Dist. Ct. erred in granting plaintiff's motion for summary judgment in action seeking declaration that it had already paid defendant appropriate commission under umbrella contract between parties for clients that defendant had brought to plaintiff. Both parties had agreed that clause in contract requiring parties to develop future agreements as to appropriate commission rates on job-by-job basis was non-binding on its own, and that record otherwise showed that parties had agreed to job-by-job commission rates for clients subsequent to signing of instant umbrella agreement. As such, said clause could be enforceable in view of subsequent job-by-job agreements, so as to find that said subsequent agreements were covered under instant umbrella contract. Moreover, summary judgment was inappropriate because material fact existed as to: (1) existence of authority that one individual, who was employed by both parties, could bind both parties to particular commission rate; and (2) proper commission rate at issue in instant lawsuit. (Dissent filed.)
Federal 7th Circuit Court
Civil Court
Contracts