WILLIAM BURBRIDGE, SR., AS EXECUTOR OF THE ESTATE OF HAROLD M. SALVEY, DECEASED, APPELLANT,
v.
NEIL BERK, APPELLEE
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A real estate broker sued the seller's estate for a commission on a property sale, claiming he procured a buyer. The Florida Supreme Court reversed the jury verdict for the broker, holding that the broker failed to maintain an effective listing and that the sale was ultimately consummated between the parties without the broker's involvement or ongoing negotiations.
The court held that the seller's motion for a directed verdict should have been granted on the count claiming commission. The broker failed to maintain an effective listing and did not procure the buyer for the sale ultimately consummated; the sale was effected on entirely different terms and at a time more than a year after the original listing, with no showing that the broker conducted any negotiations during the intervening period.
“Nowhere in the record is there any suggestion that at any time after Thanksgiving, 1950 the broker contacted the seller with reference to the sale of the property or did anything to indicate to the seller that the broker considered the oral contract in effect.”
Establishes the broker's failure to maintain contact or demonstrate the listing was active after the seller's rejection of the initial offer.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceIn June 1950, seller Salvey gave broker Berk an oral listing for Miami Beach waterfront property at $1,500 per front foot. In October 1950, buyer Goul…
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DREW, Justice.
This appeal is from a final judgment in favor of the appellee, who as plaintiff in the trial court brought an action to recover a broker’s commission alleged to be due him. The claim was set up in two counts. In the first count, the broker claimed that the defendant Salvey, as seller, owed him a five per cent commission of $11,250, plus interest, for procuring a purchaser of Sal-vey’s Miami Beach property sold to Robert Gould for $225,000. In a second count the broker alleged that the seller Salvey and the defendant buyer, Gould, fraudulently conspired to deprive him of his commission. While the suit was pending the defendant Salvey died and his personal representative was substituted as party defendant.
At the trial before a jury the court directed a verdict in favor of the defendants on the count two which alleged fraud. On count one the jury returned a verdict for plaintiff for the commission plus interest.
From the final judgment the personal representative of the deceased seller has brought this appeal contending, among other things, that the court erred in failing to grant his motion for a directed verdict as to count one.
The facts stated most favorable for the plaintiff broker are as follows: In June, 1950 the seller Salvey gave to the broker on oral listing of his 150 feet of Miami Beach waterfront property to be sold at $1,500 per front foot net to him. The broker obtained from the buyer Gould an offer of $1,400 per front foot for 100 feet of the property, together with a $14,000 deposit made with the broker. Because of the seller’s absence, this offer was not transmitted by the broker to the seller until about Thanksgiving, 1950. At that time Salvey rejected the offer and insisted upon his original net price of $1,500 per foot for the 150 feet. From October, 1950 through March, 1951 the buyer Gould repeatedly requested return from the broker of his deposit money. The broker had used the funds for purposes of his own and over this period of time was able to return only about $10,000. In April, 1951, a suit for the balance of the deposit money was instituted by the buyer against the broker. In June, 1951, the seller and the buyer, between themselves, effected a sale of the property whereby the buyer paid to the seller $1,500 per front foot for 100 feet of the property.
Nowhere in the record is there any suggestion that at any time after Thanksgiving, 1950 the broker contacted the seller with reference to the sale of the property or did anything to indicate to the seller that the broker considered the oral contract in effect. It is quite apparent from the record that during this period of time, or at least the greater part of it, the broker could not have consummated the contract because of his appropriation of the funds of his principal.
The facts in this case show a sale eventually consummated on terms entirely different from those of the original listing and at a time more than one year thereafter and' more than six months after rejection by the seller of an offer different from the listing contract. Throughout this period there is no showing of negotiations, continuous or otherwise, conducted by the broker between the seller and the prospective purchaser. Without deciding whether the broker’s conduct with reference to the deposit money was such as to prevent the recovery of the commission, we note that material facts in this case are almost identical to those in Shuler v. Allen, Fla., 1955, 76 So. 2d 879, which is controlling here. On the authority of that case and the cases cited therein, we hold that it was error to deny the seller’s motion for a directed verdict. The judgment is vacated and set aside with directions to enter one for the defendant seller. Reversed.
MATHEWS, C. J., and SEBRING and ROBERTS, JJ., concur.
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Wilkins v. W. B. Tilton Real Est. & Ins., Inc., 257 So. 2d 573 (Fla. 4th DCA 1971)…inuous or otherwise, by the broker between the seller and the ultimate buyer, the seller had a right to assume that the broker had abandoned his efforts in connection with the sale of this property to the ultimate buyer. Burbridge v. Berk, Fla.1955, 77 So. 2d 785. The mere fact that the broker had advertised the property for sale and continued to show it to prospective purchasers does not negate an abandonment or give rise to the continuous negotiations necessary to entitle the broker to a commission from th…
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MacAluso v. Lipinski, 235 So. 2d 525 (Fla. 2d DCA 1970)…and placed with another broker, that appellees participated in his negotiations to sell the property or had any knowledge of the fact that such negotiations were going on. Shuler v. Allen, Fla.1955, 76 So. 2d 879; Burbridge [*526] v. Berk, Fla.1955, 77 So. 2d 785; accord Walter S. Hardin Realty Co. v. Barolo, Fla.App.1966, 198 So. 2d 334. Affirmed, PIERCE, Acting C. J., and MANN and McNULTY, JJ„ concur.…
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Jerry Lampert Real Est., Inc. v. Growth Equities, Ltd., 361 So. 2d 191 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978)…ect the sale is not enough to show that the appellants were the procuring cause of the sale. The allegation of a conspiracy was disposed of by an affidavit of the appellee, which was not controverted by any fact in the record. Cf. Burbridge v. Berk, 77 So. 2d 785 (Fla.1955); Shuler v. Allen, 76 So. 2d 879 (Fla.1955); Judson v. Mobley, 62 So. 2d 730 (Fla.1953); and Wilkins v. W. B. Tilton Real Estate and Insurance, Inc., 257 So. 2d 573 (Fla. 4th DCA 1971). Affirmed. . A previous appeal from a summary final…
Authorities Cited
- Shuler v. Allen, 76 So. 2d 879 (Fla. 1955)