Somekh

In June, 1949, appellant The Login Corporation, an American import-export firm, engaged the brokerage services of appellee Somekh, a citizen and resident of Tel Aviv, Israel, for the purpose of effecting a sale of sesame seed between appellant as seller and Palestine Oil Crushers Pool, Ltd., hereafter Oil Crushers, as buyer. After considerable negotiation, the parties, on or about July 14, 1949, entered into a contract whereby appellant agreed to deliver 2,000 long tons of sesame seed to Oil Crushers at Haifa, Israel, at $202 per long ton, or a total purchase price of $404,000. The sale was conditioned upon the buyer’s establishment of a satisfactory letter of credit. It was understood that appellant would pay appellee a commission of one per cent of the gross contract price, or $4,040, for his services in connection with the sale.

On August 3, 1949, appellant received a letter of credit from Oil Crushers which it considered unsatisfactory. After appropriate amendments were made, appellant accepted the letter of credit. By its terms appellant was required to put up a deposit of three per cent of the purchase price as security for its faithful performance of the contract.…