E. R. Massie v. H. Firmstone

Summary

The Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia affirmed a judgment for the landowner against a real estate broker seeking a $5,000 commission for introducing a prospective purchaser. Because the owner had not listed the property, reserved the right to sell to others, and the broker's own testimony and letters showed his compensation was payable only if a sale actually resulted, the broker earned nothing by merely producing a purchaser able, ready and willing to buy where no sale or contract to sell was ever consummated. The court further held that a party litigant is bound by his own testimony, and alternatively that the prospective purchaser was not able, ready and willing because he had no money of his own and no authority to buy for anyone else.