Court Opinion

ID: 6549248
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-07-19 22:22:35.994111+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:56:03.686325
License: Public Domain

Wood, J., (after stating the facts). The facts stated do not show any privity of contract between the appellant and the appellee. There, is nothing in the facts to warrant the conclusion that appellee authorized his agent, Black, to employ the appellant in connection with the business or procure a purchaser for the land about which the contract was entered into. There is nothing to show that the. appellee and Black, when they entered into the contract, contemplated that it might be necessary for Black to employ agents in order to procure a purchaser. Certainly, nothing to show that if Black did employ such agents appellee would be liable for their compensation. The uncontroverted facts, as stated, did not take the case out of the operation of the general rule that an agent employed for a special purpose can not delegate his authority to some one else. Bromley v. Aday, 70 Ark. 354; North American Trust Co. v. Chappell, 70 Ark. 508. We find nothing in the facts stated to bring appellant’s case within any of the exceptions to the general rule. There are cases where, from the circumstances surrounding the principal and agent at the time of entering into the contract of agency, authority may be implied for the agent to employ subordinates who are to represent the principal and for whose compensation the principal would be liable. For instance, where a nonresident owner of land employs an agent who is also a nonresident to procure a purchaser for the land or to sell the same for him, it might be implied from the circumstances that the agent was authorized by the principal to employ a subagent where the land is situated in order to enable him to procure a purchaser and to effect a sale. Such was the case of Eastland v. Maney, 81 S. W. 574, and Hurt v. Jones, 79 S. W. 486. In the former case the owners of the land and the agents enployed to sell the same were residents of California, and the land was situated in Texas. The agents employed a subagent living in Texas to procure a purchaser. The court, in that case, after recognizing the general doctrine that an agent, in the absence of any authority, expressed or implied, has no power to employ a subagent, said: “There are, however, exceptions and modifications of the rule, growing out of the necessities and-exigencies of a case, or based upon the custom or usage of trade in like cases. There are instances where the employment of subagents is essentially necessary in order to execute the agency, and the authority of the agent will be construed to include the necessary and usual means to properly execute it. * * * It is a fair presumption, growing out of the exigencies of the transaction, that it was contemplated that a purchaser should be obtained through a subagent.” We recognized the principle in Arkadelphia Lumber Co. v. Thornton, 83 Ark. 403. In that case the owners of the land were residents of Texas, and they authorized an agent, who was also a resident of Texas, to sell the same. The land was situated in Arkansas. The agent authorized to sell employed a subagent to assist him in finding a purchaser. In determining whether the principal was bound by the acts of the subagent with reference to finding a purchaser and assisting in the consummation of the sale we said: “The land being situated in Arkansas and Head, the agent authorized to sell same, being in Texas, it may be fairly presumed that the owners in executing the power of attorney contemplated that W. B. Head would employ a subagent to find a purchaser, and to perform the other merely incidental and ministerial acts necessary to consummate the sale of the land if made to a purchaser in this State.” And, further, “Pledger' (the subagent) was not vested with any authority or discretion of his own, but only acted as the exponent of Head to do the things which, on account of the exigencies of the situation, Head could not do in person.” That case, however, was not a suit by the subagent against the principal to recover compensation for his services. There is nothing in the facts stated in the present case to bring it within the doctrine of the above cases. Here the owner of the land lived in Indiana, and employed Black, who lived in an adjoining county to where the lands were situated, as his agent, and there are no exigencies in the case showing that the parties to the contract contemplated that it would be necessary for Black to employ the appellant or any one else as subagent, Appellant lived at Hazen, Prairie County, and was further away from the land than Black. Certainly, there is nothing to indicate that, if Black did employ subordinates to assist him in procuring a purchaser, they should look to the appellee for their compensation. In J. B. Watkins Land Mortgage Co. v. Thetford, 96 S. W. 72, it is held that (quoting syllabus): “Where a sale of real estate is made by agents with the assistance of a broker under an agreement to divide their commissions with him, such broker is not entitled to recover a commission for the sale from the owners of the land.” See also Smith v. Jarvis, 105 S. W. 1168. In our opinion the facts stated show that Black had no authority, either expressed or implied, to employ appellant to act as the agent of appellee so as to render appellee liable for his services. Under the facts of this record there is no privity of contract except between him and Black.  2. The facts stated in the record do not show that appellant at any time throughout the transaction claimed to be the agent of the appellee in procuring a purchaser for the land. On the contrary, the facts all show that he was only claiming to represent Black. He looked to Black for directions. He had no correspondence with St. John, and never saw him before the transaction was consummated. He reported all his actions to Black, and Black reported them to appellee. In none of the transactions of the appellant with reference to procuring a purchaser do we find him professing or assuming to have been employed by the appellee. It nowhere appears that appellee recognized the appellant as his agent, nor that appellee knew that appellant claimed to be his agent. Under the facts stated, it may be said that appellee knew that his agent Black had the appellant employed, and that appellant performed services in procuring a purchaser for the land. But it nowhere appears that appellee knew that the appellant expected the appellee to pay for those services. The interurban company, whom the appellant interested, and who, according to his statement, procured the purchaser, reported its acts to the appellant, and the appellant in turn reported to Black, and Black in turn reported to the appellee. These facts fall far short of showing that appellant was looking to appellee for compensation for his services. On the contrary, they do show that he recognized that he was the agent of Black, and not the agent of appellee. When appellee made the sale under these circumstances, he did not, in so doing, recognize any relation of agency existing between himself and the appellant. At most, his conduct could only be taken as a recognition of the relation of the agency between Black and appellant. In Benham v. Ferris, 124 N. W. 538, the court held: “Where an owner employed a broker to procure a purchaser for a commission in excess of the specified sum received for the property and the broker without authority, employed a third person and brought about a sale for more than the specified sum, and the owner accepted from the broker the specified sum, and conveyed the land without knowing that the third person had claimed to act as his agent, the owner was not liable to the third person for commissions.” In 1 Clark & Skyles on Agency, 340, it is said: “The doctrine of ratification properly applies to cases where one has assumed to act as agent for another, and then a subsequent ratification is equivalent to original authority.” The judgment is correct, and it is therefore affirmed.