Thompson v. Reiber

Citations

• 123 Pa. 457
• 16 A. 793
• 1889 Pa. LEXIS 669

Syllabus

<p>(a) Under the rules of the oil exchange, a purchase of oil on one day was to be closed by a delivery of certificates through the exchange clearing house before the close of business on the next day.</p> <p>(b) Plaintiff, a broker in the exchange, purchased for the defendant, a customer, 50,000 barrels at 83, and notified the defendant thereof, who the next morning ordered the oil purchased on his account to be sold at once for cash.</p> <p>(o) The plaintiff made the sale, with the oil of other customers, at 75, and settled for the balance on his sheet in the clearing house by passing his check for the difference against him, which check was paid.</p> <p>(d) The defendant, in this as in many other transactions about the same time, furnished no money or security to the plaintiff, whose only profits in the orders were the commissions paid him by the defendant upon the amount of the purchase or sale.</p> <p>1. In the action by the broker to recover from the defendant the loss on the purchase and sale referred to, the plaintiff testifying that the purchase of the oil for the defendant was bona fide, and that it would have been delivered the next day but for the positive instruction to sell for cash, the credibility of the testimony, and the question whether the purchase and sale was a wagering transaction with the intent to settle only for the difference resulting, were matters to be submitted to the jury.</p>