CITY NATIONAL BANK OF MIAMI BEACH, A NATIONAL BANKING CORPORATION, AS TRUSTEE, APPELLANT,
v.
RICHARD N. LUNDGREN ET AL., APPELLEES
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.
A bank holding a right of first refusal to purchase property refused to accept a sale contract that included the seller's broker commission as part of the purchase price. The court affirmed that the bank's conditional acceptance (excluding the commission) was not a valid exercise of its right of first refusal, since the broker had earned the commission and it constituted part of the purchase price.
No. The bank's conditional acceptance was not a valid exercise of its right of first refusal because the broker commission was a material element of the purchase price. The broker had earned the commission by procuring the purchaser, and this obligation remained binding on the owners regardless of whether the property was sold to the original purchaser or to the bank exercising its right of first refusal.
[1] A right of first refusal agreement requires the holder to accept the terms of a proposed sale contract without qualification to exercise the right.
[2] A purchaser's agreement to pay a seller's broker commission constitutes a part of the purchase price for purposes of a right of first refusal.
Previewing 2 of 5 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“the broker, having performed by procuring the purchaser on the basis required, had earned the commission, obligating the owner to pay the same whether the sale was made to the purchaser, or to the bank on the basis of its right of first refusal”
Establishes that broker's commission is earned and payable regardless of which buyer acquires the property
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceThe sellers owned property and granted City National Bank a right of first refusal to purchase it. The sellers agreed to pay broker Tyler a reasonable…
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 Right Of First Refusal cases and more on FLexlaw
CHARLES CARROLL, Associate Judge.
The appellant City National Bank of Miami Beach, as trustee, was the plaintiff in the trial court. It appeals from a judgment denying specific performance and dismissing its complaint, in an action brought to compel conveyance of certain real estate by the defendants to the plaintiff bank, upon certain sale terms,, based on an agreement between the defendant-owners of the property and the bank granting to the latter a right of first refusal to purchase the property.
The appellees, Lundgren, Nelson and Layne, herein referred to as the sellers, entered into an agreement with the bank giving the latter a right of first refusal to purchase the property, of which they were owners.
The sellers agreed with a broker (herein referred to as Tyler) to pay the latter a reasonable fee for services in finding a purchaser ready, willing and able to purchase the property on terms acceptable to the sellers. The broker performed, by obtaining as a purchaser, the appellee Mel Schuster, as trustee, herein referred to as the purchaser. The terms acceptable to the sellers were payment of a stipulated sum in addition to which the purchaser was to bear the expense necessary to repair a seawall on the property and pay the amount of commission owed by the sellers to Tyler. A contract in accordance therewith was prepared and signed by the purchaser. The sellers, without having signed the contract, transmitted a copy thereof to the bank.1
Through its attorney the bank replied, announcing willingness to purchase on the terms expressed in such contract except for payments of commission owing to the broker.2 The sellers returned a down payment which had been submitted by the bank, and advised the bank that its accept- anee “is not in conformity with the provisions of the right of first refusal agreement.” Thereafter the sellers closed the sale with the purchaser. The bank then filed this action against the sellers and the purchaser for specific performance.
The sellers were obligated to pay Tyler a reasonable brokerage fee. What that would amount to was a matter readily determinable by custom in the trade. When the contract with the purchaser made the payment of the broker’s commission an obligation to be discharged by the purchaser, the-broker’s commission became a part of the price or consideration to be paid by the purchaser. See Coastal Bay Golf Club, Inc. v. Holbein, Fla.App.1970, 231 So. 2d 854. The bank’s refusal to pay the portion of the purchase price represented by the commission owed by the sellers to Tyler was not predicated on any uncertainty as to the amount of the commission, but apparently on the conclusion that such commission would not be payable if the sale was made to the bank on the basis of its right of first refusal. In so concluding the bank was mistaken as a matter of law, because the broker, having performed by procuring the purchaser on the basis required, had earned the commission, obligating the owner to pay the same whether the sale was made to the purchaser, or to the bank on the basis of its right of first refusal; and, as stated above, when, the sale contract required the purchaser to pay such commission which was the owners’ obligation, the payment thereof became a part of the purchase price.
In those circumstances the trial court correctly decided that the bank’s response was not an unconditional acceptance of the purchase contract, in exercise of its right of first refusal. The element of the contract purchase price which the bank announced unwillingness to pay, was not unsubstantial. Coastal Bay Golf Club, Inc. v. Holbein, supra.
The judgment is affirmed.
. Regarding the broker’s commission the sale contract stated: “Sellers represent that they have dealt with no broker or other person entitled to claim a commission except I). Tyler & Associates which representation shall survive the closing. Purchaser agrees, if this transaction is closed, to pay all commissions owing to said D. Tyler & Associates”.
. The letter from the bank’s attorney stated: “We agree to proceed with closing on the subject property upon the terms and conditions of the deposit receipt, a copy of which you have delivered to us, excepting only provisions concerning brokerage, which do not apply to my client.”
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
E.G. Green v. First Am. Bank & Tr., 511 So. 2d 569 (Fla. 4th DCA 1987)…er to pay the Knight purchase price, less the brokerage commission, was not a sufficient or adequate matching of the Knight offer. Those cases are Lehr v. Breakstone, 472 So. 2d 1333 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985); City National Bank of Miami Beach v. Lundgren, 307 So. 2d 870 (Fla. 3d DCA), cert. denied, 316 So. 2d 286 (1975), and Coastal Bay Golf Club, Inc. v. Holbein, 231 So. 2d 854 (Fla. 3d DCA 1970). Green contends that he properly exercised the option by his lawyer’s letter of February 15, 1984, set forth in the ma…
-
E. Atl. Realty & Inv. Inc. v. Gsomr LLC, 14 So. 3d 1215 (Fla. 3d DCA 2009)…roperty as contemplated under the agreement.”8 Other than paragraph 15, no other contractual provision creates an entitlement to a commission payment to Eastern. This case is therefore distinguishable from City Nat'l Bank of Miami Beach v. Lundgren, 307 So. 2d 870 (Fla. 3d DCA 1975), where the owner agreed to pay the broker a commission for finding any purchaser that was ready, willing and able. In Lundgren, this Court stated, in dicta, that the owner was required to pay a commission regardless of whether the…
-
David Lehr, M.D. v. Breakstone, 472 So. 2d 1333 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985)…ty exercises a right of first refusal, that exercise must be on the same terms and conditions as those being offered by the third party purchaser. Anderson v. Draddy, 458 So. 2d 803 (Fla. 4th DCA 1984); City National Bank of Miami Beach v. Lundgren, 307 So. 2d 870 (Fla. 3d DCA), cert. denied, 316 So. 2d 286 (Fla.1975); Coastal Bay Golf Club, Inc. v. Holbein, 231 So. 2d 854 (Fla. 3d DCA 1970). In Coastal Bay Golf Club, Inc. v. Holbein, 231 So. 2d at 857, the court stated: A right of first refusal is a right…
Previewing 3 of 6 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Coastal BAY Golf Club, Inc. v. Holbein, 231 So. 2d 854 (Fla. 3d DCA 1970)