Turner

This is an action for the recovery of a broker’s commission for an exchange of real property, under a contract between the plaintiff and the defendant’s intestate, W. C. Watkins. The plaintiff had judgment and the defendant appeals.

At the opening of the trial the respondent contended that the denials of appellant’s answer were insufficient to present a defense and asked the court to rule that the, appellant should go forward with his proof in support of certain affirmative defenses set up in the answer. The court ruled accordingly and the ruling is assigned as error. The claim that the denials of the answer were insufficient was based upon the fact that they were preceded by the following statement, ending with a colon: “Not having sufficient information on which to base his answer, defendant denies.” Section 437 of the Code of Civil Procedure contains this language: “If the defendant has no information or belief upon the subject sufficient to enable him to answer an allegation of the complaint, he may so state in his answer, and place his denial on that ground.” It will be observed that the denials in the answer in this action were predicated upon a lack of information only and…