Cleveland v. Glassell

BURROUGHS, J.,

pro

tem.

This is an action to recover the sum of $12,383.31, alleged to be due plaintiffs as commissions on the sale of real estate. Judgment went for defendants, and plaintiffs appealed.

April 13, 1923, Andrew Glassell was the owner of fifty-eight acres of land near the city of Los Angeles, and desiring to subdivide the same into building lots, entered into a contract with E. T. Cleveland and M. E. Blair, the plaintiffs herein, operating under the firm name of Cleveland-Blair Realty Company, as agents, to carry out the subdivision thereof. Said Glassell died, and his interest in said land and contract passed to William M. Glassell and Andrietta G. Somers, the defendants. The differences between the parties concern the proper construction to be given to certain pro

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visions of said contract. The Cleveland-Blair Realty Company, hereinafter called the agents, brought this action to recover from the defendants the sum of $12,383.31, claimed to be due them for commissions on sales of lots in said tract of land.

For a clear understanding of the controversy it is necessary to state at some length the terms of said contract. By its terms the agents assumed the managerial charge of platting' and improvement work provided for and were to act as selling agents of the land when subdivided. A schedule of prices for the lots was agreed upon by the parties. Among other things, paragraph 12 of the contract provides that the agent shall receive a commission of twenty per cent, to be paid as set forth in paragraphs one to eleven, inclusive, of said contract. The paragraphs above referred to provide that all moneys received from the sales of the land shall belong to the owner of the land and shall be deposited by him in a “trust fund”; that out of said “trust fund” the owner may repay himself the expenses of surveying and platting the land, and also such sums of money as he may have put into said “trust fund” from outside sources, as advancement for the improvement work; also for the cost of a water-distributing system; that at the time of the sales of the lots a first payment of twenty per cent must be made by the purchaser; that as soon as twenty per cent of the principal purchase price has been paid into the said “trust fund” the owner shall pay the agents, as part of their commissions, ten per cent of such principal purchase price, and thereafter the owner shall pay from said “trust fund” to said agents one-half of all subsequent payments made on each lot, until said agents have received a total of fifteen per cent of the principal total purchase price. Provision is then made for the payment from said “trust fund”, and as a part of the expenses, such sums of money as would be required to pay for certain designated street improvements that were required to be made by the owner of the land as a condition precedent to filing the map of said tract of land with the legal custodian thereof. There is a further provision: “After the payments have been made from said ‘trust fund’, as hereinbefore provided, the owner shall have and retain all payments until all said land has been paid for, on a net basis of three thousand dollars ($3,000) per acre.