ROBERT R. MILLER, APPELLANT,
v.
MARK P. SULLIVAN, PATRICIA SULLIVAN, AND BETTY HILGENDORF, APPELLEES

Fla. 1st DCA | 1985-09-24
No. AZ-394
BOOTH, C.J., and SHIVERS, J., concur.
475 So. 2d 1010 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (1985) Caution
Cited by 8 cases

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Holding

Summary judgment for the sellers was proper, but summary judgment for the broker on fraud and negligence claims should be reversed due to disputed issues of material fact.


Headnotes

[1] Summary judgment is proper for sellers of a house when there is no evidence they made fraudulent or negligent misrepresentations regarding the property's square footage,…

[2] A real estate broker may be liable for fraud or negligence in a real estate transaction if disputed issues of fact exist regarding the accuracy of property square footage…

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Facts & Procedural History

Appellant purchased a house relying on an MLS listing showing 1417 square feet, which was represented as heated and cooled area. Appellant later disco…

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Opinion of the Court
ZEHMER, Judge.

ZEHMER, Judge.

Appellant appeals a final summary judgment in favor of appellees. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

Briefly stated, the facts show that appel-lees Mark and Patricia Sullivan placed their house on the market for sale and listed it with appellee Betty Hilgendorf, a licensed real estate broker. The area of the Sullivan house was represented in the listing agreement and the multiple listing service (MLS) book as having been “measured” at 1417 square feet. Appellant sought a house to purchase, employed the services of Edward Luce, a licensed real estate broker, and entered into a contract to purchase the Sullivan house. Appellant alleges he relied upon an MLS printout of the listing for the house that showed the square footage to have been measured at 1417 square feet. Luce had represented to appellant that this figure constituted the heated and cooled area of the house. Approximately one year after purchasing the house, appellant attempted to sell it and discovered that the heated and cooled area of the house actually comprised 1092 square feet. He further discovered that the tax rolls showed the square footage of the house to be 1092 square feet. The 1417 square-foot figure used on the MLS listing when appellant purchased the house included approximately 300 square feet of nonheated or noncooled space such as the garage and utility room.

Appellant filed a complaint against the Sullivans, Hilgendorf, and Luce. Miller sued Hilgendorf in three counts for breach of contract, fraud, and negligence. Two counts against the Sullivans alleged breach of contract and fraud. Three counts charged Luce with breach of contract, fraud, and negligence. The Sullivans and Hilgendorf moved for summary judgment as to all counts, which was granted by the trial court.

We affirm the summary judgment in favor of the Sullivans. There is no evidence that the Sullivans made any fraudulent or negligent representations regarding the correct square footage of their house or that 1417 square feet were heated and cooled. Likewise, there is no evidence that the listing agreement which represented the square footage at 1417 was incorporated in the contract for purchase and sale between the Sullivans and appellant. Summary judgment for the Sullivans was proper on all three counts.

With respect to appellee Hilgendorf, we affirm the summary judgment as to the breach of contract count, but reverse as to the fraud and negligence counts. The contract action is based on the purchase and sale agreement, which did not incorporate the allegedly inaccurate listing. The listing agreement, standing alone, did not constitute a contract upon which this action could be predicated.

The elements of fraud are as follows:

(1) A misrepresentation of material fact;

(2) Knowledge of the representor of the misrepresentation, or representations made by the representor without knowledge as to the truth or falsity thereof, or representations made under circumstances in which the representor should have known of the falsity thereof;

(3) An intention that the representor induce another to act on such representation; and (4) Resulting injury to the party acting in justifiable reliance on the representation.

Alexander/Davis Properties, Inc. v. Graham, 397 So. 2d 699 (Fla. 4th DCA 1981). To establish that Hilgendorf was negligent, appellant would have to prove that she breached her duty of “honesty, candor, and fair dealing” to appellant as the purchaser of the house. Ellis v. Flink, 301 So. 2d 493 (Fla. 2d DCA 1974). The record reveals several disputed issues of fact bearing upon whether appellee was guilty of fraud or negligence in handling the real estate transaction. There is a factual dispute concerning whether the square footage figure on the MLS listing is understood in the real estate community to represent heated and cooled area or the total enclosed or covered area of a house. There is a dispute as to whether Hilgendorf, as listing agent, had a duty to double-check by measuring the square footage figure provided by the Sulli-vans. There is also an issue as to whether the representation in the listing agreement that the square footage had been “measured” means that such measurement had been made by the listing agent or simply by the seller. These, disputed questions of fact preclude entry of summary judgment for Hilgendorf and require reversal of the summary judgment on counts 2 and 3 of the complaint.

AFFIRMED in part, REVERSED in part, and REMANDED for further proceedings.

BOOTH, C.J., and SHIVERS, J., concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Jack Eckerd Corp. v. Smith, 558 So. 2d 1060 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990)
    …of fraudulent conduct. Joiner v. McCullers, 158 Fla. 562, 28 So. 2d 823 (1947); Saunders Leasing System, Inc. v. Gulf Cent. Distribution Center, Inc., 513 So. 2d 1303 (Fla. 2d DCA 1987), review denied, 520 So. 2d 584 (Fla.1988); Miller v. Sullivan, 475 So. 2d 1010 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985). This is so because a person is assumed to know whether he has insufficient knowledge of the facts to assert the statement as true. Such fraudulent conduct is sufficient to make out a jury issue on punitive damages. Winn & Lovett…
  • Louis v. Costco Wholesale Corp., 719 So. 2d 1226 (Fla. 4th DCA 1998)
    …of fraudulent conduct. Joiner v. McCullers, 158 Fla. 562, 28 So. 2d 823 (1947); Saunders Leasing System, Inc. v. Gulf Cent. Distribution Center, Inc., 513 So. 2d 1303 (Fla. 2d DCA 1987), review denied, 520 So. 2d 584 (Fla.1988); Miller v. Sullivan, 475 So. 2d 1010 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985). This is so because a person is assumed to know whether he has insufficient knowledge of the facts to assert the statement as true. Such fraudulent conduct is sufficient to make out a jury issue on punitive damages. Winn & Lovett…
  • Sider v. Arvida Realty Sales, Inc., 564 So. 2d 558 (Fla. 4th DCA 1990)
    …66). The pending issue concerns whether there was a negligent misrepresentation made by the broker as to the actual square footage of the lot. See Atlantic National Bank of Florida v. Vest, 480 So. 2d 1328 (Fla. 2nd DCA 1985) and Miller v. Sullivan, 475 So. 2d 1010 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985). The case is therefore REVERSED and REMANDED. LETTS, WALDEN and WARNER, JJ., concur.…

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