Henderson v. Western Gas Engine Co.

Action by brokers to recover commissions for services in selling corporate stock. Findings and judgment for defendant. Plaintiffs appeal from the judgment and from an order denying a new trial.

The record discloses that defendant corporation, through its board of directors, passed resolutions authorizing its president to sell at par certain of its corporate stock then in the treasury; that when said action was taken there was a custom and usage throughout California that officers, unless otherwise directed, when so authorized, in the usual and ordinary course of business placed and listed such stock with brokers on a commission basis without express instructions from the board of directors, and in cases where such stock was so listed to pay commissions to such brokers. That the president, after ineffectual attempts to sell the stock by advertisement and otherwise, listed the stock with plaintiffs, who were then engaged in the brokerage business in Los Angeles, and agreed, if the stock was sold to a customer introduced by plaintiffs, to pay them a commission of seven and one-half per cent. It is conceded that plaintiffs found a customer and introduced him to the president, to whom…