Case Title: Kay v. Sperling

Citation: 83 So. 2d 881

Docket Number: 

State: florida

Court: Florida Supreme Court

Date: 1955-12-14T00:00:00Z

Document:
83 So. 2d 881 (1955)
Sanford KAY and 1954 Motel, Inc., a Florida corporation, Appellants,
v.
Bernard SPERLING and Fred Schneider, d/b/a Fred Schneider & Co., Appellees.

Supreme Court of Florida. Special Division A.
December 14, 1955.
Rehearing Denied January 6, 1956.
Sibley & Davis and Milton E. Grusmark, Miami Beach, for appellants.
Berman & McClosky, Miami Beach, for appellees.
HOBSON, Justice.
This is an appeal by defendants from judgment of the circuit court on a directed verdict for plaintiffs for a real estate commission in the amount of $10,000. After testimony was taken the trial court was of the view that there was no issue of fact presented and that the plaintiff real estate brokers were entitled to their commission as a matter of law. Appellants contend that this ruling was error and that the facts clearly indicate the opposite result. *882 We shall first give a summary of the transactions upon which the suit was based.
In July of 1953, the plaintiff brokers represented clients who desired to lease motel property. The brokers contacted defendants (appellants here) who own two motels located in Dade County. It was suggested that defendants might build a third motel and lease it to the plaintiffs' clients. On August 13, 1953, the parties entered an agreement, reducing to writing their understanding of the proposal on that date. This written agreement, attached to the complaint as Exhibit A, took the form of a letter to Julius Friedman, attorney for defendants and prospective lessors, and it was signed by Melvin Rubel, the prospective lessee, who was the client of the plaintiff brokers. A check in the sum of $5,000 was stated to be tendered Friedman as escrow agent. After outlining various proposed terms, the letter continued as follows:
The arrangements were accepted by the prospective lessors and their attorney, who acknowledged receipt of the deposit. Most significant of all was the concluding paragraph of this exhibit, which was signed by the brokers and reads as follows:
After the agreement of August 13, 1953, negotiations continued between the parties in an effort to complete the arrangements. A proposed lease was drafted by the attorney for the prospective lessees, but it was never signed. On October 13, 1953, the attorney for the prospective lessees wrote to the escrow agent as follows:
The prospective lessors accepted this cancellation of the agreement and directed the escrow agent to return the deposit, as he did. The complaint in this action was filed by the brokers on October 16, 1953, demanding payment of the commission in full.
From the foregoing it appears without question that no liability for brokers' commission was to accrue unless and until a deal was "consummated". The contemplated "deal" was the entry of a lease. In fact no lease was entered, and the attorney for the brokers' client had stated that no concrete arrangements by way of agreement for lease had been agreed upon. We can attach no real significance to the fact that a proposed lease was prepared, for obviously the proposal was not accepted. The word "consummated" is defined in Black's Law Dictionary, 3d Ed., as "to finish by completing what was intended; bring or carry to utmost point or degree; carry or bring to completion; finish; perfect; achieve. (Citations.)" Webster gives an almost identical definition. Moreover, from reviewing the testimony, we cannot doubt that the actual completion of a legally effective lease was intended by the parties to be a condition precedent to liability for a commission.
A further important factor in the case is that the clients of the brokers demanded the return of the escrow deposit and in effect were the moving parties in cancelling the entire transaction. Their clients having elected this course of action, the brokers can hardly maintain the position which they press as appellees here in charging that appellants were responsible for the failure to enter a "deal". They further charge that appellants "wrongfully" refused to enter the lease, but this is not borne out by the record. As far as the brokers were concerned, appellants were completely within their rights to refuse to enter the proposed lease.
In the leading case of Wiggins v. Wilson, 55 Fla. 346, 45 So. 1011, we emphasized the importance of a contract in transactions involving real estate brokers, and held that a broker would be paid only upon the happening of the event prescribed in the agreement. The contract in the instant case is clear and unambiguous, and controls the rights, of the parties absolutely.
Appellees rely upon Hart v. Pierce, 98 Fla. 1087, 125 So. 243; Walker & McClelland v. Chancey, 96 Fla. 82, 117 So. 705; Perper v. Edell, 160 Fla. 477, 35 So. 2d 387; Lyne v. Warriner, Fla., 44 So. 2d 811; Livingstone v. Malever, 103 Fla. 200, 137 So. 113; Davis v. Battle, 132 Fla. 240, 182 So. 243, 117 A.L.R. 742; Hutchins & Co. v. Sherman, 82 Fla. 167, 89 So. 430; and Taylor v. Dorsey, 155 Fla. 305, 19 So. 2d 876. In none of these cases had the party sought to be held liable for the commission protected itself with a provision similar to that embodied in the contract in the case at bar. None of these cases holds that a broker can recover in the face of a specific contract to the contrary. Particularly relied upon by appellees is Lyne v. Warriner, supra, 44 So. 2d 811. In that case the plaintiff, a real estate broker, had sued for a commission for procuring lessees ready, able and willing to enter a lease. The agreement upon which the broker sued was oral, and there was a conflict of testimony regarding the nature of the agreement, which was resolved by the jury in favor of the broker, who was permitted to recover. Thus the broker was able to prove the contract and that she had acted in accordance *884 with it, i.e., that she had produced a lessee ready, able and willing to enter the lease on the agreed terms, although the prospective lessor, her client, had refused to sign the lease. We held that no error had been shown in the proceedings below. That is hardly the case here, where an unambiguous contract has been reduced to writing and, as the trial court stated, there is no real issue of fact.
It follows that the judgment appealed from must be, and it is hereby, reversed and the cause remanded with directions to the trial court to enter judgment for defendants.
The motion of appellees to strike the reply brief of appellants for not having been timely filed is granted and the brief ordered stricken. The reply brief has not been considered on this appeal.
Reversed with directions.
DREW, C.J., and TERRELL and O'CONNELL, JJ., concur.