Rankin Sales Co., a Corporation, and Kenneth R. Rankin v. Morrie H. Morgan Company and Farmers Frozen Food Company, California Corporation

On December 12, 1956, Kenneth R. Rankin, assignor of Rankin Sales Company, appellant herein, and Morrie H. Morgan Company and Farmers Frozen Food Company, appellees herein, entered into a written contract covering the production and marketing of frozen strawberries. Appellees are described in said contract as being “in the business of producing, harvesting and packing for sale frozen strawberries” and appellant is described in said contract as being “engaged generally in the brokerage business and in making sales of frozen strawberries * * * as a broker.”

The contract contains inter alia the following provisions:

The contract also provided at paragraph 5 for a brokerage fee of 4% of the total sales price of products handled by appellant where sales were made through associate brokers and of a brokerage fee of 3% where the products were directly sold by appellant.

For the first year of the contract appellees marketed 3,078,553 pounds of strawberries and paid appellant $26,-056.54. When appellees failed to pay an additional sum which would bring appellant’s total commission to $80,000, appellant filed with the Secretary of Agriculture a claim against appellees for that amount,…