Case Name: Percy N. Lawrence, Appellant, v. Layton O. Sherman et al., Appellees
Court: Illinois Appellate Court
Jurisdiction: Illinois
Decision Date: 1918-05-13
Citations: 211 Ill. App. 237
Docket Number: Gen. No. 23,858
Parties: Percy N. Lawrence, Appellant, v. Layton O. Sherman et al., Appellees.
Judges: 
Reporter: Illinois Appellate Court Reports
Volume: 211
Pages: 237–238

Head Matter:
Percy N. Lawrence, Appellant, v. Layton O. Sherman et al., Appellees.
Gen. No. 23,858.
(Not to he reported in full.)
Appeal from the Circuit Court of Cook county; the Hon. Jesse A. Baidwin, Judge, presiding. Heard in this court at the October term, 1917.
Affirmed.
Opinion filed May 13, 1918.
Statement of the Case.
Bill by Percy N. Lawrence, complainant, against Layton O. Sherman and others, defendants, to enjoin the sale by Sherman and the use of a valuable process for refining oil, which Lawrence had agreed as broker with Sherman and certain other defendants to sell, by the purchasers, and to procure an accounting of royalties, upon which his commission was based. From an order dismissing the bill for want of equity, complainant appeals.
Oscar M. Wolff and Bernard Naumburg, for appellant.
W. E. R. Byrne and Allen G. Mills, for appellees.

Opinion:
Mr. Justice McSurely
delivered the opinion of the court.
Abstract of the Decision.
Brokers — when sale of secret process to purchaser not procured by broher may not he enjoined. A broker who has knowledge of the existence of a secret process for refining oil and undertakes as a broker to bring the owners and a prospective licensee together, the principals having the right to sell to another than a licensee procured by the broker without liability for payment of compensation, has no interest in the process, even though his compensation is to be based upon a certain percentage of the royalties arising from the license, and consequently cannot enjoin the sale of the process to a purchaser not procured by him.