CHARLES T. SCOTT AND MARTHA J. SCOTT, APPELLANTS,
v.
JOHN E. DOWNEY, APPELLEE

Fla. 4th DCA | 1975-06-13
No. 74-202
CROSS and DOWNEY, JJ., concur.
314 So. 2d 16 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (1975) Caution
Cited by 8 cases

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Synopsis

Property owners Scott appealed a judgment awarding a real estate broker commission for the sale of 800 acres of land. The court reversed, holding that the broker failed to establish he was the procuring cause of the sale where he had no listing agreement and only wrote a reminder letter 20.5 months after a separate transaction involving different acreage.


Holding

The court held that the broker failed to establish a prima facie case that he was the procuring cause of the 800-acre sale. The broker's status as procuring cause of an earlier transaction involving different acreage, coupled only with a reminder letter sent during the interim period, was insufficient as a matter of law to constitute procuring cause for the later transaction.


Headnotes

[1] A real estate broker is not entitled to a commission for the sale of property unless they have an exclusive listing or are the procuring cause of the sale.

[2] A broker's prior success in procuring a sale of a portion of a seller's property does not, by itself, establish them as the procuring cause for a subsequent, separate sal…

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Key Quotes

“Appellants contend that — even viewed in the light most favorable to the appellee— the record does not contain sufficient evidence to legally constitute the predicate for a finding that appellee either had an exclusive listing or was a procuring cause of the sale, and that, therefore, they were entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. We agree and reverse.”

The court's statement of the appellants' argument and its agreement that insufficient evidence existed to support the jury verdict.

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Facts & Procedural History

The Scotts owned approximately 22,000 acres of undeveloped land in Florida. In 1969, they asked broker Downey to find a buyer for 2,700 acres at speci…

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Opinion of the Court
LEE, THOMAS E., Associate Judge.

LEE, THOMAS E., Associate Judge.

Appellants, owners/sellers of unimproved real property situated in Okeechobee County, Florida, defendants below in an action seeking a brokerage commission, seek review of an adverse final judgment rendered pursuant to jury verdict in favor of appellee/broker. Appellants contend that — even viewed in the light most favorable to the appellee— the record does not contain sufficient evidence to legally constitute the predicate for a finding that appellee either had an exclusive listing or was a procuring cause of the sale, and that, therefore, they were entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. We agree and reverse.

Appellee admittedly did not have an exclusive listing on the subject property. As a matter of fact, he had no listing at all. Regarding appellee’s “procuring cause” argument, the record, properly viewed, discloses the following:

(a) Appellants, husband and wife, owned approximately 22,000 contiguous acres of undeveloped land in Okeechobee, St. Lucie and Indian River Counties, Florida. They first met appellee in 1964 at a time when he worked as a procurer of mortgages for the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company, and procured a loan from that company for appellants which was secured by a mortgage lien on all of their property.

(b) In 1967, appellee became a registered real estate broker, and in April, 1969, appellants verbally informed him that they wanted to sell 2700 acres of range land, with a mortgage to be provided by an insurance company, and requested that appel-lee find a buyer at a price, terms and conditions suitable to them.

(c) On March 31, 1970, appellee and another broker procured a purchaser, William Herman Boyd, for 1862 acres of the 2700 acres of range land originally put up for sale. Appellee and the participating brokers shared a fee of 6% ($25,000.00) of the purchase price as a brokerage commission.

(d) Twenty and one-half months later, on November 15, 1971,. appellants conveyed a contiguous parcel of 800 acres— which was not a part of the original 2700 acres offered for sale — to Boyd Dairy, Inc. In the period which intervened between the original sale to Peaceful Harbor, Inc., a Boyd controlled corporation, and the second sale to Boyd Dairy, Inc., appellants heavily engaged in an attempt to sell the property unaided by any action on behalf of appellee.

Stripped of the superfluous, irrelevant and immaterial, appellee contends that the jury could legally find he was a “procuring cause” of the sale of the second 800 acres to Boyd Dairy, Inc., simply because twenty and one-half months earlier he was a “procuring cause” of the sale of 1862 acres to Peaceful Harbor, Inc., and during the interim between the two sales he wrote a letter to appellants reminding them of Boyd’s continuing interest in additional acreage. We reject this contention as legally and logically unsound. See Wilkins v. W. B. Tilton Real Estate & Ins., Inc., 257 So. 2d 573 (4th D.C.A.Fla.1971).

In conclusion, this record properly viewed, the appellee failed to prove a jury submissible prima facie case, and, therefore, the final judgment appealed must be, and is hereby, reversed and the cause remanded with directions to enter a judgment in favor of the appellants.

Reversed and remanded.

CROSS and DOWNEY, JJ., concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Sanson v. Dutcher, 401 So. 2d 913 (Fla. 4th DCA 1981)
    …pired. [*915] Although Florida courts have not explicitly ruled that the procuring cause doctrine applies after the expiration of an exclusive right of sale contract, they have applied the doctrine in ordinary broker-owner dealings. Scott v. Downey, 314 So. 2d 16 (Fla.4th DCA 1975); National Airlines, Inc. v. Oscar E. Dooly Associates, Inc., 160 So. 2d 53 (Fla.3d DCA 1964). The doctrine applies with equal, if not greater, logic to exclusive right of sale contracts. These contracts are frequently for short du…
  • Earnest & Stewart, Inc. v. Codina, 732 So. 2d 364 (Fla. 3d DCA 1999)
    …ble theory of broker compensability. See Stadler Commercial Real Estate Sews., Inc. v. Industrial Waste Servs., Inc., 519 So. 2d 739 (Fla. 3d DCA 1988); Howard v. Boner, 385 So. 2d 699 (Fla. 1st DCA 1980); Kotler, 354 So. 2d at 110; Scott v. Downey, 314 So. 2d 16 (Fla. 4th DCA 1975); Salter v. Knowles, 97 So. 2d 138 (Fla. 2d DCA 1957). See generally Ben-Shmuel v. Wimbish Riteway, Inc., 722 So. 2d 955 (Fla. 3d DCA 1998). Compare Alcott, 328 So. 2d at 549 (fact question as to recoverability of commission by br…
  • Futura Realty, Inc. v. Kasser, 325 So. 2d 71 (Fla. 3d DCA 1976)
    …no broker’s commission. In an action for a broker’s commission, where the record on appeal, properly viewed, fails to prove a jury submissible prima facie case, the defendant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Scott v. Downey, Fla.App.1975, 314 So. 2d 16. A directed verdict is appropriate where the record fails to establish the broker’s entitlement to a commission. See Hodges v. Altobello, Fla.App.1973, 274 So. 2d 892. Affirmed. . The trial court subsequently granted a motion for summary judgment…

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