Backman

This is an appeal from a judgment for plaintiff for $5,000 and interest, upon a written contract ■of- employment as a real estate broker. _ There are three brokers equally interested in the recovery, Hooper, Wilson, and Schapiro & Co. The plaintiff is an assignee for the purpose of bringing the action. Although Hooper is the person 'who negotiated the contract and whose name appears alone therein, it was understood at the time by both parties thereto that the other two brokers, Wilson and Schapiro & Co., were equally interested with Hooper.

The transaction out of which the controversy grew was an exchange of real property. The defendants owned an apartment house in San Francisco; the other party to the proposed exchange, O’Rourke, a farm in Colusa County. O’Rourke had been introduced to the city property by the broker Wilson on November 8, 1922. Wilson offered this property to O’Rourke, with encumbrances totaling $75,000, for his ranch, free and clear of encumbrances. The following day O ’Rourke called at the office of Schapiro & Co., another real estate broker with whom this apartment house had also been listed for sale. This firm also showed O’Rourke the apartment house and…