Opinion ID: 371887
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Liability of the Knights of Columbus

Text: 18 The jury was charged that it could find that plaintiff had earned a commission from the Knights on one of two theories: either because plaintiff had presented the Knights with a ready, willing and able buyer in Ramada Inns, or because plaintiff was the procuring cause of the sale of the motel to Airport. Neither ground is tenable. 19 To establish either claim, plaintiff must prove all three of the above-cited requirements. With respect to the first requirement, plaintiff offered sufficient evidence of both an express and implied contract with the Knights to sell their motel to have the question of the formation of a contract properly sent to the jury. There was evidence that an officer of the Knights had told plaintiff, Tom, you go sell it, and there was evidence of a course of conduct, including meetings and exchanges of information between the Knights and plaintiff, from which the jury could find the formation of either an express or implied in fact contract. 20 To recover under the first theory, plaintiff must prove that Ramada was a ready, willing and able buyer on February 10, 1972. This is the only means by which he can prove the second element of his claim, as it is undisputed that no written contract of sale was formed. However, there was no evidence that Ramada was ever ready and willing to pay the $3,100,000. specified by the Knights in their September 8, 1970, meeting with plaintiff. 4 Neither was there any evidence that Ramada was ever ready and willing to pay any other price which may have been requested by the Knights. Accordingly, as a matter of law, there was insufficient evidence to support a finding that plaintiff had earned a commission from the Knights upon introducing Mr. Ferrell to Mr. Dechant. 21 Plaintiff's second theory of recovery against the Knights is that he earned a commission by being responsible for the sale of the motel to Airport. Having submitted evidence of a contract and a sale of the property, the jury could have found that plaintiff had satisfied the first two requirements needed to recover a commission under this theory. However, he must also prove that he was the efficient procuring cause of the sale to Airport, the third requirement. To accomplish this, plaintiff must prove that Ramada gave the information provided by plaintiff to Ferrell about the motel to Airport, which caused Airport to undertake the purchase. 5 22 Plaintiff has failed to produce sufficient evidence that such information was conveyed for the issue of his efficient procuring cause to be presented to the jury. Plaintiff's evidence consisted of three pieces of circumstantial evidence. First, there was evidence that Mr. Ferrell and Mr. Romani met and discussed the Flying Carpet Motor Lodge (as well as other motels) sometime around February 1972. This provided an opportunity for the information obtained from plaintiff to be conveyed to Airport. However, the uncontradicted testimony of Mr. Ferrell and Mr. Romani was that no such information was conveyed. Mr. Romani testified that at the meeting he only asserted his prior claim on the facility due to his franchise in the region and that Mr. Ferrell was surprised that he had not previously been informed that the area was under franchise. Second, there was evidence that Ramada might earn some profit from Airport's operation of the motel under the franchise agreement. Equally, Ramada might earn a profit through direct acquisition if the motel was successful. Third, there was evidence that Mr. Ferrell did not answer plaintiff's two letters offering assistance in closing a deal, which were received after the meeting with Mr. Romani. 23 In light of the precedent of Queen v. Commonwealth Trust Co., 64 F.2d 946 (3d Cir.), Cert. denied, 290 U.S. 662, 54 S.Ct. 77, 78 L.Ed. 573 (1933), this evidence is legally insufficient to justify submitting the issue of efficient procuring cause to a jury. In Queen the plaintiff sought a commission on the sale of a stock interest in a railroad company to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company (PRR). Plaintiff discussed the possibility of a sale of the stock with two vice presidents of the PRR, who did not have authority to purchase the stock for the PRR. The PRR subsequently purchased the stock from one of its directors, who had obtained the stock for the railroad. The vice presidents testified that they had not conveyed any information received from the plaintiff to anyone in the PRR with authority to acquire the stock. This evidence showed opportunity to convey the information, motive to set up the acquisition through the director so as to deny plaintiff a commission, and a time frame from which it could be inferred that plaintiff's information had caused the PRR to undertake the acquisition. The trial court granted a directed verdict in favor of the defendant, which was affirmed by this court. 24 The jury may not make a finding of efficient procuring cause based upon speculation. As noted in Queen, supra at p. 948: 25 Such a situation as is here presented commonly arises in the business world where two or more men are struck with a similar business idea and attempt to carry it out independently of each other. 26 Thus, it was error for the district court to charge the jury that it could find that plaintiff had earned a commission from the Knights by being the efficient procuring cause of the sale to Airport. Knights was entitled to have its motion for a judgment n. o. v. granted.