff obtained a purchaser for outside quarters and then for a section just inside of those sold, but afterwards, through the inability or unwillingness of defendants, certain defects in the titles to the tracts first sold were not corrected by them, and those sales were never completed. After the failure to complete those transactions no question was raised or any objections made by defendants that the section in question was an inside tract, but they proceeded for many months thereafter in an attempt to perfect their title thereto, and they finally failed to do so. Held, that the defendants will not be permitted to urge the objection that the land in question was an inside tract after the action to recover the commission is begun.</p> <p>3. Same — Agent’s Compensation. Under the contract the plaintiff was to receive all over the net price that was to be paid to the defendants as his commission. It was not necessary that plaintiff should inform the defendants as to the amount of the excess that he was to receive as compensation.</p> <p>4. Same — Measure of Agent’s Recovery. The decisions made in earlier cases, that under agreements of the kind in question the owner is liable to the agent for the difference between the quoted net price and the selling price as his commission, are adhered to.