LEE S. TUCKER AND LONEY P. TUCKER, HIS WIFE, AND W. M. TUCKER AND HATTIE LOU TUCKER, HIS WIFE, AND LEE S. TUCKER AND W. M. TUCKER, AS CO-PARTNERS DOING BUSINESS AS TUCKER MORTGAGE REALTY CO.,
v.
EDWARD C. LACEY
AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.
Real estate brokers Lee S. Tucker and W. M. Tucker were hired by Edward C. Lacey to purchase specific Miami Beach lots with his $550 earnest money. When the brokers purchased additional properties beyond Lacey's instructions and later sold all properties for substantial profit, the Florida Supreme Court held the brokers accountable only for profits on the specifically authorized property, not the additional lots purchased without the client's knowledge or consent.
The brokers owed a fiduciary duty to account only for profits derived from the Altos Del Mar property that Lacey authorized them to purchase. The fiduciary duty did not extend to the Normandy Beach and City of Miami properties, which were entirely unrelated to the client's instructions and purchased without the client's knowledge or consent.
“It appears that appellee was interested only in the Altos Del Mar property. He turned his money over to appellants to purchase that property and no other property and knew nothing of the negotiations that resulted in the purchase of the other property.”
Establishes the scope of Lacey's authorization and the critical fact that he had no knowledge of the additional properties being purchased
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceIn February 1944, Lacey gave brokers Tucker $550 earnest money to purchase Lots 1 and 2, Block 21, Altos Del Mar in Miami Beach for $5,500. The broker…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Imposition Of Trust cases and more on FLexlaw
In February, 1944, appellee, Edward C. Lacey, placed $550 earnest money in the hands of appellants, Lee S. Tucker and W. M. Tucker, real estate brokers, with the request that they purchase for him Lots 1 and 2, Block 21, Altos Del Mar, a subdivision in Miami Beach, at a price of $5,500.00. Appellants immediately commenced negotiations to purchase said lots as per instructions but found that they could not be purchased without the purchase of other lots. They ultimately succeeded in purchasing them along with Lots 11 and 14, Normandy Beach, another subdivision in Miami Beach, and Lot 12, Block 52, north of the City of Miami for $6,800.00 and took title to all of said lots in their individual names. They later sold said lots for $16,000.00.
This suit was instituted by bill in equity on the part of Lacey naming appellants as defendants. It detailed the foregoing facts and prayed that a trust be imposed upon the funds and other assets in the hands of defendants in favor of the plaintiff, that an accounting be ordered to determine the sums due plaintiff by defendants and that defendants be re*565quired to pay plaintiff all damages suffered by them by reason of the sale of the properties described in the bill of complaint. At final hearing on bill and answer the chancellor found that appellants should account to appellee for the profits derived from the Altos Del Mar property, the Normandy Beach property and the City of Miami property. This appeal is from the final decree so entered.
The point for determination is whether or not the court committed error in requiring appellants to account for profits on all the properties purchased by defendants or should the accounting have been limited to the Altos Del Mar property.
Appellants and appellee all rely on the principles stated in Quinn v. Phipps, 93 Fla. 809, 113 So. 420, 54 A.L.R. 1173 and Van Woy v. Willis, 153 Fla. 189, 14 So. (2nd) 185, to support their contention. The essential facts are not in dispute. It appears that appellee was interested only in the Altos Del Mar property. He turned his money over to appellants to purchase that property and no other property and knew nothing of the negotiations that resulted in the purchase of the other property. It was entirely unrelated to the other properties so it would seem to follow that no fiduciary duty passed from appellants to appellee in relation to any other property.
The master was correct in his finding that a fiduciary relation existed between the parties and that appellants should account to appellee for profits on the Altos Del Mar property. The chancellor should have so decreed or in the event the evidence was not sufficient on which to predicate such a decree he should have recommitted the cause to the master for better statement of an account as to profits on the sale of the Altos Del Mar property. The decree appealed from is therefore affirmed as to profits on the Altos Del Mar properties but it is reversed as to the profits on the Normandy Beach property and the City of Miami property.
Affirmed in part, reversed in part.
THOMAS, C. J., CHAPMAN and SEBRING, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- Porte F. Quinn v. Phipps, 113 So. 419 (Fla. 1927)
- Maud van Woy v. Willis, 153 Fla. 189 (Fla. 1943)