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34 Md. 440

Jones v. Adler

Court of Appeals of Maryland

Decided June 14, 1871

Court of Appeals of Maryland · decided 1871-06-14

This was an action of assumpsit brought by the appellee, a property agent or broker, to recover from the appellant commissions for services rendered in procuring a purchaser for a certain house in the city of Baltimore. The pleas were, never indebted as alleged, and did not promise as alleged.

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

““It is well settled, if the agent introduces or discloses the name of the purchaser, and such introduction or disclosure is the foundation upon which negotiations are begun and the sale effected, he will be entitled to commissions, and this too although in point of fact the sale may have been made by the owner. In other words, he cannot avail himself of the services, and by making a sale through information derived from the agent, deprive the latter of his commissions.” (p. 443.)”

quoted by 1 later decision, including Ryan v. Strong

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1871-06-14

How this case has been cited

Cited by 29 later decisions — most recently October 2001 · most notably Garfinkel v. Schwartzman (1969), Heslop v. Dieudonne (1971)

1 district · 28 state decisions — followed in 11 states

5018711880189019001910192019301940195019601970198019902000decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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Robinson, J.,

¶1delivered the opinion of the Court.

¶2This suit was brought by the appellee to recover broker’s commissions from the appellant, for the sale of certain property. situate in the city of Baltimore.

¶3At the trial below, the appellee offered evidence tending to prove that he was employed by the appellant to sell the property in question, and that through his agency negotiations were begun, and the sale finally effected. Whatever may have been the conflict in the testimony, if the jury believed these facts, the appellee was entitled to his commissions; and his services being rendered at the instance and by the request of the appellant, the personal liability of the latter was wholly unaffected by the question, as to whether he held the legal title of the property beneficially, or in trust for his wife. The Court was right therefore in granting the appellee’s first prayer, and in rejecting the appellant’s.

¶4By the second prayer of the appellant, the plaintiff’s right to recover was based upon the finding by the jury of a special contract to sell the house at fourteen thousand dollars, and that *443it was sold at such price. Where there is a special contract, by the terms of which the broker is not to be paid commissions unless he sells the property at a specified price, the sale by him at such a price is a condition precedent to his right to compensation, unless pending the negotiations, and whilst his agency remains unrevoked, the owner consents to a sale for a sum other than originally agreed upon. In this case then, although by the terms of the original contract, the appellee was not to receive commissions unless he sold the house for sixteen thousand dollars, yet, if pending the negotiations, the appellant and his wife agreed to take fourteen thousand dollars, and the sale was made through the agency of the appellee at that price he would undoubtedly be entitled to commissions.

¶5The third, like the second prayer, is erroneous in assuming the appellee could not recover, unless the jury found a special agreement to pay commissions, in case the appellee sold the house to Dr. Erich for $14,000, and the request of the appellant to make such sale. It is well settled, if the agent introduces or discloses the name of the purchaser, and such introduction or disclosure is the foundation upon which negotiations are begun and the sale effected, he will be entitled to commissions, and this too although in point of fact the sale may have been made by the owner. In other words, he cannot avail himself of the services, and by making a sale through information derived from the agent, deprive the latter of his commissions. Keener vs. Harrod & Brooke, 2 Md., 63; Beall vs. Creswell, 3 Md., 196.

¶6If, therefore, the appellee sold the house to Dr. Erich for $14,000, with the consent of the appellant, the former was entitled to recover in this action although he may not have been requested by the appellant to sell at that price, under an agreement to pay commissions.

¶7In regard to the fourth prayer, we find no evidence in the record to support it, and the Court was right in refusing to grant it. Whatever may have been the prior agency of the *444witness Bucksbaum, in regard to the sale of the property, and his offer of it to Dr. Erich, he admits that his agency had ceased before the sale of the same by the appellee, and there is no evidence tending to show that the offer of the property by Bucksbaum, was the foundation of negotiations, or contributed in any manner towards making the sale. On the contrary, Dr. Erich, the purchaser, says, “the sale was concluded through the appellee.”

(Decided 14th June, 1871.)

¶8Finding no error in the rulings below, the judgment will be affirmed.

¶9Judgment affirmed.

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