Van Slyke v. Broadway Insurance

Citations

• 115 Cal. 644
• 47 P. 689
• 1897 Cal. LEXIS 490

Syllabus

<p>Contract—Principal and Agent—Agreement Void for Uncertainty. A provision in a written agreement between an insurance company and its general agent, whereby the company agreed to pay him, in addition to other compensation for his services, “a contingent commission of five per cent,” without stating upon what the contingency depends, or upon what sum the “five per cent” is to be calculated, is void for uncertainty, and parol evidence is inadmissible to aid it.</p> <p>Id.—Expenses of Agent.—The same is true of a further provision in such agreement, whereby the company agreed “to share the expenses of the general agent’s office in San Erancisco pro rata” with another insurance company, “for clerk’s salaries, rent, and office furniture and fixtures, to the maximum amount of §3,200 per year, as shown by the ledger of the general agent. ”</p>