Opinion ID: 856802
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Realtec (Buyers’ Agents)

Text: The district court granted summary judgment for Realtec on five claims, and in the same order it granted Realtec’s motion for judgment on the pleadings with respect to the Milners’ OCSPA and civil-conspiracy claims. R. 141 (Op. & Order at 18–24) (Page ID #2079–75). The OCSPA claim is addressed supra in Section III. With respect to the remaining claims, the Milners contest three on appeal: negligent misrepresentation, negligence, and breach of fiduciary duty. Appellants’ 16 No. 12-3526 Milner, et al. v. Biggs, et al. Br. at 25–28. The district court dismissed the negligent-misrepresentation claim as it concerns Roberts because Realtec’s agent did not misrepresent the truth when she said that Roberts was a certified home inspector. R. 141 (Op. & Order at 19) (Page ID #2080). In addition, the district court found that a statement that Roberts was “the best” when it came to home inspection was not actionable through a negligent-misrepresentation claim because it amounted to puffery. Id. at 19–20 (Page ID #2080–81). As to the negligence and fiduciary-duty claims, the district court found that, as a matter of law, Realtec acted according to the standard of care applicable to real-estate brokers. In particular, it found that Realtec did not breach any duty by describing Roberts as a certified home inspector or by recommending Roberts when it also offered the Milners a list of other house inspectors. Id. at 21 (Page ID #2082). On appeal the Milners offer several arguments. First, the Milners reiterate that Realtec’s agent stated that Roberts was “the best,” when in fact Roberts was incompetent. Appellants’ Br. at 25. Second, the Milners argue that there is no standard of care applicable to OCSPA violations.8 Id. at 25–26. Third, assuming there is a standard of care, the Milners argue that Realtec’s agent failed to satisfy that standard by stating that Roberts was certified without having previously required Roberts to produce documentation confirming his home-inspection training. Id. at 26. With respect to negligent misrepresentation, the district court correctly noted that statements of puffery are not actionable under Ohio law. Kondrat v. Morris, 692 N.E.2d 246, 251–52 (Ohio Ct. 8 This argument confuses the district court’s analysis of negligence and breach of fiduciary duty with its analysis of OCSPA. The OCSPA claim is addressed supra in Section III. 17 No. 12-3526 Milner, et al. v. Biggs, et al. App. 1997) (“To be actionable, a misrepresentation generally must relate to an existing or preexisting fact which is susceptible of knowledge. A statement of opinion or belief such as occurs in ‘puffing’ generally cannot constitute a misrepresentation.”) (internal citations omitted); accord Davis v. Byers Volvo, No. 11CA817, 2012 WL 691757, at –9 (Ohio Ct. App. Feb. 24, 2012). A statement that Roberts is “the best,” then, does not give rise to a claim for negligent misrepresentation. Separately, and in light of the previous discussion of Roberts’s certification, it was not a negligent misrepresentation for Realtec’s agent to state that Roberts was certified. With respect to negligence and breach of fiduciary duty, the duty of care for real-estate agents is established by Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 4735.62. Carpenter v. Long, 963 N.E.2d 857, 877 (Ohio Ct. App. 2011). The Milners do not explain which aspect of this duty Realtec’s agent violated when it recommended Roberts without having inspected Roberts’s certification. Realtec had previously worked with Roberts and had not received any complaints about his performance. Moreover, Roberts was certified; consulting his certification would have confirmed what Realtec already, justifiably, believed to be true. The Milners have failed to explain why the failure to inspect personally Roberts’s certification documents amounts to a breach of a broker’s duty of care when the Realtec agent correctly identified that Roberts was certified. Accordingly, the district court was correct to grant summary judgment to Realtec.