Court Opinion

ID: 7808655
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-09-07 17:09:44.763892+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T16:30:24.162161
License: Public Domain

Hart, J. (after stating the facts). (1-2) The court instructed the jury that the letters read in evidence constituted a contract between the plaintiffs and defendant and the action of the court in so ruling is assigned as error calling for a reversal of the judgment. Ordinarily it is the duty of the court in the trial of cases to construe a written contract and declare its terms and meaning to the jury. In the instant ease the terms of the contract were evidenced by the letters set out in the statement of facts and it was the duty of the court to construe the contract and declare its terms to the jury. The reason is that the letters which constituted the contract did not contain any words of latent ambiguity and show in express terms that Engles agreed to give each of the plaintiffs one-third of the remainder of his leases whether that amounted to 6,000 acres more or less, after he had transferred to the Gas & Oil Company the leases on 8,000 acres. Mann v. Urquhart, 89 Ark. 239; Paepcke-Leicht Lbr. Co. v. Talley, 106 Ark. 400. In his letter of July 9, 1914, addressed to W. F. Blocker at Ft. Smith, he expressly so stated. Blocker received this letter and acted on it. On July 11, 1914, he wrote to Engles stating that he had received his letter of July 9 th and that he accepted the proposition to divide the balance of the leases, giving a one-third interest therein to each of the plaintiffs after the leases for the 8,000 acres had been transferred to the Oil & Gas Company for stock in that corporation. Counsel for the defendant also assigns as error the action of the court in refusing to permit him to introduce further testimony after the evidence had been closed and the witnesses in the case discharged. He wanted to show by the secretary of the Gas & Oil Company that Mr. Blocker told him that he did not want the stock in the corporation to be issued to the defendant, Engles, because Engles had not settled with him for his commissions and also offered to introduce a letter written to Robinson by Blocker as follows: “Mr. En'gles and myself have eome .to an understanding regarding the commissions due me.” , (3-4) Counsel for the defendant sets out at length the reason why he did not introduce this evidence before the ease was closed but we do not deem it necessary to set it out in this statement. If it be admitted that defendant was not negligent in not sooner informing his counsel of this testimony, still it was a matter of discretion with the court and we do not think that the court erred in refusing to reopen the case to let in this testimony. It is true the letter apparently contradicted the statement that Robinson said Blocker had made to him, but the letter was open to explanation and when explained by Blocker, it might not have tended in any wise to have contradicted his purported statement to Robinson. In any event the letters constituted the contract between the parties in regard to the commissions due Blocker, and the offered testimony could not have changed their effect. It is contended that the court erred in admitting the testimony of Blocker and others as to what Engles received in stock, and what it was worth. It will be remembered that Engles transferred all his leases amounting to about 14,000 acres to the Gas & Oil Company and received therefor $2,500 in the stock of the corporation. Under the contract as evidenced by the letters the plaintiffs were to receive a one-third interest each in the leases remaining after transferring leases for 8,000 acres to the Gas & Oil Company. The court instructed the jury that if it should find from the evidence that the defendant had disposed of the leases in violation of his agreement with the plaintiffs, that the plaintiffs would be entitled to recover from the defendant the fair and reasonable market value of said leases at the time so disposed of by the defendant whieh he had agreed to assign to the plaintiffs. The leases to the whole 14,000 acres were situated in the same gas and oil territory and the amount for which the defendant sold and transferred these leases was evidence tending to' show their market value. He received for their sale and transfer a certain amount of stock in a corporation organized for the development of these and other gas and oil lands in the same territory. Under these circumstances we do not think the court erred in admitting the testimony. (5) It is also insisted that the court erred in admitting the carbon copies of the letters written by Blocker which were set out in the statement of facts. We do not think the court erred in admitting these letters in evidence. Blocker testified that they were mailed to Engles and the letters written by Engles to Blocker show that each of these letters except one dated July 11, 1914, and that of the date of July 28, 1914, were received by Engles. The record also shows that Blocker wrote Engles a letter notifying him of the formation of the oil and gas corporation and did not keep a copy of it. His counsel asked Engles to produce the copy of this letter. Engles denied having received the letter but admitted that he had received all the other letters written to him by Blocker. We think that a carbon copy of the letter addressed to an adversary in a law suit is admissible in evidence without making any effort to require the adverse party to produce the letter received by him. In this respect there is a distinction between letter press copies and instruments produced ,by carbon paper. What is called the carbon copy is produced by placing a sheet of carbon paper between two sheets of letter paper so that the same impression produces both the letter and the carbon copy. Because the carbon copy is made at the same time by the same impression it may be regarded as- a duplicate of the original letter itself and admitted in evidence without notice to produce the letter. International Harvester Co. v. Elfstrom, 101 Minn. 263, 11 A. & E. Ann. Cas. 107, 12 L. R. A. (N. S.) 343; Chesapeake & Ohio Ry. Co. v. F. W. Stock & Sons, 51 S. E. (Va.) 161; Cole v. Ellwood Power Co., 65 Atl. (Penn.) 678. (6) The letters signed by Blocker of which copies were kept, were mailed to Engles as the evidence of their understanding and Engles admits that he received them. There seems to be no good reason for Blocker, when he is seeking to enforce their obligation, to ask for the production of the letters received by Engles. If proof of the duplicate was important to Engles, he was at liberty to make use of it and could have introduced the letter received by him to show that the carbon copy was not a duplicate of it. Inasmuch as he did not do so, it is to be presumed that the carbon copy introduced by Blocker was a duplicate of the original letter received by him. (7) It is also insisted that the court erred in excluding proof that Blocker has no license as a broker to deal in real estate in the city of Ft. Smith. In the first place Blocker was not a real estate broker. He was engaged in other business and this was a single transaction by him. Moreover the provision of the ordinance referred to did not provide that contracts made by real estate brokers without a license should be void. Provisions of the ordinance neither directly nor indirectly refer to any consequences save the payment of a fine for not taking out a license. The purpose of the ordinance was to impose a license tax upon real estate brokers and not to invalidate contracts. The ordinance neither by its manifest intent nor in express terms declares that any contract made by a broker without a license should be invalid. The ordinance in question does not prevent the recovery on a contract made without having procured a license. Stiewel v. Lally, 89 Ark. 195; Hodges v. Bayley, 102 Ark. 200. Counsel complains that the court erred in giving instructions in favor of the plaintiffs and in refusing instructions asked by the defendant. We do not deem it necessary to set out these instructions. The court instructed the jury according to the principles of law above announced. Counsel for the defendant also contends that the court erred in excluding the evidence of the defendant to the effect that he never agreed to the terms of Blocker’s letter of July 11th. He relies on the case of Allen v. Nothern, 121 Ark. 150. In that case there was never a meeting of the minds of the parties as shown by the letters. Her-e the facts are essentially different, as we have already pointed out. (8) On July 7, 1914, Blocker wrote to Engles about transferring the leases on 8,000 acres to the Oil & Gas Company and for his commissions proposed that Engles should assign an interest in the remaining leases to plaintiffs and pay them in cash $500.00. On July 9,1914, Engles answered this letter and proposed to give each of the plaintiffs one-third of the remainder of the leases after transferring leases to the amount of 8,000 acres to the Oil & Gas Company, but he refused to pay them the $500 in cash. He proposed to make the assignment in the next five days, and further told Blocker that if he could convince him that there was any $500 coming to him that he might give him that, and wound up his letter with the following: “Don’t you think my proposition is more reasonable than yours and I will do this just as I write you. Let me hear from you at once.” On July 11, 1914, Blocker answered this letter and said, in regard to Mr. Brake and myself your proposition to divide the balance one-third each is fair enough. The contract showed that he referred to a transfer of the leases remaining, after lease’s to the amount of 8,000 acres had been transferred to the Oil & Gas Company. This was an unqualified acceptance of Engles’ offer and constituted a binding contract between the parties. • It is also contended that the court erred in excluding the evidence of J. H. Keller to the effect that he, Keller, was the moving cause that brought Engles and the Gas & Oil Company together. We do not think the court erred in excluding this evidence. As we have just seen a binding contract was entered into between the parties as shown by the letters which passed between them. Finally it is insisted that the agreement between the parties is in contravention of the statute of frauds. On this point we need only say that if we are correct in holding that the letters constituted a binding obligation between the parties, the statute of frauds is not available as a defense to the action. We have carefully examined the record and find no prejudicial errors in it. Therefore, the judgment will be affirmed.